The Centre is not on the same page with the State authorities on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod SilverLine semi-high-speed rail hall undertaking since its customary gauge monitor will hamper interoperability with trains that function on the nation’s 70,000-km broad gauge community, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has mentioned.
Speaking to The Hindu right here on Tuesday, he mentioned the 530-km SilverLine hall would thus stay as an remoted one, lower off from remainder of the rail community. Terming its per-km value of ₹120 crore submitted by State authorities as an underestimation, he mentioned it could realistically value between ₹200 and ₹250 crore.
“This will result in the project cost escalating, once work begins at a lesser estimate. We feel hurt when it is politicised, since it is a technical subject and must be handled by people having deep domain knowledge.”
“There is no discrimination against Kerala and it must be viewed objectively. It is even now possible to create a high-speed railway backbone for Kerala by upgrading existing resources,” Mr. Vaishnaw mentioned including that the State authorities may submit a contemporary DPR for SilverLine.
He drove a distinction between a mean of ₹372 crore allotted to the State’s railway improvement annually from 2009 to 2014 and ₹2,033 crore allotted in 2023-’24.
The Minister mentioned Kerala would quickly get a second Vande Bharat practice for the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram hall. This can be adopted by a Vande Bharat practice within the Thiruvananthapuram-Bengaluru sector, the place demand is excessive, as quickly because the sleeper format of the practice was prepared by the 12 months finish or early subsequent 12 months.
Likewise, the high-capacity metro-format of Vande Bharat trains, designed to run as much as a distance of 200 km, may function shuttle companies between Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi at a later stage, masking the space in one-and-a-half hours, he mentioned including that States akin to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been but to get Vande Bharat practice.
Referring to the delay in executing the Sabari Rail undertaking, Mr. Vaishnaw mentioned the 111-km Angamaly-Erumely alignment was lengthy and thru tough terrain. An various might be the 60-km Chengannur-Pampa alignment. This would in flip additionally reduce the additional distance as much as Sabarimala (from the terminal station) from 40 km to 4 km. A ultimate choice can be taken after consulting the State authorities.
Train velocity
On works to extend velocity of trains in Kerala to hew out a high-capacity high-speed rail hall, he mentioned km by km mapping of curves was underneath technique to assess elements akin to density of habitation and availability of land (wanted to straighten curves). Elevated tracks might be constructed wherever wanted and to keep away from steep curves. A research on this regard was anticipated to recover from in one other six months.
In addition, the sign system too can be upgraded, following which the capability of tracks would enhance by 40% in one other 4 years. The ₹1,518-crore work to put a 3rd monitor within the 107-km Ernakulam–Shoranur hall had began.
The works to redevelop key stations within the State have been making good progress and care can be taken to usher in integration with different modes of commute. Big business areas would even be readied, he added.
