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29 March 2024

Kerala seeks UAE funds for stalled $10bn high-speed rail

The government of the Indian state of Kerala is seeking multi-billion dollar funding for the proposed high-speed railway project. (Supplied)

Published
By V M Sathish

The government of the Indian state of Kerala is seeking multi-billion dollar funding for the proposed high-speed railway project in Kerala, a dream project of the incumbent Oommen Chandy government, that will reduce travel time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargodu to three hours or less.

The cost of the entire project, at 2011 price level, was estimated at Rs.1180 billion.

Three years ago, T. Balakrishnan, chairman and managing director of Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd, and the then managing director of Infrastructures Kerala Ltd, visited the UAE and urged non-resident Indian investors to participate in the multi-million dollar High Speed Railway Corridor project linking the northern and southern parts of Kerala to ease train travel from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod and Mangalore. He had visited the UAE to invite NRIs and high net worth Indian businessmen in the Gulf to participate in the project.

"The total cost of the project will be about Rs1,180 billion and it will be sought mainly from international funding agencies,” Balakrishnan had said in April 2012.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was a special invitee to the Global Annual Investment Meet in Dubai earlier this month, met UAE officials to discuss UAE's investment in Kerala. Chandy was in the UAE for three days in April 2015 for high level investment meetings.

“The high speed railway project is crucial for Kerala's overall development. It would require investment of not less than $10 billion and its funding has been a major hurdle. When the UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri asked the Chief Minister to submit three viable projects for future investment by the UAE in key infrastructure or development projects, I suggested the high speed railway project from the Kerala side,” said P H Kurien, Principal Secretary (IT), Government of Kerala, who was with the CM.

The Kerala Chief Minister and his official delegation met several key officials including the UAE Minister of Economy who promised to look into three major infrastructure projects in Kerala. The Chief Minister told media in the first week of April that “we will identify and convey these three projects later.”

“We are seriously considering the high speed railway project to be submitted to the UAE for funding and investment but the government has to take a decision and send the project proposal to the UAE,” confirmed Kurian during his visit to the UAE with an official delegation.

A feasibility study has already been conducted for the high speed railway project and the first phase will be covering the distance from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala, where the UAE has already made investments for Smart City, Vallarpadam project, etc.

The high speed rail project was held back by the state government due to lack of budget provisions in the railway budget of 2014 and the central government’s plan to extend the Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Kochi High Speed Railway to Thiruvananthapuram.

The details of the three major projects that the Kerala Government proposes to submit to the UAE funding has not yet been revealed by the Chief Minister, the Principal Secretary, P H Kurian, who accompanied Oommen Chandy, told to this reporter:

“The high speed railway project could be one of the three projects that we will submit to the UAE for investment,” he said.

According to Kurian, the high speed railway will be built on an elevated track 20 meters high and would require the least amount of land. “The main problem in carrying out the fast railway project is the heavy noise from the bullet train that would require the use of silencer in residential areas,” the state government official revealed.

The proposed 650km high speed railway across many districts of Kerala and neighbouring Karnataka state is planned to be funded by private or foreign investors. While it takes more than 10 to reach Kasargod from Tiruvananthapuram at present, with high-speed rail, the distance will be covered in three and a half hours.

The project was scheduled to be implemented as a joint venture between the state government and a private partner to be selected at a later stage. T Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary (Industry and Commerce), Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Managing Director of KSIDC, and T P Thomas Kutty, Executive Director of KSIDC, are the first directors of the new company. The company will undertake detailed feasibility report for the project and identify suitable rail technology to implement the high speed corridor. Steps have also been initiated for the release of a notification for the acquisition of land needed to implement the project. The width of the land required to be acquired for the rail corridor is 13 metres. The high speed corridor will use a greenfield route to keep  rehabilitation task to the minimum, according to the company formed for this purpose.

The proposed high speed corridor starts from Thiruvananthapuram and ends at Mangalore in Karnataka with nine major stations initially and three more stations adding in the future. Trains will run at an average speed of about 250kmph with nine stations proposed in the first phase including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam,Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod and Mangalore. Three more stations are planned in the next phase at Chengannur, Tirur and Thalassery. The proposal has sought consent of Karnataka government for connecting the high speed route to Mangalore covering about 50km. Earlier, a pre-feasibility report was prepared for the portion between Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam as Stage I.

The rail project, involves acquisition of 242 hectares of land in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi segment and 552 hectares on the Kochi-Kasaragod stretch. The alignment in general requires 15 to 20 metres width only, according to the company. The supporting structure is planned to be on a single pillar spaced 25 metres apart in a bid to avoid large-scale acquisition of land. Tunnels have also been proposed at various locations. The track is designed for a speed of 350km per hour. A distance of 190 km between Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi could be completed in 53 minutes, as per projections. The Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod stretch, extending 525km could be covered in 142 minutes.