Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise functioning under the Ministry of Railways, has been roped in to lay the ₹555-crore rail link to the proposed Vizhinjam International Multi-purpose Deepwater Seaport.
A MoU regarding this was signed between the KRCL and the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL), a special purpose company fully owned by the government with a mandate to attract private sector participation for the port's development and to set up the external infrastructure, on Tuesday here. The MOU was signed between Jayakumar, the managing director of VISL, and Sanjay Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of KRCL, in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister for Ports Kadannapally Ramachandran at the Secretariat.
The 12-km rail connectivity to Vizhinjam seaport will be from Balaramapuram on the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Nagercoil Junction-Kanyakumari railway line. Of the 12-km rail link from Balaramapuram, eight to nine kms will be through tunnels to reduce displacement of people.
The rail link is to be established by May 2022 and 12.14 hectares of land is to be acquired by the State government on the Balaramapuram-Vizhinjam stretch for link-up to the main railway line.
The KRCL, experts in the country in constructing tunnels, has been tasked with the work after the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), under Ministry of Railways, backed out from the project citing other works it had at hand.
Now, the KRCL would have a fresh look on the alignment proposed by the RVNL and would finalise the alignment only after considering all aspects, official sources said. The government would also try to get funds from the Sagarmala project of the Union Ministry of Shipping for laying the rail link.
Doubling and electrification of 86.56-km Thiruvananthapuram Central- Kanyakumari rail line began on January 23. The doubling works was taken up at an estimated cost of ₹1,431.90 crore.
