The announcement of 400 high- speed Vande Bharat trains in the union budget has kicked up a fresh debate in Kerala as many critics of the proposed Silverline said it is a good alternative and asked the state government to drop the project, but the latter said both are different and it will go ahead with its plan.
Besides environmental activists, opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also said it is a good alternative. But K Rail managing director V Ajith Kumar said both are different and the government will go ahead with its plan.
The critics say while Silverline trains can run at a speed of 200 km per hour, Vande Bharat trains can take a speed of 180-200 kmph and it can be a good alternative and prevent mass displacement of people and check high expenditure.
“Both Silverline and Vanda Bharat trains will run at the same speed and railways will bear expenses of the new trains. It is high time the state should reconsider its project which will leave environmental degradation and mass displacement,” said opposition leader V D Satheesan.
BJP state president K Surendran also asked the government to drop the project. “Both will have same speed then why do you want to displace so many people,” he asked. But, former finance minister Thomas Issac said both are different and the state needed both. “Some people are mixing both deliberately, but they are different. Silverline will be an engine of growth for the state,” he said.
The state government’s ambitious high speed rail project ran into trouble after main opposition parties and green activists opposed it vehemently. The ₹63,940 crore project seeks to develop a high-speed rail corridor connecting Kasaragod in the state’s north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. The state needs 1,383 hectares of land for the proposed project, of which 1198 hectares are private.
The rail line will bring down the travel time between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, covering 529.45 km, from 12 hours to four hours.
It will be completed by 2025, said Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL), the nodal agency for the project. But the union government is yet to approve the project and no social and environmental impact studies have been held so far.
Besides the opposition, many green activists also opposed the big budget project saying it will be a disaster for the state.
They said the government conceived the idea when climate experts and others warned it will face recurring calamities due to climate change.
Last month, noted social activist Medha Patakar also joined the protest against the project and said she never expected such a project from a Left government. “High-speed Vande Bharat trains are a good alternative and the government should dump the Silverline project which will invite untold miseries to people,” said environmental activist C R Neelakandan.
