High-speed rail with changes

Kerala's wait for a high-speed rail has been prolonged for years, limited to ideas and proposals. Meanwhile, efforts to put the K-Rail Silver Line proposal on track had to be postponed due to public opposition. The project report prepared for the Silver Line contained many technical and practical flaws. Even though the LDF government has made it clear that the K-Rail project has not been abandoned, there is no clear plan on how it can be implemented by overcoming the public's opposition. It is in this context that the experienced E. Sreedharan, known as the Metroman, who is very interested in the state's railway development, has approached the government with a new project proposal.

The government is currently considering the proposal to replace the high-speed rail line from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod with a semi-high-speed line from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur. The government is exploring the possibility of this. A high-level team of officials has been appointed to study this. There are indications that the government is also interested in including Sreedharan in the project. The cost of constructing a 430 km standard gauge line from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur is estimated at Rs 86,000 crore. When the construction is completed, the total cost may go up to Rs 1 lakh crore. It will take six years to complete the project. A decision needs to be reached after discussing with the concerned parties on how to find the money required for the project.

The construction cost of the Silver Line was estimated to be around the same amount. The project document proposed by Sreedharan includes many things that are more acceptable than the Silver Line project. The most important thing is that there is no need for large-scale land acquisition. Most of the route passes through pillars and tunnels. There will be no need for extensive land acquisition anywhere. It will be enough to acquire land 20 meters wide in the places where the route passes. Once the route is completed, the landowner himself can lease this land. That is because the route passes through the erected pillars. The main objection to the Silver Line was the large-scale land acquisition.

The new project envisages a total of 15 stations, one station every 25 - 30 kilometres. The service will be one train every half hour. This project also has the facility to be connected to the main expressways of the country in the future. A train will run from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur in just three and a quarter hours. The savings in travel time will be a big advantage. The benefits of eight or ten lanes of roads can be achieved through a high-speed rail. The increase in rail travel facilities will also prevent the loss of lives of people on the roads of the state of Kerala. What the state government needs to do now is to take steps to obtain the necessary approvals from the Center and the Railway Board to implement the new rail project that will not cause much harm to the environment and humans. Quick decisions and actions are needed. We must understand the reality that time waits for no one.