A new semi-high speed railway project entailing an investment of approx. Rs one lakh crore has been proposed recently as an alternative to the 530-km Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod SilverLine project in Kerala.

The proposed 420-km Thiruvanthapuram-Kannur north-south corridor, at an average speed of 125 kmph will cover the distance in three and a half hours. Further, the proposed corridor would have a design speed of 200 kmph and could be linked with high-speed or semi-high speed rail projects on standard gauge.

The Kerala Rail Development Corporation (KRDCL) had mooted 10 stations in the SilverLine alignment. However, the new proposal has urged the need for 15 stations located every 30 km, with the rationale that it will benefit more number of people. It also recommends that Centre and state could pool in with Rs 30,000 crore each, while the remaining amount could be raised as loan.

The proposal is necessitated by the fact that even express trains in Kerala operate at an average speed of under 50 kmph due to frequent stops, sharp curves as well as the 69-km Ambalapuzha-Thuravur stretch facing pending issues on track doubling work.