Infrastructure

Railways

The Indian Railway system is the second largest network in the World under a single management. It provides one of the cheapest means of transport in India. The Railway network comprises of 90,803 km of track over a route of 66,030 km and 7,137 stations. It is the fourth largest network in the world (after USA, Russia and China). Kerala occupies a significant position on the Indian Railway map with 1050 route Km and 1588 km of total track that is spread on the 13 railways routes and includes 933 km of broad gauge and 117 km of meter gauge lines. Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions of the Southern Railway zone are the administrative divisions. Palakkad division operates 76 express and 49 passenger trains and carries 2.16 lakh passengers and Thiruvananthapuram division operates 80 express trains and 60 passenger trains and carries 2.6 lakh passengers daily.

Government of Kerala and Ministry of Railways, Government of India have signed an Agreement for the formation of a Joint Venture Company with an Equity Participation of 51:49 on September 1, 2016.A Joint Venture Company “Kerala Rail Development Corporation (KRDCO)” has been established for the implementation of the upcoming Railway Projects in Kerala.The following projects will be taken during 2017-18 including equity contribution of the Company.

• Rapid Rail Transit System (Suburban Rail Project) between Thiruvananthapuram – Chengannur - 125.56 km
• Angamaly – Erumely – Sabari Rail - 120 km
• Ettumanoor – Sabari Link line – 15 km
• Erumeli – Pathanamthitta – Punalur - 65 km
• Guruvayoor – Thirunavaya Rail – 51 km
• Thalassery – Mysore Rail Project -298 km
• Thiruvanathapuram – Nagarcoil – Kanyakumari Line – Doubling – 35 km
• Rail Over Bridge (ROB) / Rail Under Bridge (RUB)
• Container Rail line to Cochin International Airport

Suburban Rail Project

Government of Kerala has decided to operate Suburban train services in Thiruvananthapuram – Chengannur /Haripad sector in Phase – I with air conditioned MEMU/EMU rakes.. M/s Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MVRC) has finalized the Detailed Project Report. The total cost of the project is 3,300.00 Crore. A Special Purpose Vehicle is formed between Government of Kerala and Indian Railways with 50:50 equity participation for taking up the implementation of the project.

Kochi Metro

Kochi Metro Rail Project (KMRP) is the flagship project of the Government of Kerala designed to address the transportation woes of Kochi City. The project is implemented through the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) which is a Special Purpose Vehicle jointly owned by the Government of Kerala and Government of India with equity participation. The Union Government gave sanction for the project in July 2012 at a total cost of 5,181.79 Crore. KMRL has signed an agreement with GoI and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC) for executing the project and as per the tripartite agreement signed between Govt. of India, Govt. of Kerala and KMRL, the project is expected to be completed by June 2017. The details of the project are in Table 5.7.

Table 5.7
Details of Kochi Metro

Source : KMRL

As part of preparatory works for the project, KMRL reconstructed North Railway Over Bridge (ROB) and constructed a new ROB known as A.L. Jacob ROB. KMRL has resurfaced more than 40 roads during the last five years for reducing the traffic congestion and for easy traffic diversion. The consortium of Alstom Transport India and Alstom Transport S.A won the contract for manufacture of rolling stock at 630 crore (approx) and the first train arrived in the Muttom yard on January 11, 2016.

On January 23, 2016, the Chief Minister of Kerala flagged off the test run of Kochi Metro in the Muttom Yard. On February 27, 2016, the first trial run on viaduct was started for a stretch of 5 Km. KMRL has installed world class signage confirming to Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards as an initial step towards proper and effective signage within Kochi City. As part of greening the city has planted more than 5000 plants in and around Kochi. 100 per cent of the land required for the project was taken possession by mid 2016. Civil construction of viaduct has been completed for 13 km from Aluva to Palarivattom. Track works has been competed for 6 km from Muttom to Edappally. All system tenders have also has been awarded and work has commenced.

Light Metro Projects at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode

Light Metro Rail Project is a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) proposed to be implemented in the cities of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode by a special purpose vehicle, Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation Limited (KRTL) and the DPR has been prepared by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). A route length of 13.33 Km with 14 stations in Kozhikode is being taken up as the first phase of the project. The estimated completion cost of the project is 4,219.00 crore for Thiruvananthapuram and 2,509 crore for Kozhikode totalling to 6,728.00 crore (including Central taxes & land cost). The estimated completion period of the project is five years for Thiruvananthapuram and four years for Kozhikode.

The approved Detailed Project Reports (DPR) has been forwarded to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India for “in principle” approval and for confirmation of Government of India’s participation and equity. The Comprehensive Mobility Plans for the cities of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode has already been submitted to GoI. Government has accorded Administrative Sanction for the construction of flyovers at Pattom, Ulloor and Sreekariyam, the major traffic junctions in the proposed alignment of Thiruvananthapuram Light Metro Project, for an amount of 272.84 Crore, which includes the cost of acquiring approximately 2.77 Ha of private land.

Water Metro Project

Kochi Metro Rail Corporation (KMRL) proposes to implement the Kochi Water Metro Project at a cost of 741.28 Crore with financial assistance fromGerman Financial Institution (KfW), and state funding of 103 Crore. This is being implemented as part of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) project in Kochi. The project envisages the development of 76 km of inland canals in Kochi city.