DPR recommends strange ways to divert passenger traffic to and flood waters away from SilverLine

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Even the opponents of SilverLine project may find Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's sales pitch sensible, even moving. "If not now, when," has been his rallying cry.
None can dispute there is an urgent need for Kerala to transform itself. "This project is not for us, but for our children," Pinarayi keeps saying, in a voice charged with a visionary's disquiet.
Problem is, the chief minister is trying to connect with the people emotionally, not realistically. The SilverLine DPR throws up more questions than answers, and Pinarayi is unwilling to address these.
Instead, he and his Cabinet colleagues are providing false assurances. The chief minister says that there will be no walls or fencing on either side of the K-Rail when it is already known that fencing or a compound wall is mandatory for any rail operating above 140 km per hour.
His culture minister Saji Cherian says with the utmost conviction that the SilverLine project does not have a buffer zone concept. A few hours later, the K-Rail MD himself contradicted the minister.
In fact, the DPR is filled with far more intriguing aspects than compound walls and buffer zones. Ridership, from which the project hopes to recoup most of the investment, is a big question mark. The environment concerns related to the proposed alignment are also so huge that the DPR itself had asked for a more comprehensive study.
Exaggerated passenger interest
The DPR has estimated that the ridership, or the number of daily trips taken, to be 79,934 in 2025-26 (this year was adopted as the year the SilverLine will become operational in the understanding that the work on the project would begin in 2020-21). By 2029-20, the ridership is expected to swell to Rs 94,672, by 2041-42 to 1,32,944 and by 2052-53 to 1,58,946.

The ridership forecast for the proposed high speed rail (bullet train) passing through the super busy Mumbai-Surat-Ahmedabad bullet train is less than half of the SilverLine projection. While SilverLine expects nearly 80,000 trips when it starts chugging, the Mumbai-Surat high speed rail expects just 32,000 trips when it becomes functional by 2023.
The DPR for Mumbai-Surat high speed rail seems to have been drawn up with more rigour, too. If the Mumbai-Surat bullet rail DPR has used nearly 7,000 samples to arrive at the figure, the SilverLine DPR was satisfied with just 380 samples.
Rot of highways, fodder for SilverLine
The bigger issue is even this suspect ridership could be achieved only if certain regressive conditions are met. The DPR says that other modes of transport - road and the traditional rail - should become less attractive for the SilverLine to be seen as a better option.
Improvement of highways could kill SilverLine before it is even born. Here is what the DPR says: "The improvement projects of national highways and state highways such as road widening and building of bypasses to NH 66, NH 766, SH 69, Kasaragod- Kanjagad Road etc., which are parallel to the alignment of the SilverLine shall have a negative impact on the ridership of SilverLine."
The DPR has a solution. Introduce tolls, make travelling on highways prohibitively costly. "This may lead to a positive shift to SilverLine," the DPR says.
Railway development, too, could render SilverLine unviable."The doubling of lines, addition of 3rd line and improvement to curves and improving speed on the exiting railway operations will have impact on the ridership of the SilverLine,” the DPR says. Again, fare increase is seen as the only way to save SilverLine. “With no increase in fares, the passengers travelling by sleeper and 3rd AC class may not be willing to shift to SilverLine," the DPR says.
The DPR virtually reads like a conspiracy against existing modes of transport.
Flood of worries
Even assuming that the conspiracy works and passengers ditch other modes for SilverLine, there is no guarantee that they would be safe. The K-Rail is still in the dark about the hydrological impact on the semi high speed rail.
The flood impact is "very high" or "high" for four of the 11 proposed stations or yards. In the rest, the impact is said to be "moderate" on the remaining seven stations on the basis of a "rapid assessment" carried out.
"The rail line proposed is running almost nearer to the coast for the considerable part of the alignment. However, this rapid EIA (environment impact assessment) does not cover the Tsunami/ Tidal effects in detail, it is imperative to consider the same during the comprehensive EIA. Further, the DPR says that "the alignment is passing through flood prone area throughout and sand piping prone area in Kasaragod taluk."
Take Kollam station, for instance. It is proposed in a flood plain. The Ayathil thodu with a catchment area of 15.3 square km and flood discharge of 25 cubic metre per second is running parallel and very close to the rail line. The DPR wants the ‘thodu’ to be re-aligned and diverted for the project. The chief minister had earlier said in the Assembly that the rail line did not cut through any waterbodies.
The yard at Kasaragod is also proposed on a flood plain, and has a water body that causes flooding even for short duration storms. Like the alignment of the Kollam yard, the DPR says the alignment of the Kasaragod yard also “requires more study”.
The chief minister behaves like he has addressed all these concerns.