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New company to be set up for suburban rail corridor in Kerala by greatindian on 20 September, 2013 - 09:00 AM
avatar greatindian New company to be set up for suburban rail corridor in Kerala on 20 September, 2013 - 09:00 AM

The State Government will set up a separate company (special purpose vehicle) to implement the proposed suburban rail corridor modelled on the Mumbai mass rapid transit system.A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on Thursday.

EQUAL STAKES

The State government and the Railways will have equal stakes in the new company, the Chief Minister told newspersons after the meeting.Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation, which runs the Mumbai transit system, is being asked to prepare a detailed project report. A preliminary report is being requisitioned in the next three months, Chandy added.Formal decisions to this effect will be taken at the meeting of the State Cabinet scheduled for Friday.The suburban services have been envisaged in two separate routes linking the State Capital with Central Kerala. Harippad and Chengannur are the two cities being linked in this manner.

WORLD BANK AID

The Chief Minister expected the World Bank to extend a line of credit to the project which is expected to cost Rs 3,000 crore at an estimated Rs 20 crore per route kilometre.

The most favourable factor going for the project is that there is no need to acquire any land for it.

Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development and Member of Parliament representing Thiruvananthapuram; State Transport Minister Aryadan Muhammed; Managing Director of Mumbai Rail Vikas Nigam Rakesh Saksena; and General Manager of Southern Railway Rakesh Mishra were also present at the meeting.

TRACK DOUBLING

The Southern Railway General Manager informed the meeting that the long-pending work on doubling of tracks in the Shoranur zone will be completed in a month.

Availability of land has been a major issue holding up the track doubling work here, the Chief Minister observed.

Separately, Chandy announced that the State Government had mooted a proposal to introduce a high-speed train in the Ernakulam-Kannur section, linking Central Kerala with Malabar.

The train will stop only at one point in a district and is envisaged to cover the distance in three-and-a-half hours. The Chief Minister said that the Railways have responded favourably to the proposal.