Thiruvananthapuram: Indian Railways on Thursday expressed concern over the financial viability of the K-Rail Semi-high speed rail (SilverLine) project introduced by the state government. In a meeting with the K-Rail officials, the railway questioned the lack of clarity over the revenue and the number of passengers that is estimated for the project.

The Railway Board has directed K-Rail to revise the estimated project cost after finding that the project will not be feasible even if a portion of passengers shift from the railway to the Silver Line. Mathrubhumi News accessed the minutes of the meeting.

It is learnt that the railway officials have tabled serious queries over the claims made by the state government in ascertaining the profitability of the project. An important question raised by the railway officials was regarding the project cost. The state government has estimated the cost of the project at Rs 63,000 crore. But the railway authorities have demanded that this should be revised since the current estimate was based on a market rate as of March 2020.

The state government is of the view that the project would be financially beneficial, with over 79,000 passengers availing of the service per day. While it is good for the state government and K-Rail to have an optimistic view of the number of passengers and the number of trains, the Railway Board says it needs to be realistic. The railway officers have also asked the state to explain the economic benefits of introducing semi high-speed railway instead of a high-speed railway.