Kerala Rail. It is a Joint Venture project of the Kerala Government and the Indian Railway Ministry. K-Rail is a new railway project in Kerala. This proposed railway goes through almost the middle of the state from South to North. When this happens, it will be a quicker and better transportation facility for the people of Kerala.
The project is a semi-high-speed railway. The length of the line is close to 530-kilo meters from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod. The train travel in this span will take only 4 hours once completed. This timing is almost one-third of the existing time taken by railway.
Why K Rail? What are the Benefits
The proposed K-Rail will be an efficient transport system that runs on sustainable energy. This means environment friendly and quick and comfortable.
Kerala has an existing railway that commutes thousands of travelers on a daily basis. There are ordinary trains that are also called shuttle trains as well as express trains that run on a longer span.
These trains are sufficient in numbers by the capacity of carrying people. But not good enough to reach a destination on time or in reasonable timing.
The average speed of trains in Kerala is the slowest in the country. There is about 560 km long railway line in Kerala. The time taken by the fastest to cover the length is more than 12 hours. That means the speed is below 50 kilometers per hour – that is one of the slowest speeds in the country. Multiple reasons for slow speed are an excessive number of level crossings and turnings in the railway.
The K Rail project is a solution for this. The proposed rail that is named as Silverline project aims to run the train at a speed of 200 km per hour. This will bring down the traveling time of Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to 4 hours. The total kilometer between these two points also will come down by 30 kilometers as the new line will be having less than 530 kilometers.
Also, this will have 10 stops in between and will touch an airport at Kochi. The quality of train bogies also will be matching to the international standards. Better speed and better quality will improve the travel quality and increase the use of public transport.
Better environmental and social impacts are also there. Increased use of public transport reduces the private vehicles on road. Lesser vehicles on road make lesser casualties due to fewer accidents. Lower vehicles mean lower carbon emission that helps air quality and ozone layer protection.
Ultimately, when the commuters have a smoother quality ride, more and more people will prefer to use public transport.
Stations at K Rail Line
Kasaragod is the first station at North. This will have an interchanging facility as well. There is a conventional railway station near the K-Rail station at Kasaragod. Passengers can access conventional trains from this station and vice versa. Traveling to and from Mumbai, Mangalore, etc. will be more convenient. This is also a RORO station.
Kannur is the next station from the North. The station will be near to the existing broad-gauge station. It is also a center of the commercial hub of Kannur.
Kozhikode is the third station from North. The station is alongside the current railway station. But there is a difference that this station will be an underground one due to space limitations.
Tirur is the fourth station from North. The existing railway station is nearly 4 km away from this proposed station. Tirur is a station that is historically famous.
Trissur is the fifth station from North. Thrissur is the cultural capital of Kerala. And Silverline station here will be an elevated one. The proposed station is near the existing railway station of Trissur. Like Kasaragod, this is also an interchange station as well as a RORO station.
Eranakulam is the sixth station from North. This is also a RORO station. Like Thrissur, the station is an elevated one too. Kochi has a metro system and this station will be integrated with that metro station. There will be also having integration with Kochi Water Metro. Although this will have proximity to Smart City and Infopark at Kakkanad, the existing railway station will be above 10 km distance.
Kottayam is the seventh station from North. The existing railway station will be three and a half kilometers away from this station. The locality is called Devalokam
Chengannur is the eight-station from the North. The existing station will be nearly 4.5 km away from Silver line station. This is also the nearest station to people going to Sabarimala.
Kollam is the ninth station from North. This is the main depot. Also, this has a workshop facility. The distance to the existing railway station is 7 kilometers. Kollam is also a RORO station.
Thiruvananthapuram is the tenth station from North and first from South. The office of K-Rail is situated at Thiruvananthapuram. It is an elevated station as well. The existing Kochuveli railway station is nearby. It is also having a RORO facility.
Also, Read