'One minute at each station, 20 stops, and lower fares'; Metroman's high-speed rail line

PONNANI: Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, the eminent engineer known better among people as the metroman, explained the alignment of the high-speed rail line, the new stations, the expected fare and travel time. The new details came out during Sreedharan’s press conference at his new office in Ponnani. The revised alignment also includes Pathanamthitta. There will be 20 stops on the 465-km-long line. The construction cost is Rs 56,500 crore. Solar farms will be installed at the stations.

The stops are arranged at a distance of 20-30 km in the service from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur. The service will connect the three major airports in Kerala, namely Kannur, Nedumbassery and Thiruvananthapuram.

The route, which starts from Thiruvananthapuram Central, will enter Thiruvananthapuram Airport via a tunnel. There will be stops at Varkala, Kollam, Kottarakkara, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvalla, Kottayam, Vaikom, Ernakulam, Nedumbassery Airport, Thrissur, Pattambi, Malappuram, Karipur, Kozhikode, Koyilandy, Vadakara, Thalassery and Kannur.

Vande Bharat Thiruvananthapuram - Kannur takes six hours, but the high-speed train will cover the distance in 3.20 hours. The maximum speed is 200 km per hour. It will stop for one minute at each station. Two minutes at the airport station. There will be a train every hour from 10 am to 4 pm. The last train will leave at 8 pm. All the stations will be on the left side. Only the terminal station will be on the right. An average of five lakh passengers is expected to use the service daily.

Announced fares:

Thiruvananthapuram - Ernakulam: Rs 440

Thiruvananthapuram - Kozhikode: Rs 640

Thiruvananthapuram - Kannur: Rs 780