The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle nod to a 583-km-long Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod on the lines of the Delhi – Meerut RRTS corridor.
A statement from the CM’s office said that the State would send an official letter to the Union government soon, expressing its intent to develop a high-speed rail corridor connecting the north and south ends of the state. The transport department will be tasked with initiating the necessary consultations with officials of the Union government for the same.
The Cabinet nod to the project comes just days after technocrat E Sreedharan spoke about the Union government mulling a high-speed rail corridor between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod as an alternative to the Silverline project mooted earlier by the State. Sreedharan had claimed that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would be the implementing agency and that he would head consultations to prepare the DPR soon.
Terming a ‘high-speed rail system’ a core component of the State government’s development blueprint, the CM’s office said that such a project, guided by environment-friendly construction keeping in mind the high population density of the state, was essential for the upliftment of the state’s social and economic arena.
It admitted that the Silverline project, which received opposition from locals and environmental activists, cannot be taken forward without the express permission from the Union government and the Railways.
The RRTS would be built using elevated viaducts and tunnels instead of at-grade embankments, reducing the need for large-scale land acquisition and preventing environmental degradation. The system would be integrated with the existing Kochi Metro and the planned Metro projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
While the State and Union governments would allocate 20% each of the total project cost, the remaining 60% would be sought using long-term loans from international banks and agencies. The project would be implemented in a phased manner, with the first phase of 284 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur expected to be completed by 2033. The RRTS in due course can be extended to neighbouring states like Coimbatore in TN and Mangaluru in Karnataka.
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