THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sabari railway line that Kerala has been waiting for a quarter century is coming true. The project has been included in PM Gati Shakthi mission, it happened after a discussion between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and PM Modi.

The Railway Board has taken a preliminary decision to hand over the construction to the Kerala Railway Development Corporation (K-Rail), a state-owned railway joint venture. The state cabinet had informed the central government that half of the cost would be borne by them and the construction would be handed over to K-Rail.

As per the instructions of the Railways, the revised estimate of Rs 3347.35 crore prepared by K-Rail was approved by the Finance Department, Kochi and was handed over to the Southern Railway. Only the permission of the Railway Board is required now. With that, the freezing order of the project in 2020 will be revoked. Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw had assured the Lok Sabha that a final decision would be taken as soon as the revised estimate was received.

Out of the Angamaly-Erumeli 111 km Sabari line announced in 1997, Angamaly-Kalady 7 km railway line and the Periyar bridge are the only constructions. Twenty years ago, land sales of 900 people were frozen. But now with the implementation of the project, they will receive money. The land acquisition cost is over Rs 900 crore. The Cabinet has decided to waive the railway charge of 30 per cent of the land price to be paid as establishment charge. When the plan was announced, the estimate was Rs 517 crore and in 2017 it was Rs 2815 crore.