Kerala’s new proposed high-speed rail fully elevated; T’puram-Kannur to be covered in 3.5 hours

Kochi: The proposed Kerala High Speed Railway line (KHSR) will be a fully elevated, standard-gauge double-line railway, and upon execution, commuters can reach Kannur from Thiruvananthapuram in just three-and-a-half hours.

The Rs 60,000-crore KHSR project is a corridor spanning 473.20km from Thiruvananthapuram City (Poojapura) to Kannur (Mundayad), featuring 23 stations. The average distance between stations is 21.5km, as per the details released by the Ponnani regional office of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has submitted an interim report to both the central and the state govts.

While the corridor will have a maximum design speed of 200kmph, the trains will operate at an average speed of 140kmph and up to maximum operational speed of 180kmph.

Initially, the trains will be operated with 12-coach cars (800 seats), with platforms pre-planned to accommodate 16 coaches later. No standing passengers will be permitted, and all travel requires prior reservation.

The peak-hour trains (6am-11am and 4pm-8pm) will run every 20 minutes and non-peak trains every 40 minutes. This provides an initial capacity of 54,400 passengers daily, scalable to 2.28 lakh riders per day if intervals are reduced to five minutes.

Notably, the route links all three existing airports in Kerala, with the upcoming Kannur airport connection facilitated by an exclusive 10km dedicated road. The project adopts a standard gauge track system. This reduces the axle load to 15 tonnes (compared to 25 tonnes on broad gauge), significantly lowering initial investment and operational costs while aligning India with global high-speed rail standards.

Land acquisition is designed to be highly non-intrusive, requiring a narrow strip of just 20 metres in width for construction. Post-completion, this land can be leased back to the original owners under specific conditions for cultivation or grazing. Furthermore, KHSR aims to become the world’s first green rail corridor, with its entire energy demand met by a captive solar power system that will sell surplus electricity back to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).

Once approved, construction is slated for completion within five years. Designed with the future in mind, the initial phase already includes junction stations to support upcoming expansions, including extensions from Kannur to Kasaragod, Kozhikode to Kalpetta, Pattambi to Palakkad, and Thrissur to Palakkad.

The project’s estimated completion cost stands at Rs 60,000 crore, averaging Rs 127 crore per km.

I