Lok Sabha Question No. 5692 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: Pending Railway Projects of Kerala
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: M. K. Raghavan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5692 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.04.2022

## PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS OF KERALA

5692. SHRI M.K. RAGHAVAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has plans to introduce more passenger trains in Kannur-Kozhikode and Kozhikode-Thrissur sectors and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  plans  to  introduce  day  express  trains between Kozhikode and Bangalore, if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  any  new  train  proposals/railway  infrastructure  development projects new railway line projects are pending before the Railway Board of Kerala; and
- (d) if so, the complete details regarding the pending proposals?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5692  BY  SHRI  M.K.  RAGHAVAN  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 06.04.2022 REGARDING PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS OF KERALA (a)  &  (b)  At  present,  there  is  no  immediate  proposal  for  introduction  of additional  trains  from  Kozhikode  to  Kannur,  Thrisur  and  Bengaluru. However, introduction of train services is an ongoing process on Indian Railways subject to operational feasibility, traffic pattern, availability of resources, etc. (c)  &  (d)  Railway  projects  are  sanctioned  Zonal  Railway-wise  and  not State-wise,  as  the  Indian  Railways'  projects  may  span  across  State boundaries.  However,  as  on  01.04.2021,  8  Projects  (2  New  Line  and  6 Doubling) of total length 439 Km, costing ` 9,489 crore falling fully/partly in State of Kerala are under different stage of planning/approval/execution. Out of which 8 Km  length has been commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 1,084  crore  has  been  incurred upto March, 2021. Apart from this, after Survey, Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Semi High Speed Rail Project (530.6 Km) from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod has been submitted to Railway Board by Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), a Joint Venture company of State Govt. of Kerala (51%) and Ministry of Railways (49%).Cost of the project has been assessed as ` 63941 Cr. with debt component as ` 33700 Cr. KRDCL has planned this corridor parallel to existing railway track in app. 200  Km  length  where  10-15  m  width  of  railway  land  (approx.  185 Hectare) is being utilized by KRDCL for proposed corridor. By this way, no space will be available for any future expansion of Railways including future  3rd/4th  line.  Sufficient  details  for  technical  feasibility  are  not available  in  the  DPR  submitted.  Therefore,  KRDCL  has  been  advised  to provide detailed technical documents such as alignment plan, particulars of railway land and private land, crossings over existing railway network, duly  depicting  affected  railway  asset  through  Zonal  Railway  after  site verification  for  detailed  examination  of  the  project  and  to  arrive  at conclusion about feasibility of project. Further,  consideration  of  the  project  will  depend upon  techno-economic viability of the project.

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