High-speed rail: Sreedharan’s views on expert panel report submitted to CM Satheesan

KOCHI: Metroman E Sreedharan has submitted his views on the report of the expert committee constituted by the state government to examine the proposal for a high-speed rail corridor in the state. Sreedharan handed over the suggestions to Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday. The government is expected to take a decision on the proposal shortly, according to a source close to Sreedharan.

The chief minister posted on X that a fruitful discussion was held. “Met with Dr E Sreedharan today. Held fruitful discussions on advancing key connectivity and state development projects to ensure sustainable, long-term growth,” the CM posted on X.

The expert committee had submitted its report to the government in July and to Sreedharan three weeks ago.

“Based on the expert committee’s report, Sreedharan provided his comments and submitted them to the chief minister. The chief minister has informed us that the government will take a decision shortly,” a source close to Sreedharan told TNIE.

The four-member expert committee was constituted by the government to undertake a comprehensive assessment of Sreedharan’s proposal for a high-speed rail corridor. The panel was convened by the secretary, Transport (Railways), and comprised railway expert J Vinayan, finance expert C Veeramani and environmental expert Sridhar Radhakrishnan. N S K Umesh, Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, assisted the committee.

The panel was tasked with examining the proposal from technical, financial and environmental perspectives, besides assessing implementation challenges and the project’s potential socio-economic benefits. The committee was formed after DMRC submitted an interim report on the proposed High-Speed Rail project.

The proposal envisages a 473.2-km standard-gauge corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. The government subsequently constituted the expert panel to independently examine the proposal before taking a decision. Satheesan had said that the proposal was incomplete as it did not include an environmental impact assessment and that the government would take a final decision after considering the expert committee’s report.

The submission of DMRC’s comments now marks the next stage in the government’s consideration of the project. The nature of the committee’s recommendations and the changes, if any, sought by DMRC are expected to be significant in determining whether the government proceeds with the proposal.