Kerala to get ₹63,941-cr High-Speed Rail Corridor

State PWD Minister, G Sudhakaran, informed that Kerala government has cleared the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod high-speed rail corridor involving an investment of ₹63,941 crore and it will soon get the green signal from the Union government. Silver Line project will be built in a joint venture between Indian Railways and Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRail), the JV Company. The State's Cabinet has already given its approval to the detailed project report (DPR), submitted by the project implementing agency KRail. The line will connect the twin destinations through trains with operational speeds of 200 km per hour, covering the 529.45-km journey in four hours. These trains will cover the busy Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam stretch in 90 minutes, which at present takes more than four hours. Silver Line will run parallel to the existing railway line from Kasaragod to Tirur, while an alternative greenfield alignment has been chosen for Tirur-Thiruvananthapuram stretch. The trains will have stopovers at Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, and Kannur en route to Kasaragod. The DPR for the mega rail project was prepared by Paris-based consultant Systra, which had submitted the report to the Union and the State governments for their mandatory approvals.