Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Wednesday said that the United Democratic Front government in the state was scrapping the SilverLine semi-high-speed railway project, which had been announced by the previous Left Democratic Front governmentThe proposed project was envisaged to cover a 530-km stretch between Thiruvananthapuram in the south and Kasaragod in the north, reducing travel time from around 12 to 14 hours at present to under four hours, The News Minute reported.It was to be developed by K-Rail, a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways.On Wednesday, Satheeshan also announced the withdrawal of cases registered against those who protested the project, adding that the government would approach the judiciary to facilitate the process.The chief minister highlighted that the land acquired for the project was never de-notified, which had meant that people were unable to sell or pledge their own property, The Hindu reported.“We are not against high-speed rail projects,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “We opposed K-Rail because it was an environmental disaster and not economically viable.”He said the government was “not against a rail project which will not affect the State environmentally or financially”.The project has been halted since 2022 following pending approvals from the Union government and protests by the Opposition in the state.Critics warned that the project could displace thousands of families, degrade the fragile local environment, worsen extreme climate events and plunge the already heavily indebted state economy into a severe financial crisis.The LDF-government had in January 2022 estimated the cost of the project at Rs 63,941 crore, The News Minute reported.Edited by Neerad PandharipandeAlso read: In Kerala, development projects cleared amid lockdown threaten the state’s ecological balance