How the Kerala highspeed Silverline Rail Project was highjacked and misappropriated?

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The engineers who prepared the report were not engineers but schemers. KRDCL took clearance of Railway Board for “A Standalone Elevated Rail Corridor”

It is unique that Railway Board has approved a mega project in an adverse terrain in piecemeal manner -A.K.Verma

Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) first concocted a Preliminary Feasibility Report (PFR). For this alignment was prepared by just drawing a line on map, mostly hilly terrain.

It claimed the line will be elevated end to end (an engineering impossibility), causing least dislocation for the habitations during construction.

This shows, the engineers who prepared the report were not engineers but schemers. Based on this, KRDCL took clearance of Railway Board for “A Standalone Elevated Rail Corridor”.

KRDCL must have realized they needed a respectable looking report. So, they recruited SYSTRA and SYSTRA engaged Alok Kumar Verma, a retired chief engineer of Northern Railway, to guide its team of ‘domain experts’ to prepare another Preliminary Feasibility Report, which was submitted to KRDCL on 20.03.2019.

But, KRDCL didn’t like this report as it recommended Broad Gauge and alignment passing though center of main cities.

So, SYSTRA mutilated and disfigured the alignment which was prepared by Verma, changed critical data, removed inconvenient passages, and submitted the report as the (final) Feasibility Report in May 2019, recommending Standard Gauge, and alignment in outskirts of the main cities. (now, only 13% of the alignment is elevated).

Based on this report, KRDCL took ‘in principle approval’ of Railway Board. They claim Railway Board also approved Standard Gauge.

Besides all the shenanigans, it is unique that Railway Board has approved a mega project in an adverse terrain in this piecemeal manner.

Two simple questions for Railway Board which should bring to immediate stop all the shenanigans of SYSTRA and KRDCL on this project:

  1. Under what rule, logic or precedent Rly Board has accepted the Feasibility Report based on alignment prepared on Google Earth data?

  2. Why has Railway Board taken the critical decision of permitting Standard Gauge for this line without a comparative study of a line on Standard Gauge vi’s a vi’s a line on Broad Gauge? (KRDCL has claimed that Railway Boardd has approved Standard Gauge).

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