THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government, having received the Union railway ministry nod, will soon begin land acquisition for the semi high-speed rail project, with an aim to begin construction in the current year and make the project operational by 2024. A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday decided to start the land acquisition proceedings soon. As per the feasibility report, 1,226 hectares of land will be needed for the project.
Of that, Railways will give permission to use 200 hectares of its excess land that lie alongside the existing railway line. The state needs to acquire only the remaining land. Aerial and traffic surveys for the 532km-long project have been completed while the alignment will be finalised by March. The 66,000-crore project, a joint venture of the state government and Indian Railways, will be implemented by a company in which both parties will have equal stake.
10 stops for semi high-speed trains
International financial agencies will fund the project and talks are on with the German Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency for the same. Semi high speed trains are expected to reduce the travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to around one-and-a-half hours. With an approved speed of 200 km/hr, it would take just four hours to reach Kasaragod from Thiruvananthapuram.
As per the current proposal, trains boasting coaches of international standard will have stops at Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod. The project is expected to generate around 50,000 employment opportunities during the construction phase and 11,000 jobs, including indirect ones, once completed.
The semi high speed rail project is expected to reduce road traffic and accidents considerably as it will help 7,500 cars keep away daily and around 500 goods carriages give way to rail transport. As per the proposal, the project will be run with solar energy. Works Minister G Sudhakaran, Chief Secretary Tom Jose, Transport Principal Secretary K R Jyothilal and KRDC MD V Ajith Kumar also attended the meeting.