NRI funding sought for Kerala high-speed rail

The Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation and Infrastructures Kerala Limited (Inkel) are wooing 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.

T Balakrishnan, chairman and managing director of Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd, and managing director of Infrastructures Kerala Ltd, said he expects NRIs and high net worth Indian businessmen in the Gulf to participate in the project.

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

“The High Speed Railway Corridor is a dream project of Kerala which cannot be completed with government funding. The total cost of the project will be about Rs1,180 billion and it will be sought mainly from international funding agencies,” said Mr Balakrishnan.

He said, given the experience of completing major infrastructure projects like Nedumbassery airport with NRI funding, the rail project is a good investment opportunity. There will be stops at major district headquarters and long term plan is to link the railway line to Udupi and Mangalore in Karnataka.

“The ‘Build Operate and Transfer’ option is also not ruled out. High speed railway will be mainly for faster passenger movement from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargode. The train is expected to travel at 350 km per hour on an elevated rail line that would reduce the quantity of land needed for the project.  In major cities, the train will be moving through tunnels.”

Mr Balakrishnan was in Dubai as part of MACE (Mar Athanasius College of Engineering)  Global Meet at Dubai.

“Kerala’s economy is growing faster than the national economy.  There are six similar high speed railway projects in India. Inkel has been formed as a public- private partnership firm to utilise the expertise and finances of overseas Keralites for such projects,” he said.

He added a container freight station is also coming up at Kochi. He said the investment climate in Kerala had improved and urged Indian engineers and entrepreneurs working in the UAE and other Gulf countries to take part in the high speed rail project that could dramatically change the passenger travel scene in Kerala.

He added that investors from the UAE had invested in major projects in Kerala. He said a major highway corridor project linking Coimbatore with Ernakulum is planned. “The size of the highway corridor project is almost similar to the high speed railway project. Its completion will ease container movement from Kochi and Coimbatore and back,” he added.

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