Technocrat E. Sreedharan has said that the high-speed rail line proposed by him could be completed in five years if there were BJP governments at the Centre and State.
Delivering a talk on high-speed rail line for Kerala, organised by the Institute of Engineers (India), Kerala State chapter, he said the project spanning over a distance of 465 kms from north to south could be completed in five years by dividing the entire length of the project into five sections.
A chief engineer would be in charge of each section, and 100 km of rail line could be constructed by each chief engineer in five years, said Mr. Sreedharan. The detailed project report (DPR) of the project could be completed in 3-4 months. However, a dedicated government at the State and Centre is highly imperative for this, where the BJP is more ideal to execute the project than any other government. In the case of other governments, it cannot be guaranteed, he said.
The high-speed railway line conceived from Thiruvananthapuram Central to Kannur can be covered in 3 hours 20 minutes with 20 intermediate stations, including two terminal stations, as well as linking three airports directly and Kannur Airport with dedicated electric vans from the high-speed railway station. He also maintained that the ticket fare for the high-speed rail would be cheaper than Vande Bharat train services. A chair car ticket to Ernakulam from Thiruvananthapuram would be charged only ₹440 as against the Vande Bharat ticket fare of ₹690.
