Title - Suburban rail in two years

Kochi: A suburban rail service can become a reality in a mere two years unlike  the high-speed rail corridor and similar projects, but to be feasible it has to cover the whole of the state, strongly feels Mr C. Raju, a former Chief Engineer of Konkan Railways and General Manager,  Rites.“We would need to install Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) every one kilometer on the existing rail line to enable more trains to run on the same track. However, the current section selected  -Thiruvananthapuram-Haripad-Chengannur  - is not ideal as the Shoranur-Ernakulam section is the most congested in the state with six lines from Mangalore and Palakkad merging into two here,” he explains.Raju, who had first raised the demand for a suburban service over a decade ago, suggests the feasibility study should cover all three metropolitan cities of Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, and not  just the section running upto Chengannur. In his view, going in for ABS technology may prove cost effective. “The cost could be around Rs 25 lakh per km  and not Rs 20 crore as is being suggested. The main expense will be for converting the level crossing into a RoB or subway. This has to be executed  anyway considering  future traffic,” he adds.

G. Kesava Chandran, DMRC Chief Engineer and former General Manager of Rail Vikas Nigam , who is credited with the construction of the Edappally-Vallarpadam bridge, too feels the ABS system will not take much time to execute as it requires no land acquisition.

“The ABS system can be implemented in a year, although much depends on the agency entrusted with the work. Raising the height of platforms to level with the  suburban trains can be done in another year,” he adds.

Reliable, cost-effective rail plan has many takers

K.P. Sethunath

Kozhikode: The Rs 3,000 crore suburban rail proposed  for the Thiruvananthapuram- Chengannur and Thiruvananthapuram-Harippad sections has received a thumbs up from rail passengers' associations, who see it as the most realistic and suitable mass transport system the government has come up with for the state in recent years.

But they feel it should cover the entire state from Parassala to Kasargod as the project is both affordable and easy to execute with no major land acquisition required.

“The cost of Rs 20 crore per km makes the suburban rail system one of the most cost-effective mass transportation proposals  the government  has come up with in the past few years,” said Mohanan Manalil, a senior engineer with the Kerala State Electricity Board in Kozhikode and secretary of the Malabar Rail Users’ Forum.

“Compared with the proposed high speed rail project, which will cost Rs 230 crore per km to execute, the suburban rail project is realistic and feasible. It is the right model for the state which is short of both economic resources and  land,” he added, however, suggesting that besides studying the feasibility of the project for the Thiruvnananthapuram-Chengannur and Harippad sections, the government should consider taking it to other parts of the state too.

“We could broadly classify the state into three geographical areas - Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Malabar - and do feasibility studies for each taking their local needs into account,” he maintained.

C.E. Chakkunni, general convener of the Malabar Rail Users’ Association too believes the government should consider extending the suburban rail to the Malabar and Kochi regions while the work on the Thiruvananthapuram-Chengannur and Harippad sections continues.  

“If an existing double line track can be used for running a suburban system on the stretches selected, this could be done in Kochi and the Malabar as well,” he argued. Pointing out that the doubling of the Shornur-Kannur section was scheduled to be completed in the next one month, he said this could open the door for a feasibility study for a suburban rail system in the Malabar region.

Also, in his view, the project should encourage the state to come out with a holistic transportation policy for the state. “The government currently has no comprehensive policy or vision document covering  transportation by rail, road, water and air for the state, ” he noted.