Sreedharan told Kerala Govt. “ignore” the technical panel’s objections to the high-speed rail project

Technocrat E. Sreedharan addressing the media in Kozhikode on October 27. | Photo credit: K. Ragesh

Technocrat E. Sreedharan said the Kerala government should “ignore” and “overrule” the objections raised by the expert committee that studied the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) proposal for the Thiruvananthapuram-Kannur high-speed rail project.

He was addressing the media after delivering a lecture on the subject organized by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday (October 27).

An expert panel was set up by the government to examine the technical, financial and environmental aspects of the project. Transport Secretary K. Biju was its convener and J. Vinayan, C. Veeramani and Sreedhar Radhakrishnan were the members representing Railway, Finance and Environment subjects. The committee found the DMRC report “incomplete” and suggested a detailed study of the project’s technical, financial and environmental feasibility.

However, in response to a question, Mr. Sreedharan said the committee had “no expertise” on the subject and had only one railway expert. “They did not study the proposal properly. There were no detailed discussions either. They were asked to focus on five key issues but they looked at only one. I think the government should ignore and overrule the panel’s report and go ahead with the DMRC proposal. The government has no other option,” he said. Asked if the government was sitting on the proposal because of his political links with the BJP, Mr. Sreedharan said he did not think so.

He claimed that Kozhikode city would be the biggest beneficiary of the project. “Travel time from Kozhikode to Kannur will be reduced to 40 minutes, Malappuram 90 minutes, Calicut International Airport 10 minutes, Thrissur 47 minutes, Ernakulam 1 hour 15 minutes and Thiruvananthapuram 2 hours 50 minutes. The cost of travel to the capital will be ₹700,” he said.

Mr. Sreedharan also said that the project envisages a tunnel line that will connect Wayanad. It is possible to arrange the transport of goods on the line with two separate tunnels between 21:00 and 12:00. Stops will be at Koduvally, Adivaram, Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery. “It will be the safest way as the tunnels will be 30 to 40 meters below the ground level. I have asked the Geological Survey of India to conduct a study on it,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Sreedharan spoke in detail about DMRC’s proposal for high-speed rail, which has an estimated project cost of ₹57,000 crore and completion cost of ₹60,000 crore. Of the total completion cost, ₹36,000 crore is proposed to be funded equally by the Union and state governments. The remaining ₹24,000 crore is proposed to be raised through equity-based crowdfunding through the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s portal.

The proposed project will connect the capital city to Kannur in three and a half hours. The line is designed to start from Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram and end at Mundayad in Kannur. The double track with a length of 473.2 km will have 23 stations. It will be entirely elevated except for the 6.5 km long tunnel in Thiruvananthapuram city. The maximum design speed of the trains will be 200 km per hour; maximum operating speed will be 180 km/h and average commercial speed 135 km/h.

Published – 27 Oct 2026 21:31 IST