High-speed rail to have integrated station in Ernakulam

KOCHI: The proposed semi high-speed rail corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur in four hours, will have an integrated station in Ernakulam . The Metro's Infopark station will also serve the high-speed rail corridor in the city, said Ajith Kumar, the MD of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) at a programme in Kochi on Saturday.

KRDCL, a joint venture of Kerala government and ministry of railways, which is implementing the rail project, plans to operate train services in 30 minutes frequency during peak hours. The service in lean hours will be at one-hour frequency. Forty trains with nine cars each will run between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. Kumar said the agency is exploring the possibility of running trains owned by private firms but the government will fix the fare. "We decide the frequency and fare. The private players will own the trains and run them. We have not taken any decision," said Kumar at a function organized by the Kerala Management Association (KMA),

He said five agencies, coming under the ministry of defence (MoD) gave approval to do drone-based survey to know the topography and other aspects on the 531.45km stretch between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. About 11% of the total stretch will be on elevated corridor.

Tom Jose, chief secretary and district collector S Suhas were also present during the occasion. Jose said Metro can be extended to Menaka from Kacheripady to Jose Junction via Menaka as proposed in the earlier plan.

The fares are likely to be fixed at Rs 2.75/km with a yearly escalation of 7.5%. The agency is expecting a ridership of 67,740 per day by 2024. Peak hour ridership per direction is expected to be 1,330. There are plans to connect the corridor with two major airports, Cochin International Airport Ltd and Trivandrum airport.

"The rail line will help to bring down accidents on roads since more people, who use private vehicles for transportation, will shift to the new initiative," Kumar said.

The construction of the rail corridor is proposed to start in 2020 and the operations are expected to begin by 2024. The state cabinet had given nod to allocate Rs 66,079 crore to implement the project.