Kerala Rail Board nod for semi-high speed rail corridor's project report

Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail's) Board has approved the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and alignment for the proposed Rs 639.4 billion Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi High Speed Rail corridor project.

The DPR will now be submitted to the Government of Kerala for approval, following which it will go to the Ministry of Railways, Niti Aayog and to the Central Cabinet.

The DPR was prepared by Paris-based Systra for the corridor which proposes to construct railway lines between Thiruvananthapuram and Tirur as a Green Field Corridor and between Tirur and Kasaragod as a parallel to the existing Railway alignment.

According to State administration, it is a dream project called ‘Silverline’, the SHSR corridor will spur the economic and social development of the state and will enable running of trains at an operational speed of 200 Km per hour. This will facilitate to reach Ernakulam in one-and-a-half hours and up north Kasaragod in four hours from the state capital.

As per the DPR, the alignment of the corridor is the same as that was approved earlier as part of the feasibility report, except for some minor modifications of plus or minus 10 to 50 meters to avoid religious/heritage structures.