Kerala Rail Development Corporation has signed a consultancy contract for Rs 27 crore with Paris-headquartered company Systra to execute the Kasargode-Thiruvananthapuram High Speed Rail Corridor, Mathrubhumi News has reported.
Kerala Rail Development Corporation is expecting the Systra company to submit a detailed project report within seven months.
Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) is a joint venture company formed by the Government of Kerala and Indian Railways. A 51 to 49 ratio equity partnership between the Government of Kerala and the Ministry of Railways, KRDCL aims to develop Railway infrastructure in the State of Kerala.
SYSTRA is an international engineering and consulting group specialising in rail (passenger and freight) and public transport. It provides planning, design, project management and supervision services for transport systems, urban infrastructure, residential, commercial and industrial real estate.
SYSTRA has a strong presence in India and is working on several rail projects currently.
The 500 km corridor is envisaged to be built alongside the coastline traversing almost the entire length of the state and is estimated to cost over Rs 50,000 Crore. The Railways is planning to operate semi-high speed trains, which travel at a speed of 100-150 km per hour, on this corridor.
The high-speed corridor will also run short distance trains that will facilitate local travel between major cities and suburbs. The corridor is expected to reduce the journey time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod from 12-15 hours to 4.5 hours.
If the Kerala high-speed corridor proposal goes through, it will be the most expensive state corridor project undertaken by Indian Railways apart from the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Quazigund-Baramulla link, a 345 km railway line, which cost around Rs 95000 Crore.