Kottayam: In a major step towards the implementation of the High Speed Railway (HSR) line project in Kerala, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has prepared a feasibility report for a corridor between Thiruvanthapuram and Kasargod.
The study for the HSR line has been carried out along the 430-km corridor from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur, the DMRC said in a press release.
Onmanorama had reported the details of the preliminary study report last December.
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Finance minsiter Thomas Issac had mentioned in his budget speech that the high speed corridor has been prepared.
The proposed corridor starts at Thiruvananthapuram and ends at Kannur with total nine stations, major ones being Kochi and Kozhikode. With the trains running at a maximum speed of 300km per hour and an average speed of 250 km per hour, the HSR line is expected to cover distance between Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam in 20 minutes; Kochi 45 minutes; Kozhikode 90 minutes; and Kannur, two hours. It takes 12 hours for normal trains to reach Kannur from Thiruvananthapuram, the release said.
The DMRC hopes to commence works on the project immediately after it is approved by the Central and state governments and complete it within a period of nine years.
The HSR line is expected to carry 0.95 lakh passengers per day in the year 2025-26 and 1.73 lakh in the year 2040.
The HSR connection between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur will start from Thiruvananthapuram with this station located on a non-inhabited land at Kochuveli, nearly 8 km from the city centre.
The proposed location is very close to the existing Kochuveli Railway station.
DMRC said that while designing the horizontal alignment, efforts have been made to avoid habited areas to minimise the demolition.
Nine stations
The proposed HSR line has nine stations at Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Valancherry, Kozhikode and Kannur. Provision has been kept for one more future station at Nedumbassery.
The alignment is about 4 to 8 km east of the existing railway line avoiding heavily built up areas. Of the 430 km, 105 km will be underground in tunnels, 190 km elevated on viaducts and balance length is at grade/cut and cover.
The stations have been located in such a way that they can be easily connected to the existing railway stations and bus stations by feeder bus services so as to establish a truly integrated transport system.
Apart from saving time, the project also aims at reducing accident rates and pollution by taking away about 65,000 trips per day from road.
