Thiruvananthapuram: Compensation for land acquired for SilverLine, the planned Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram semi high-speed rail corridor, will be two to four times more than that of the market price, Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail) has said.

Houses, other buildings, and trees will fetch double their price as compensation. Land with a width of 15 to 25 metres will be acquired for the project, V Ajith Kumar, Managing Director of K-Rail said.

K-Rail is a joint venture under the State government and Ministry of Railways, set up for augmenting the Railway infrastructure in Kerala. Kumar said 88 kilometres of the project will have elevated tracks to avoid paddy fields and building complexes.

The construction work is expected to create 50 lakh direct and indirect opportunities. Parallel roads along the corridor will provide better connectivity to those giving up part of their property. Over bridges, underpasses of flyovers will be constructed at places with existing roads.

Special cells for acquiring land will be formed soon. The cells have already received government sanction and the departments of revenue and transport are likely to give their approval soon.

Each cell will have 18 government officials each. Besides these special cells, an office under a deputy collector will be set up to coordinate the activities at the state level.

Alignment on website

The government-approved alignment of the planned SilverLine is available on the K-Rail website. Link: https://keralarail.com/alignment-of-silver-line-corridor

Once completed, semi high-speed trains with an operational speed of 200kmph are likely to cover the 529.45-km stretch between Kochuveli in Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod in four hours.