No action in High-Speed Rail proposed by E Sreedharan; state govt changes stance after seeing Vande Bharat

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government is remaining silent on the high-speed rail project proposed by Metroman E Sreedharan as an alternative to SilverLine. In July, Sreedharan had written to the government stating that a 430 km rail line should be constructed between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur in the forms of tunnels and skyways and that the central nod for this could be obtained. If this project becomes a reality, the journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur will take only 2 hours. Initially, the train should have a speed of 200 kmph and services at an interval of 10 minutes. The project will be profitable and useful to the people only if there are stops after every 30 km. High-speed trains running at a speed of 350 kmph can also be run in the future by modifying the signal system.

However, it seems that the government has decided not to take further action in this regard after two Vande Bharat trains started service in the state and high-speed train travel became a political issue.

The government is saying that efforts are being made to obtain the Centre's nod for SilverLine and that it will renew the DPR if the Centre demands. Meanwhile, it has frozen land acquisition works by recalling 205 officials assigned for land acquisition in 11 districts and shutting down the offices. However, K-Rail is claiming that the central and state governments have not decided to abandon the SilverLine project.

High-Speed Rail: Pros and Cons

• Tunnels in populated areas and skyways in other places. Very little land needs to be acquired. Land of width 20 metres can be acquired and returned to the owners after construction.
• The High-Speed Rail can be linked with the proposed Chennai-Bengaluru-Coimbatore-Kochi Speed Rail and Mumbai-Mangaluru-Kozhikode High-Speed Rail.
• In 2015, Rs 90,663 crore was estimated for the High-Speed Rail. However, it will now cost nearly one and a half lakh crore. While the expense for Silverline will be Rs 121 crore per kilometre, the expense for High-Speed Rail will be Rs 295 crore per kilometre.
• India does not have the technology of high-speed rail. It needs to be bought from Japan, China or Europe. The state will bear half the cost.