Technocrat E Sreedharan said Sunday that he would kickstart work on the preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a high-speed railway line on Monday on the directions of the Union Railway Minister even though no Kerala-specific rail project has been announced in the budget.
Sreedharan, widely called ‘Metroman’ for his pioneering work on the Delhi Metro, had met Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Delhi on Jan 16 following which he had claimed that the ministry approved the preparatory works for a high-speed railway line between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur. The DPR was to be prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) under the leadership of Sreedharan.
At the same time, Kerala was not mentioned among the seven routes for high-speed railway networks in India during the budget presentation of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The routes mentioned by the FM included Bengaluru - Chennai, Delhi - Varanasi and Mumbai - Pune.
When asked about Kerala being excluded from the rail corridors, Sreedharan said those are very high-speed corridors where bullet trains with speeds of 350 km/hr would run.
“We (Kerala) don’t need such a very high speed rail network. The project I have proposed will have trains running at a max speed of 200 km/hr. The railway minister had told me that our project would not be mentioned in the budget. So I wasn’t expecting the announcement,” Sreedharan told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}“We (Kerala) don’t need such a very high speed rail network. The project I have proposed will have trains running at a max speed of 200 km/hr. The railway minister had told me that our project would not be mentioned in the budget. So I wasn’t expecting the announcement,” Sreedharan told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}He said that the Railway Board approval for the project proposal he mooted would be issued soon.
“I am not concerned. It (The order) will soon come,” he said.
Sreedharan has opened a new office in his native Ponnani to kickstart work on the preparation of DPR for the high-speed rail. “I have selected 10-12 people. I will start work on Monday. Work on DPR will go in a fast manner. State government comes into the picture only after the report is ready,” he said.