Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (K-Rail), tasked with constructing the state government's semi-high-speed rail network, clarified on Monday that it has not abandoned the controversial SilverLine project.
The clarification came after media reports emerged that the agency has stopped the project. “The rumour that the proposed Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram semi-high speed project has been abandoned is baseless,” K-Rail said in its Facebook post.
K-Rail said that neither the State government nor the Central government has decided to pull the plug on the project.
The first phase of the project, which received in-principle approval from the Central government, is in progress, K-Rail said. “Once we get the Railway Board's approval, we will progress to the next stage of the project, which was formulated envisioning the next 50 years of the state's future. For the final approval, the details demanded by the Central Railway Board as part of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) have been submitted to the Southern Railways,” said the post.
Apparently, various agencies have been undertaking studies on hydrological impact, complete environmental impact, protection of mangroves, coastal preservation and more. K-Rail has handed over detailed information and mapping regarding the railway property where the SilverLine alignment would be on, railway buildings and crossings to the Southern Railway, the post said.
“SilverLine DPR was handed over to the Railway Board in September 2020, and K-Rail has already answered their questions around the same time,” the post said.
Details of the land to be acquired for SilverLine were collected from the combined survey conducted by K-Rail and Southern Railway that collected details on railway lands and the number of level-crossing. In the nine districts that the rail crosses through, SilverLine will need to acquire land, the post said.
