Kerala’s wait for high-speed rail to linger on

Kerala's high-speed rail ambitions face delays as the Union government keeps project plans under wraps, hindering progress.

High-speed rail travel for Keralites, from north to south, is likely to remain a distant dream, despite the three political fronts in Kerala being vocal about it in their election manifestos ahead of the Assembly elections. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has promised to continue efforts for a high-speed rail route from north to south in Kerala while the United Democratic Alliance (UDF) election manifesto has proposed a high-speed rail corridor in collaboration with Indian Railways, along with the implementation of a metro or light metro systems in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) election manifesto has promised a green high-speed railway network connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur, reducing travel time to three hours and fifteen minutes. However, the Union government had kept the detailed project report (DPR) of the semi-high-speed rail project submitted by Kerala under the wraps for years.

A reply from Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Parliament about the high-speed rail project in Kerala suggests that the Centre has no immediate plans for such a project. Instead, the focus will be on enhancing the speed potential of the existing rail network in the State. This includes adding a third and fourth line to various stretches of the railway system.

The railways have sanctioned a survey for the third and fourth lines for the Shoranur-Mangalore route (307 km), third and fourth lines for the Coimbatore-Shoranur route (99 km), third line for the Shoranur-Ernakulam route (106 km), third line for the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam route (via Kottayam) (115 km), third line for the Kayankulam-Thiruvanathapuram route (105 km), third line for the Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil route (71 km) and Mararikulam-Alappuzha Doubling (13 km).

The surveys would be followed by the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR), while sanctioning of the project based on the survey will require consultation with various stakeholders, including State government and necessary approvals, viz., appraisal of NITI Aayog, Ministry of Finance, etc. There was no mention of the new high-speed rail project being worked on by technocrat E. Sreedharan, while the Centre continues to snub the SilverLine semi-high-speed project, terming the DPR submitted by the State government as having many deficiencies.

Although Kerala is preparing the DPR for a 583-km Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) for high-speed rail travel (160-180 km/h), the Centre has stated that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the nodal ministry for RRTS, has not yet received a DPR for RRTS connectivity from the Kerala government.