KOCHI: The momentum seems to be building in favour of a restart of the SilverLine rail project, albeit in a new avatar, as there seems to be less opposition to the revised plan submitted by ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan.
“The note suggesting revision in the proposed plan is viable,” Sreedharan, who submitted a note suggesting a complete overhaul of the plan, told TNIE. The note, which was submitted to Prof K V Thomas, the Kerala government’s special representative in Delhi, on Monday, was handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Union Railway Ministry, in a letter last week, asked for an update on the SiliverLine rail project from the state government.
“This is our last chance, and we should grab it with both hands,” said Thomas. “We don’t have time to waste,” he said, adding that the project can easily get the Central government’s nod if it’s executed by an agency like DMRC, which has built credibility and reputation over the years.
Sreedharan said the revised project is different from the speed-rail project planned during Oommen Chandy’s tenure in 2012. “The one proposed during Oommen Chandy’s time was a high-speed rail project, whereas this is a semi-high-speed rail project. Similarly, the project cost for the high-speed rail was far higher than the one proposed now,” he said.
The project cost for the high-speed rail was set at Rs 1.18 lakh crore in 2012, whereas the revised plan proposed by ‘Metro Man’ works out to about Rs 1 lakh crore. Also, the semi-high-speed rail project has just six stations, while the high-speed rail project of 2012 suggested a larger number of stations.
Likewise, the proposed high-speed rail under Chandy was to have two phases, one from the state capital to Kochi at Rs 40,000 crore, excluding land costs, while its second phase was to connect Kochi to Udupi in Karnataka. Sreedharan’s plan envisages semi-high-speed rail from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur. The Kannur-Kasaragod stretch would be built only at a later stage.
Thomas said the state government’s financial burden would also be much less under Sreedharan’s plan.
“The state government will have to bear only Rs 30,000 crore of the project cost, excluding the land acquisition, which would be negligible as the revised plan proposes the entire stretch to be either elevated or underground,” he said. The Central government would bear Rs 30,000 crore, and the remaining Rs 40,000 crore would be from external borrowing.