THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two months after the Southern Railway expressed reservations over sharing railway land for SilverLine, the Railway Board is likely to take a fresh view on the semi-high-speed rail project.
Based on the board’s direction, officials of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail) and divisional railway managers in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad met last week to discuss the issues.
An RTI report by K-Rail Virudha Samiti activist M T Thomas revealed that Southern Railway expressed reservations over giving railway land. However, K-Rail MD V Ajith Kumar said it was a unilateral letter sent to the board two months ago and fresh talks were held based on the board’s directions. “K-Rail’s views were taken into account during the discussion.
We are open to minor corrections once the project gets the nod. It could be about alignment changes or demolishing buildings. This is how big projects are executed,” said Ajith Kumar. A revised list will be sent to the board by incorporating the K-Rail’s views, he said.
Railway officials opine that railway land should be used for future expansion of railways, whether it is track doubling or commercial development.
Under the revised plan, K-Rail has scaled down land requirements from 183 hectares to 107.8 hectares. The major acquisition comes on the Tirur- Kasaragod stretch where SilverLine runs parallel to the existing railway line. The `64,000-crore project is a joint venture of the Railways Ministry and Kerala government.