Kerala gets centre’s nod for Rs66,000-cr semi-high speed rail corridor project

An order towards this was issued by the ministry of railways and conveyed to Kerala chief secretary Tom Jose, the chief minister confirmed via in the Facebook post.

The SHSR, named `Silver line’ is proposed to be a joint venture of the Kerala government and the centre’s ministry of railways. 

Trains on the track, which passes through 11 of the 14 districts, will run at 200 km per hour. Once completed, the rail corridor is expected to cut travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod from 12 hours to 4 hours.

Kerala Rail Development Corporation (KRDCL), the implementing agency for the 540-km double-line project, had submitted the proposal to the railway ministry for building a third and fourth lines between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod.

V Ajith Kumar, managing director, KRDCL, said the approval was a milestone in the project implementation. It's expected to fast-track the economy of Kerala.

"The state cabinet approved the project after a year-long feasibility study, conducted by KRDCL," said Kumar.

The project is expected to create 50,000 jobs during the implementation phase and another 11,000 on completion. Seen as a game-changer for Kerala's infrastructure and economic development, SHSR is to be implemented with minimum land acquisition.

Meanwhile, the ministry of railways has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UK’s University of Birmingham for establishment of a centre of excellence for next generation transportation systems.

The National Rail Transport Institute, a deemed university under the ministry of railways, signed the MoU with the University of Birmingham for setting up its first centre of excellence for Next Generation Transportation Systems. 

Indian Railways is a founding partner of this centre and would provide proprietary data, professional expertise, spare equipment and other available resources directly or through its centralised training institutes and research organisations. The centre would also invite partnerships from other industry and academic organisations as it develops in the future.

This centre will be involved in promoting development of the rail and ransportation sector in India which include offering post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, customised training programmes for in-service professionals, undertaking joint research projects in areas such as signalling, communication, asset maintenance, traction and safety and developing benchmarks, standards and certifications for specialised skills. It will also be involved in organising knowledge events, conferences, workshops to disseminate trends, latest research, global best practices and developments in the transportation sector, accessible to industry and academia.