The government has decided to set up land acquisition cells in 10 districts for acquiring land for the 531.45-km semi-high-speed railway line (SHSR) from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod.
A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Thursday also decided to issue notification for acquiring land for the 10 SHSR stations — Kochuveli, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod — for the third and fourth railway lines that will traverse through 11 districts, except Alappuzha, Idukki and Wayanad.
Only 1,226.45 hectares will have to be acquired for the ₹56,443-crore SHSR corridor that will be away from the existing railway line in the 300-km Kochuveli-Shoranur section and parallel to the existing line from Thirunavaya to Kasaragod with railway bypasses at Vadakara and Thalassery.
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Railways to give land
Railways have agreed to make available unused land of 200 acres in its possession in the corridors where the SHSR runs parallel to the existing line. This will further bring down the land needed for the project.
The move to commence land acquisition comes in the wake of the in-principle approval given by the Union government to the SHSR, named Silver Line, to be executed by a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways on cost-sharing basis.
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Securing funds
The State government and Kerala Railway Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), the special purpose vehicle set up to execute viable projects, have already initiated steps to secure funds from international funding agencies.
The meeting was informed by Managing Director, KRDCL, V. Ajith Kumar, that the detailed project report (DPR) would be ready by March 2020. The government is planning to kick off work this year and complete the project by 2024.
The project is estimated to cost ₹66,079 crore by the time of its completion.