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For a flagship project with the potential to become the backbone of Kerala’s transport infrastructure, K-Rail‘s SilverLine keeps running into red signals. 12 years after the first proposal, it still dangles between state and union government bureaucracies.
Ironic, for a high-speed rail project.
K-Rail’s SilverLine was originally conceived as a proper high-speed line operating at 320 kmph. However, it was inexplicably downgraded to a 200 kmph semi-high-speed rail project within a couple of years of inception.
A high-intensity negative ‘pro-poor’ campaign around the 1.2 lakh crore rupee Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR (MAHSR) project may have influenced the state’s decision. In retrospect, it was a bad move. The Union government and the governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra went ahead anyway. The project, though delayed by land acquisition hassles, is now under construction.
SilverLine is now stuck with a fundamental flaw. Planned service speed was downgraded, but the project’s standard gauge plan was retained. This means it cannot be physically linked to Indian Railways’ existing network. Nor can it become a useful part of the upcoming national HSR network.
Stranger still is the plan to run alongside the existing Indian Railways line for long stretches. K-Rail also seems unwilling to take SilverLine deep into major cities like Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. NHSRCL has done better with MAHSR, with the HSR going to the centre of Mumbai, Vadodara and Ahmedabad. Time saved for passengers despite additional costs will likely be worth it.
In effect, Kerala wants to invest around 70,000 crores to build an isolated network. Kerala deserves better.
Kerala Should Revisit 320 kmph High Speed Rail
The state should go back to the original plan of a 320 kmph high-speed rail system. Spending 1.5 lakh crores on a bleeding-edge 320 kmph line might prove better value than spending at least half that amount on a slower, lower-tech network. K-Rail can also do better with the planned alignment. In effect, a fresh look at the project is needed.
HSR will compress intra-state travel times dramatically. Being able to move across the state in a mere couple of hours, and between key cities in half an hour, will be of great value. A faster rail system in highly urbanized Kerala will save costs, boost industry and tourism over the long term. The environmental benefits of getting people to switch to public transport are already well established.
SilverLine Travel Time Compared
| Distance | SilverLine Semi HSR | HSR | Indian Railways | Road | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | 200 kmph | 320 kmph | 110-120 kmph | — | |
| Travel Time | |||||
| Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargode | 530 km | 3:52 hours | 2:20 hours* | 9 hours | 13:15 hours |
| Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam | 195 km | 1:26 hours | 0:47 hours* | 3:05 hours | 5:15 hours |
| Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode | 358 km | 2:37 hours | 1:26 hours* | 6:42 hours | 9:15 hours |
Like MAHSR, K-Rail could theoretically add more stations to the route and introduce ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ services with different stoppage patterns to collect short-distance traffic.
Much has changed since the time Kerala’s HSR was first proposed and then downgraded to a semi-HSR. A coherent National Rail Plan now exists in the place of randomly sprouting proposals. The Union government is already working on several new HSR routes. A SilverLine HSR should be one of them.
If it could be done before, it can be done again. Time to go back to the original plan.
Author: Gopal Gwalabanshi
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Existing railway corridor needs to improve to increase the speed of service and more number of trains. Remaining huge savings to be used for sestablishing medical colleges, engineering colleges and IITs.