Kerala wants high-speed rail corridor irrespective of who brings it: Pinarayi Vijayan

Kasaragod(Kerala), Feb 3 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that the government wants a high-speed rail corridor in the state irrespective of whose project it may be.

Vijayan also took a dig at 'Metroman' E Sreedharan saying that he had opened an MLA office even before he won in the 2021 state assembly polls and now he has opened an office to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a high-speed rail corridor which has not officially received any approval from the central government.

At the same time, the CM said, the state government was not concerned which high-speed rail proposal, be it that of Sreedharan or the government or anyone else, is accepted.

"We only want a high-speed rail line," he said.

He also accused the central government of neglecting the state when announcing high-speed rail projects.

Vijayan said that the Centre announced five such projects in the states neighbouring Kerala, but sidelined it.

"What wrong have we done. Why this vengeful attitude towards Kerala. Is it due to the lack of acceptance shown by the state and its people towards the BJP which is in power at the Centre," he asked while speaking at a party event here.

He said that when the state government had put forward the K-Rail (Silverline) project, it did not receive approval from the Centre.

While it was waiting for approval, Sreedharan came with a high-speed rail proposal and said that the Centre has agreed to approve it if the state government is agreeable to it, Vijayan said.

"So, I spoke to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and told him that Kerala's representative K V Thomas would meet him and give the details of the proposed project. I also told him only if the Centre was agreeable to it would the state move forward with the project. But, there was no reply from the Centre after submission of the proposal," he claimed.

He further said that later he and Thomas met the minister, but Vaishnaw did not recall the project details, so again the same was submitted before him.

"But there has been no reply till date from the Centre about it and now Sreedharan has opened an office to prepare a DPR. We know that he has opened offices before also. He opened an MLA office even before he won in the assembly polls in 2021," the CM said.

Sreedharan had recently claimed that the state can hope to see a high-speed rail network that will cut travel time to Kannur from Thiruvananthapuram to 3.15 hours from the existing seven hours, as the Centre is expected to formally announce the project soon.

He had also said that an office for the high speed rail project has already been established and work on preparing a DPR will commence there from February 2. PTI