Setback to Kerala govt: Railways rethinks, takes stand against K-Rail in court

The Railway Board’s submission was presented in an affidavit to the High Court in response to an appeal by the state challenging a single-bench directive on January 20 to stay survey and land acquisition proceedings for the CPM-led government’s ambitious project.

In the statement submitted by Assistant Solicitor General of India S Manu, the Railway Board’s Additional Member (Works) also raised concerns over how the project would affect the national transporter’s expansion plans for a third and fourth lines in areas where K-Rail would run parallel to existing tracks.

Questioning the viability of the project, the statement stated: “Since the Ministry of Railways is a joint venture partner in KRDCL, a debt component of Rs 33,700 crore will finally come on the Ministry of Railways as debt servicing, which is not possible with mainly passenger traffic. This will also be examined and firmed up after finalization of technical parameters. Even if the State Government is willing to provide debt repayment guarantee, Ministry of Railways has to examine whether the project is financially viable per se.’’

Speaking to The Indian Express, sources in the Rail Ministry said the statement “means the project is as good as dead in its present shape”.

Ministry officials said Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had in his last meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan raised questions about various aspects of the project. “One of the main points raised by the Minister was the projected profitability of SilverLine and the prospect of it becoming a financial liability for the Railways in the future,” said a top official.

On Friday, Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro pioneer E Sreedharan, who was a BJP candidate in the Kerala polls last year, met Vaishnaw with a delegation of party leaders and expressed reservations over the project.

Vaishnaw said in a tweet later that Sreedharan “explained serious technical issues in the SilverLine project. Without FLS (Final Location Survey), land plan and sanction, land acquisition cannot be done”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, former Railways official Alok Kumar Verma, who was initially hired by KRDCL as a consultant, welcomed the national transporter’s stand but questioned the in-principle approval given for the project’s feasibility report three years ago.

“This (the statement) means the project will be killed slowly because the Railways will also have to explain why they gave in-principle approval to the feasibility study in 2019 when it had such glaring loopholes. The feasibility study was flawed and the Detailed Project Report that followed was also short on due diligence and ground work. Once the Railways approves the feasibility study, the project is allowed to spend up to Rs 100 crore in pre-construction activities. That’s public money wasted,” Verma said.

The Railway Board’s statement Friday referred to the in-principle approval and said it only meant approval to go ahead with preparation of DPR (Detailed Project Report), etc. Once the details of the project, including financials, are determined, a decision is taken on whether to proceed, it said.

According to the statement, project expenditure is incurred only after the DPR is approved and the sanction is communicated. In the case of K-Rail, this approval has not been granted so far, it said.

The Railway Board also informed the court that the DPR has not yet been accepted by the Ministry and hence has not been sent to NITI Aayog for appraisal.

K-Rail aims to create a corridor for trains to clock speeds of 200 kmph between the state capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod at the state’s northern tip, slashing the time taken to cover the 530-km distance from 12 hours to around four.

But the project has been opposed by the Opposition Congress, civil society outfits and even some sections within the ruling alliance, with questions raised primarily over its cost, ecological impact, rehabilitation of those who will be displaced, and lack of consultation.

The High Court stay last month came on a petition from a group of persons who sought directions to KRDCL to refrain from erecting or laying any concrete poles and taking possession of their properties for the project. At the time, the Centre had informed the court that it had not formally approved the project.

According to KRDCL’s plans, the corridor will run parallel to existing tracks for approximately 200 km, where 10-15 metres of Railway land — totalling about 185 hectares — will be utilised.

“As per proposal, in the patch where proposed line is parallel to existing line no space will remain available for any future expansion of Railways and to accommodate future 3rd/4th line. Sufficient details regarding technical feasibility are not available in the DPR submitted,” the Railway Board’s statement said.

“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 assets for detailed examination of the project and to arrive at conclusion about feasibility of project,” it said.

The statement stated that the Railways has not taken any decision on the proposed parallel track. It said permission to plant boundary stones was not agreed to in the absence of an approved DPR, and that this was conveyed to KRDCL on September 28, 2021.

“Permission is granted for conducting geotechnical investigations and hydrological investigations only and it is explicit in nature and subject to KRDCL’s adherence to the conditions laid down wherever the alignment is going parallel to the Railway land,” it said.

The statement also informed the court that the Rail Ministry has received several representations against the project on various issues, mainly that it will impact thousands of hectares of cultivable land, and about 20,000 thousand houses, shops and business establishments.

“It is also pointed out that Silver Line will be an obstacle for the expansion of Angamaly railway station, which operates Railway sidings for Food Corporation of India. It is also highlighted in the representations that the proposed alignment will also lead to demolishing of many religious structures. It is therefore advisable that the proceedings of land acquisition for this project shall be stopped at this stage, as even feasibility of the present alignment has not been agreed by the Ministry of Railways,” the statement said.