Representative image | Photo: Mathrubhumi
Kochi: Terming the report that appeared in a daily revealing concerns on the DPR alignment of K-Rail in Ernakulam and the need to drop a station at the Kochi airport, as baseless, the officials said there is no such concern and no objection was raised by Infopark Center Kakkanad or Cochin International Airport against having K-Rail stations there.
The media report stated that the authorities of CIAL objected to a station of K-Rail at the airport owing to safety concerns. Due to the objections raised, K-Rail was forced to drop the plan of a station at the airport. In the DPR of K-Rail, Ernakulam was supposed to have two stations; one at the airport and the other at Infopark. Objections also forced the authorities of K-Rail to think of having feeder buses from Kakkanad station to the airport and to go ahead with a plan to have just one station in Ernakulam, the report stated.
“We have not conveyed any concerns about having a K-Rail station at the airport. We have been in touch with the K-Rail authorities and discussions have been going on. Since the station is proposed to come up at the 'approach funnel', where flights are moving towards after landing, certain criteria have to be followed. We did not object to having a station here or have urged the K-Rail authorities to drop the plan for a station at the airport,” said S Suhas, Managing Director, CIAL.
Echoing the words of the managing director of CIAL, the managing director of K-Rail told mathrubhumi.com that the report lacks facts. “There have been discussions going on with CIAL, KSEB, KWA, Infopark and all over the proposed semi-high speed SilverLine project. During the discussions with CIAL, they conveyed us the criteria to be followed for getting the approval from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Since this is a big project, issues coming up have to be resolved properly,” said V Ajith Kumar, Managing Director of K-Rail.
He added that there is no such plan to drop the station as stated in the report and the airport authorities too have not raised any objection in this regard.
For the station in Kakkanad, a few hectares of land owned by Infopark have to be acquired and the state government has assured of providing another land adjacent to it. “For the last one-and-a-half-year, we have been discussing the setting up of K-Rail station in Infopark. There have been no issues and the government assured us of providing another land to substitute the land to be acquired,” said John M Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Infopark Park Center, Kakkanad.
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