Aerial survey for Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod semi high-speed rail corridor completed
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An aerial survey to identify the alignment of Kerala’s ambitious Thiruvananthapuram–Kasaragod Semi High-Speed Rail Corridor project, also called Silver Line, has been completed.
The review which began on December 31 scanned the entire 532 km stretch, marking the first vital step the project that aims to reduce the end-to-end travel time across the state to just four hours.
The first day of the survey was from Kannur to Kasaragod and reached Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) remote sensing method was used for the survey that was conducted on a Partenavia P.68 aircraft that took off from Kannur International Airport (KIAL).
The review is being carried out by Hyderabad-based Geokno India Private Limited., which had also conducted LiDAR survey for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
A joint venture by the Kerala government and Ministry of Railways, the project had obtained in-principle approval from the Centre on December 17.
The civil aviation director-general and the Ministry of Defence had given clearance for the week-long survey. Special permission from the Ministry of Defence was required since the aircraft has to fly over highly-sensitive security zones.
The survey completion will enable the organisation to submit a detailed project report (DPR) soon.