Malappuram: Metro Man E Sreedharan on Friday said the Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) announced by the Kerala government is impractical and alleged that the project was proposed with the intention of derailing his high-speed rail corridor plan for the state.

In a statement issued on the letterhead of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) office in Ponnani—recently opened for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the high-speed rail project—Sreedharan said the state government cannot plan a long railway line from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod under the RRTS framework. He pointed out that the RRTS concept is meant exclusively for metropolitan regions.

The statement explained that RRTS was introduced by the Government of India for the first time in the New Metro Rail Policy of 2017. "Regional rail caters to passenger services within a larger urban agglomerate or metropolitan area, connecting the outskirts to the city centre. Such services have a greater number of halts at shorter distances. RRTS systems are common in large metropolitan cities and help decongest city centres by providing safe and speedy access. In short, it is nothing but a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS)," the statement said.

Sreedharan further clarified that RRTS is not an accepted railway system and cannot be planned or executed under the Railway Act. "It is a transit mode under the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and has to be designed and constructed under the Metro Act. Therefore, it does not come under Indian Railways but under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs," the statement added.

Questioning the state government's approach, Sreedharan asked how Kerala could plan a long railway corridor from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod by calling it RRTS. He said this could only be due to "sheer ignorance or with the sole intention of derailing the proposed high-speed railway."

On February 2, Sreedharan had inaugurated the DMRC office in Ponnani and expressed hope that the Union government would approve his proposal for a high-speed rail line connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. According to the preliminary proposal, the corridor would support a maximum speed of 200 kmph and initially have 14 stations, later expanding to 22.

Proposed stations include Thiruvananthapuram Central, Thiruvananthapuram Airport, Varkala, Kollam, Kottarakkara, Adoor, Chengannur, Kottayam, Vaikom, Ernakulam, Aluva, Nedumbassery, Thrissur, Kunnamkulam, Edappal, Tirur, Karipur, Kozhikode, Koyilandy, Vadakara, Thalassery and Shoranur. Nearly 90 per cent of the corridor is planned as elevated or underground rail. Sreedharan has claimed that the project could be completed within five years.

Despite this, the state government decided to move ahead with an RRTS project from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod and allocated ₹100 crore in the budget for preliminary works.

Meanwhile, during a Rajya Sabha discussion on Friday, MP Haris Beeran asked Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw about the role of E Sreedharan and his proposal. The minister did not specifically mention Sreedharan's project, but said the Centre was ready to support any high-speed rail project in Kerala.