Though the State government had rejected Railways’ suggestions for integrating the proposed semi-high-speed rail project (SilverLine) with the existing Indian Railway network by adopting broad gauge instead of standard gauge, Kerala is likely to revive the prospects of the project by bringing in technocrat E. Sreedharan on board the project.
Mr. Sreedharan, who had earlier sent a detailed letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan suggesting some changes in the design of the project along with toeing the line of the State government on the project to some extent, called on the Chief Minister a couple of weeks ago as part of reviving the project.
According to government sources, the State government is contemplating incorporating some of the changes Mr. Sreedharan suggested in the design of the project during the meeting.
The State also sought an appointment with Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw this week to apprise the Centre of its decision to bring some changes in the design as suggested by Mr. Sreedharan to make it environment-friendly.
According to the letter submitted by Mr. Sreedharan, the project should be on an elevated structure and through a tunnel to reduce the extent of land to be acquired for the project, apart from making it environment-friendly and preventing trespassing.
SilverLine was designed mostly on land to reduce the cost. The standard gauge is feasible for the project, as it will reduce the axle load from 25 tonnes to 16 tonnes for passenger traffic, saving costs and making the elevated structure light and sleek.
Stations should be about 30 km apart instead of the 40-80 km suggested in the detailed project report of SilverLine as this would allow the State to bring more people to the trains. Initially, the line should be drawn up to Kannur from Thiruvananthapuram for a length of approximately 430 km, covering the distance in 3 hours and 15 minutes. The projected ridership from Kasaragod does not support the investment to be made on the stretch between Kannur and Kasaragod.
He also suggested that when the high-speed rail network of the country spreads, SilverLine can be linked with other high-speed networks with the speed restricted to 200 kmph. The cost for the project is expected to be around ₹200 crore per km, totalling ₹86,000 crore for 430 km and ₹1,00,000 crore on completion of the project in six years.
Land acquisition will be minimal as the line will go through an elevated structure and tunnel, and only 20 m width of land has to be acquired for the project.
