Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Railways planning `bullet trains'

Special Correspondent

Feasibility studies on project to begin soon

V.S. Achuthanandan

Thiruvananthapuram : The Railways and the State Government on Thursday opened discussions on the possibilities of operating high speed "bullet trains" on the Thiruvananthapuram- Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram- Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram- Chennai sectors.

Addressing a press conference here soon after holding the discussions with a high-level Railway Board delegation, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the Railways would soon begin feasibility studies on operating the bullet trains which would have an average speed of 250 km an hour.

The Railway Board delegation comprising its Chairman J.B. Batra, Finance Commissioner R. Sivadasan, Chief Operations Manager (Southern Railways) Abraham Jacob, Chief Administrative Officer (Constructions) and Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Manager S. Vijayakumar held discussions with the State Government officials led by Chief Secretary Lissie Jacob prior to their meeting with the Chief Minister and Law Minister M. Vijayakumar who also holds the Railways portfolio. Mr. Batra said the Railways planned to implement the project as a PPP (public private partnership) initiative.

The board had laid out a broad finance package for the project that would involve laying special tracks at an estimated cost of Rs.45 crore a km. The Railways, the State Government and the private players would have a stake in the project, he said.

The proposal was to commercially exploit the land at the various terminals to plough back funds for the project.

The Central Government would be approached for viability gap funding. Mr. Batra was confident that the project would be able to generate revenue within 10 years.

The project was feasible in any sector that had high passenger rider ship, he said. The Chief Minister said the board had given assurance that the foundation stone for the Cherthala bogey unit would be laid within two months. Work on the Multiple Electric Motor Unit (MEMU) workshop proposed in Kollam would begin soon.

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