Railway officials visited the proposed site for the Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) on Thursday. Southern Railway general manager Rakesh Mishra inspected the location as the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) had submitted the draft report on rail connectivity for the multi-crore port to project proponents Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL).
Even though the RVNL is a subsidiary of the Railways, the latter has to formally approve the alignment.
“The RVNL has submitted the draft. We have to finalise it and get the final approval from the Railways,” VISL CEO A S Suresh Babu said.
The alignment will connect Vizhinjam to Nemom, a distance of 12 kilometres. The original proposal was to connect the port to Neyyattinkara, but that plan was dropped on account of ‘social issues’. Land acquisition for rail connectivity has not yet started.