Trivandrum: The interim report of the proposed Kerala High Speed Railway (KHSR) line from Thiruvananthapuram City to Kannur has been submitted by DMRC to both the Central (Ministry of Railways) and State Governments.
The KHSR is a double-line, 473.20 Km long, from Thiruvananthapuram City (Poojapura) to Kannur (Mundayad), with 23 stations. The line is fully elevated except for 6.5 Kms in Thiruvananthapuram city, where it will be in tunnels. The line touches all three Airports of Kerala, except Kannur, which will also be served by a 10 Kms exclusive road. The total journey time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur would be 3 hours and 30 minutes.
The HSR line has been proposed on Standard Gauge as axle load can be reduced to 15 tonnes as against 25 tonnes in Broad Gauge, thus substantially reducing the investment and operational costs. The average inter-station distance is 21.5 Kms.
The maximum design speed of trains will be 200 Kmph, the maximum operational speed 180 Kmph and the average commercial speed 140 Kmph. The rolling stock, signalling, track and traction proposed are already available and tested in India itself.
Trains will be with 12 coaches with a total seating capacity of 800. Train length can be increased to 16 coaches, if needed later. Initially, during peak hours (6 AM to 11 AM and 4 PM to 8 PM), trains are planned to run every 20 minutes and during the non-peak hours, every forty minutes. The total carrying capacity would be 54,400 passengers per day.
The land required would be minimal – just 20 metre width of land will be acquired for construction. After construction is over, the land can be given back to the original owners on a lease basis, if required, with certain conditions for cultivation or grazing.
The completion cost of the project is estimated to be ? 60,000/- crores of which ? 36,000/- crores will be met by equity by the Central and State Governments on 51:49 basis. Balance ? 24,000/- crores is proposed to be raised through crowdfunding. The average per kilometre cost of the project is only ? 127/- crores. The construction can be completed within five years after approval.
In the second phase, the line can be extended from Kannur to Kasaragod and in subsequent phases from Kozhikode to Kalpetta; Pattambi to Palakkad; Thrissur to Palakkad etc. Keeping these future expansions in view, junction stations for future expansion have been planned in the initial phase itself.