State drops High Speed Railway line
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Kottayam: The State Government has decided to drop the much touted Rs. 90,000 crore-High Speed Railway line-project proposed between Kochuveli and Kannur. Instead, the government has decided to go for a semi-high speed train service from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargode. The decision to implement new service with double the speed of existing services was taken by Kerala Rail Development Corporation, jointly formed by the state government and the railway.
Opposition rose against the land acquisition for the proposed project and the huge cost involved, compelled the government to pull out of the earlier project. It is learnt that the Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation Limited formed for high speed rail network will be dissolved soon.
A Detailed Project Report (DPR) filed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had said that the project will not be financially viable. DMRC had pointed out that 2500 acres of land will have to be acquired and 3863 buildings have to be demolished to complete the project.
The report also warned that as the project is to complete after nine years, the cost would surge further to Rs. 1.20 crore. The government had decided to meet the expense through foreign loans. However, the government later arrived at a conclusion that as the feasibility study report itself suggested nine years for completion of the project, the implementation will take much longer than proposed.
A report filed by a private firm, assigned to assess the DMRC report, also had pointed towards the demerits of the project.
Strong protests were held in central Kerala and Malabar regions against the survey conducted for the project. Locals of the area, through which the project was planned, were on protest under the aegis of Anti High Speed Railway committee.
The new project is designed so as to run semi-high speed trains in the existing routes after expanding them. A third line will be built in parallel to the existing two lines and semi-speed trains will be run through it. Survey for this will be started soon.
Works for the third line is assumed to finish without delay as Kerala is joining hands with the Railway. Cost for building a third line also will be lesser than that of High Speed Railway. Also, half of the expense will be met by the Centre.