Mumbai, June 6 -- Kerala is set to accelerate railway development with plans for third and fourth railway lines running parallel to the existing double tracks. This announcement came after a meeting between Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.
Posting on X, the Union Minister stated that the ministry is working on the third and fourth lines spanning North to South Kerala to facilitate smoother movement of both passengers and freight by rail.
The meeting also covered the construction of new Railway Over Bridges (ROBs) and Under Bridges (RUBs) to improve infrastructure and ease traffic. Vaishnaw highlighted that Kerala's railway budget has been significantly increased from an average Rs 3.72 billion during the previous UPA government's tenure to Rs 30.42 billion in the current financial year 2025-26.
Meanwhile, the Centre has indicated reluctance to approve the state government's SilverLine project - a semi high-speed rail corridor - citing technical and ecological concerns. Following this, Kerala had requested the Centre to consider an alternative proposal by renowned engineer E Sreedharan.
K V Thomas, who accompanied the Chief Minister, said that E Sreedharan's proposal was submitted to the Centre last February but has yet to be studied in detail. The Centre has promised to communicate its final decision to the Metroman soon.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Sreedharan said he had not yet received any official response from the Centre. "Since the Centre has not cleared the SilverLine proposal, it seems the state is inclined to proceed with my proposal," he noted.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.