Sreedharan tells Keralam govt. to ‘ignore’ technical panel’s objections over high-speed rail project

Technocrat E. Sreedharan has said that the Keralam government should “ignore” and “overrule” the objections raised by the expert committee which studied the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) high-speed rail project proposal connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur.

He was addressing the media after delivering a talk on the subject organised by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday (October 27).

The expert panel was constituted by the government to examine the technical, financial and environmental aspects of the project. Transport Secretary K. Biju was its convener, and J. Vinayan, C. Veeramani and Sreedhar Radhakrishnan were members representing the subjects railways, finance and environment, respectively. The committee found the DMRC’s report to be “incomplete” and suggested a detailed examination of the technical, financial and environmental feasibility of the project.

Replying to a question, Mr. Sreedharan, however, said that the committee had “no expertise” on the subject and that it had only one railway expert. “They did not properly study the proposal. There were no detailed discussions either. They were asked to focus on five core issues, but they looked at only one. I think the government should ignore and overrule the panel’s report and go ahead with the DMRC proposal. The government has no other way,” he said. Asked if the government was sitting over the proposal because of his political links with the BJP, Mr. Sreedharan said he did not think so.

He claimed that Kozhikode city would be the biggest beneficiary of the project. “The travel time from Kozhikode to Kannur will be reduced to 40 minutes, to Malappuram 90 minutes, Calicut International Airport 10 minutes, Thrissur 47 minutes, Ernakulam one hour and 15 minutes, and Thiruvananthapuram 2 hours 50 minutes. The cost of travel to the capital city will be ₹700,” he claimed.

Mr. Sreedharan also said that the project envisaged a tunnel line to connect Wayanad. Arrangements can be made to carry goods on the line having two separate tunnels, between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. There would be halts at Koduvally, Adivaram, Kalpetta, and Sulthan Bathery. “It will be the safest way, as the tunnels will be 30 to 40 metres below the ground level. I have requested the Geological Survey of India to conduct a study on it,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Sreedharan spoke in detail about the DMRC’s high-speed rail proposal, whose estimated project cost is ₹57,000 crore and completion cost is ₹60,000 crore. Of the total completion cost, ₹36,000 crore is proposed to be funded equally by the Union and State governments. The remaining ₹24,000 crore is proposed to be raised by equity-based crowdfunding through the Securities and Exchange Board of India portal.

The proposed project connects the capital city with Kannur in three-and-a-half hours. The line is proposed to start from Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram and terminate at Mundayad in Kannur. The 473.2-km double line will have 23 stations. It will be fully elevated except for a 6.5-km tunnel in Thiruvananthapuram city. The maximum design speed of the trains will be 200 km per hour; the maximum operational speed will be 180 km per hour, and the average commercial speed will be 135 km per hour.