Kerala moots extending high-speed rail to Mangaluru; Railways cites serious concerns

The Union Railway Ministry has raised serious objections against the Kerala government's flagship high-speed rail project, SilverLine, even as the CPI(M) government in the state mooted that the proposed line shall be extended up to Mangaluru and sought support of the BJP-ruled Karnataka government too.

During the recently held 30th Southern Zonal Council meeting of South Indian states and Union Territories, the Kerala government mooted that the proposed 530-kilometre SilverLine from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod shall be extended up to Mangaluru. Not only that, the Kerala government sought cooperation from its Karnataka counterpart too. The proposal was earlier mooted at a meeting of the standing committee of Southern Zonal Council held in May.

Kerala government sources said that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would be holding further discussions in this regard with his Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai in this regard soon.

However, according to minutes of the council meeting accessed by DH, the railway ministry intimated on August 24 that the alignment proposed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) for the SilverLine would affect the future development of the existing rail network of the state.

"KRDCL, which is the implementing agency of the project, has planned this corridor parallel to existing tract in approximately 200 kilometres, where 10 to 15 metre of railway land (approximately 185 hectares) would be utilised for the proposed SilverLine. As per the proposal, in the patch where the proposed line is parallel to existing line no space will remain available for any future expansion of railways even to accommodate future third and fourth rail line," said the letter.

The railway also informed that the proposed high-speed line is being built on a standard gauge and hence it cannot be integrated with the existing railway network.

Railways also raised the following concerns, most of which were raised by experts earlier. Since the soil condition is very weak at many areas of the proposed line, strengthening and stabilisation will not easily work. High boundary walls on both sides of the track will bifurcate the state and will also block the natural drainage of water. The financial viability of SilverLine is questionable as debt servicing with mainly passenger traffic is not possible.

Meanwhile, a total of 26 issues were discussed in the council meeting of which nine were resolved and 17 reserved for further consideration. Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged the states to explore a joint solution to the issues related to the sharing of waters.