Cabinet gives green signal to Vizhinjam railway tunnel, third longest in country

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the cabinet meeting giving the green signal, the construction of the tunnel railway line from Balaramapuram to Vizhinjam port will begin soon. The construction will be carried out by the Konkan Rail Corporation. The cabinet approved the project document prepared by Konkan Corporation on Wednesday. As per the agreement with Adani, the state government will build the railway which will be completed in December 2028.

The cost of the underground road is 1482.92 crores. This includes the cost of land acquisition. Efforts are being made to raise funds through central schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti, Central Scheme for Capital Investment, Sagarmala and Rail Sagar.

4.697 hectares of land in Balaramapuram, Pallichal and Athiyannur villages need to be acquired. Action has been initiated to acquire 0.829 hectares in Vizhinjam village. The total cost of acquiring 5.526 hectares of land is Rs. 198 crores. The project was approved by Southern Railway in March 2022. It has also received approval from the Union Environment Ministry. Technical assistance has been sought from a company in the Netherlands for the construction of the tunnel. The railway line will be completely underground except for the start and end points. There will also be escape ducts for rescue operations.

A container terminal will be established within the railway station limits closest to Vizhinjam to begin cargo movement as soon as possible and to utilize it when the tunnel is completed. The terminal will require 20 to 35 acres of land near the track. Container terminals of private companies will also come up near the railway track. MSC Shipping Company's Med Log Terminal has been announced for Rs 300 crore.

The Vizhinjam tunnel will be the third-largest railway tunnel in the country. The other two tunnels are the 12.75 km tunnel, part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link, and the 11.2 km long Pir Panjal tunnel.

Tunnel construction will be done using modern, low-cost drilling blasting technology instead of the expensive tunnel tedious machine method. Depending on the structure and nature, the rocks will be broken, crushed, and then used to reinforce the sides. This will reduce the cost.