State cabinet approves Kerala's Silver Line Semi High-Speed Rail Project

Ernakulam, India (Urban Transport News): The Kerala State Government on Wednesday announced that it has approved the detailed project report (DPR) of a long-awaited and ambitious Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod semi-high speed rail project (Silver Line). This information is shared by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan through a Facebook post.

The Silver Line can be seen as a game-changer project to recast infrastructure and economic development in the state. According to the Chief Minister, the government will approach financial institutions and nationalized banks to raise funds for the land procurement of the Silver Line project.

He further said that the loans will be also made through four foreign financial institutions viz. Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), German state-owned bank KfW Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The path will be built in a 531 km distance between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. The trains could train would run as faster as 180-200 kilometers per hour. One could reach Ernakulam in one and a half hours (which takes five hours now) and Kasargod in four hours (which takes 12 hours now) from Thiruvananthapuram. There will be nine bogies, which can carry 645 passengers at a time. There will be two kinds of classes, business, and standard. We expect the project to finish by 2025. Including Kochi airport, there will be 11 stations.

The Ministry of Railways has already given in-principal approval for the Rs 63,941 crore Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi High-Speed Rail project in December last year. The DPR will now send for the approval of the Railway Board, NITI Aayog, and the Central Government Cabinet. Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail), a joint venture company between the Ministry of Railways and Kerala Government, is executing this 529.45-km Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi High-Speed Rail project (Silver Line).

On April 15, 2020, the board of directors of K-Rail had approved the revised detailed project report (DPR) of the Silver Line project prepared by french consultancy firm Systra MVA after changing alignment. Earlier 10 stations were planned on this route and later Cochin Airport is added in the proposed route of Silver Line. The stations will be at Kochuveli, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Cochin Airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod. According to K-Rail authority, the proposed Silver Line alignment from Thiruvananthapuram to Tirur will be a Greenfield corridor and parallel to the existing railway route from Tirur to Kasaragod.

The Silver Line corridor will enable the running of semi high-speed trains at an operational speed of 200 km per hour. This double line greenfield corridor will facilitate to reach Ernakulam in one-and-a-half hours and up north Kasaragod in four hours from Thiruvananthapuram.