Kerala forms expert panel to examine E Sreedharan's high-speed rail proposal from TVM to Kannur

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has constituted an expert committee to examine Metroman E Sreedharan's proposal for a high-speed railway corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, based on an interim report from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

According to a government order issued by the Transport Department on June 5, DMRC has prepared and submitted an interim report for the implementation of the Kerala High-Speed Rail project, envisaging a standard-gauge rail corridor spanning 473.20 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur.

The committee has been tasked with conducting a detailed assessment of the proposal from technical, financial and environmental perspectives before the government takes a decision on the project.

The expert panel will be headed by the Secretary, Transport (Railways), who will serve as the convenor. The other members are railway expert J Vinayan, retired Principal Chief Commercial Manager of Southern Railway; finance expert Dr C Veeramani, Director of the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram; and environmental expert Sridhar Radhakrishnan.

N S K Umesh IAS, Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, will assist the Transport Secretary and facilitate the functioning of the committee. The government has directed the committee to undertake a comprehensive examination of the proposed rail corridor, including its technical feasibility, financial viability, environmental implications, implementation challenges and potential socio-economic benefits for the state.

The panel has been asked to submit its remarks and recommendations within three weeks from the date of the order.

The committee was constituted based on a proposal on Kerala High-Speed Rail forwarded by the Secretary to the Chief Minister, drawing on the interim report prepared by DMRC. The order was issued by Transport Secretary K Biju IAS.

The UDF government denotified the LDF's SilverLine semi-high-speed rail corridor after coming to power. Sreedharan's proposal was accepted as an alternative to this project.

According to the proposal submitted by Sreedharan to Chief Minister VD Satheesan, the 473.2-km corridor would have 23 stations and would be constructed predominantly as an elevated structure. Only a 6.5-km stretch within Thiruvananthapuram city was proposed to run through tunnels. The line is planned to connect all three major airports in Kerala —Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode— while Kannur Airport would be linked through a dedicated 10-km access road. The end-to-end travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur was estimated at three hours and 30 minutes.