Kerala Drops SilverLine Project in Favor of New North-South Rail Initiatives
The Kerala government has abandoned the proposed SilverLine corridor as authorities pivot to alternative railway projects spanning 873 kilometers to enhance North-South connectivity.
Kerala has abandoned the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project and will instead pursue 873 kilometres of conventional railway projects aimed at improving north-south connectivity across the state. The decision marks a shift from the earlier plan for a dedicated 530-kilometre corridor linking Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod, which had faced land-acquisition hurdles and local opposition. The new approach focuses on upgrading and expanding the existing rail network rather than building a separate high-speed line.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the Kerala government has decided not to proceed with the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project linking Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. In a written reply dated July 31, Vaishnaw said the state government had received a letter and an interim report from former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director E. Sreedharan proposing a standard-gauge high-speed corridor between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. An expert committee constituted by the Kerala government reviewed the interim report and concluded that the proposal could not be taken forward in its present form (Indian Express).
The decision effectively shelves a dedicated 530-kilometre corridor that had faced persistent land-acquisition hurdles and local opposition. In its place, the Centre and state are advancing a slate of conventional railway works covering 873 kilometres aimed at strengthening north-south connectivity across Kerala. According to the minister’s reply, surveys and detailed project report (DPR) preparation have been sanctioned for six projects totalling 804 route kilometres. These include a third line between Mangaluru, Kasaragod and Shoranur (307 km), a third line between Ernakulam and Kayamkulam via Kottayam (115 km), a third line between Kayamkulam and Thiruvananthapuram (105 km), third and fourth lines between Shoranur and Ernakulam (107 km), third and fourth lines between Shoranur and Coimbatore (99 km), and a third line between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil (71 km) (Indian Express).
Separately, five doubling works spanning 69 kilometres have been sanctioned at a combined cost of ₹2,976 crore. The segments are Kumbalam–Turavur (16 km, ₹1,172 crore), Ernakulam–Kumbalam (8 km, ₹808 crore), Turavur–Mararikulam (21 km, ₹451 crore), Alappuzha–Ambalapuzha (13 km, ₹324 crore), and Mararikulam–Alappuzha (11 km, ₹221 crore). Vaishnaw noted that after DPRs are finalised, project sanctioning requires consultation with stakeholders including state governments and approvals from bodies such as NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance, adding that exact timelines depend on those appraisals (Indian Express).
Beyond the new surveys and sanctioned doubling, 267 kilometres of railway line projects are already under execution in the state across seven ongoing works with a total sanctioned cost of ₹11,271 crore. The largest among them is the Thiruvananthapuram–Kanyakumari doubling (87 km, ₹4,494 crore), followed by the Angamali–Sabarimala new line (111 km, ₹3,801 crore). The previously mentioned Kumbalam–Turavur and Ernakulam–Kumbalam doubling projects also figure in the ongoing list (Indian Express).
The shift marks a move from a standalone high-speed alignment to incremental capacity augmentation on the existing network. While the expert committee’s rejection of the Sreedharan proposal closes the current chapter on SilverLine, the minister’s reply leaves the sequencing of the 873 kilometres of surveyed and sanctioned works contingent on the completion of DPRs and inter-ministerial clearances.
Indian Express