THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite the growing demand from opposition political parties and environmentalists, KRail has decided to stick to its stand that the detailed project report of SilverLine semi highspeed rail corridor need not be published in the public domain.
Managing director V Ajith Kumar said DPR is a ‘technocommercial property’ of K-Rail and the company is legally protected from sharing it in the public. “As per Section 8(1) D and 8(1) E of the Right To Information Act, we have exemption from publishing DPR. Recently, the state information commission dismissed a petition that demanded to publish DPR,” Ajith Kumar said while interacting with delegates at the Janasamaksham event held here to explain about SilverLine and the recent controversies.
To underscore his point, Ajith Kumar said the chief information commission and Supreme Court have issued similar orders regarding the DPR of another high-speed rail project. “Alignment of the project approved by the government has been published on the website. All details of the project, environmental impact assessment report and traffic report are available on the website. These details are being debated too,” he said. “We have nothing to hide. We are only following industrial norms,” he added. The K-Rail MD also defended the use of standard gauge technology for SilverLine.
“The broad gauge versus standard gauge debate has been going on in the country for 25 years. In our country, the maximum speed of trains on broad gauge is only 160 kmph. Hence, all metros, high-speed and semi high-speed trains are designed to be on standard gauge,” he said. The question before us is whether to link that with a slower existing network or with a faster future network,” he said.
The figure of daily ridership, 82,266, in the final feasibility report was calculated based on a real-time traffic survey, said Ajith Kumar. On Tuesday, TNIE reported that the projected figure was almost double the figure of 45,650 estimated in the initial feasibility report. The MD said on a day, 1,58,271 people travel by private vehicles over a distance of 150km in the state. As per the K-Rail survey, 91,975 people also travel by train and 88,442 by bus to cover this distance daily.
“Only a percentage of them were counted in the report as convertible passengers. But, we are sure that the numbers will be more than 82,000,” he said. On questions regarding the alternative transport options like wider roads and more railway lines, Ajith Kumar said the curves on the existing rail line would remain as a hurdle limiting the speed of trains.
There are 626 curves on Thiruvananthapuram- Kasaragod railway line. Only 19km of this stretch remains to be widened. Though widening improves speed, the speed can’t be increased beyond a limit because of widening. As per K-Rail’s analysis, even if the NH is developed as a sixlane road, the average speed of road travel will be around 50 kmph.