Kerala’s SilverLine Project:
The project entails building a semi high-speed railway corridor through the state linking its southern end and state capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragod.
- The line is proposed to be 529.45 kms long, covering 11 districts through 11 stations.
- When the project is realised, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours on trains travelling at 200 km/hr. The current travel time on the existing Indian Railways network is 12 hours.
- The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), is 2025.
- KRDCL, or K-Rail, is a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways.
- There are several concerns around the project.
- Critics feel that the massive cost will push the State further into debt.
- There is scepticism about the projected passenger patronage.
- But most of all, there are environmental concerns in the backdrop of the 2018 deluge that inundated almost the entire State.
- There’s fear that the project’s embankment will divide the State into two and stifle free movement of water
