Kochi: Experts have termed the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd's (KRDCL) overhead railway corridor plan “unrealistic and unviable”. They called on the authorities to explore the possibility of running fast trains by modifying existing network. The plan drawn by the KRDCL was to build a high-speed elevated track in the 510-km Thiruvananthapu- ram - Kasargod sector.The broad-gauge corridor to run semi high-speed trains requires 30-metre-wide land in most of the section. It will join the present network only at Kochuveli and Kasaragod.
“The main challenge is the huge investment of '55,000 crore,” said a senior KRDCL official. “When we submitted the preliminary report to the railway board, we got a conditional nod. The first phase should be the most congested 100 km stretch as curvatures limit the maximum attainable speed now below 100.” However, a top railway officer said the ticket charges could equal to flights due to the massive investment. The interest burden alone will come up to
Rs 6000 crore.
“Suppose the system receives one lakh riders, then also the minimum ticket fare will have to be fixed at Rs 2000,” a senior officer at the Railway Constructions Section said. “There are already four airports, and the high-end travellers will fly. As is the Kochi Metro’s lesson, the rest will depend on existing trains if the fare is equal to or less than that of the KSRTC fast passenger services.” Experts want the authorities first to consider third and fourth lines along the existing track and upgrade the infrastructure to run high-speed trains cost-effectively.
As per the traffic and engineering survey (feasibility study) by the railways, a third line in the 84-km Ernakulam-Shornur section can cost only Rs 1,500 crore. ”Railways has surplus land at many sections, and an additional line can be set up at Rs 5000 crore,” the official said. The Railways is already running high-speed trains like Gatimaan Express (Delhi-Gwalior sector) at 160 kmph on the existing network. It has also allocated '10 lakh to start preliminary work on the Ernakulam-Shornur section.
"The KRDCL should take up the third and fourth rail in the entire section and study the possibility of high-speed trains," said P. Krishnakumar, Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC) member. "The current plan should be taken up when all other options fail. Even then the new plan should provide more linkages at places like Shornur.” "Even the project cost of the Kochi Metro runs to '250 crore per km. So it’s almost impossible to set up a separate corridor,” he added.
