Kerala excluded from high-speed rail projects in Union Budget

Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in Parliament today, dashing Kerala’s hopes of establishing a high-speed rail corridor. Out of the seven high-speed rail projects announced, Kerala was notably excluded. The proposed high-speed rail corridors include Mumbai-Pune, Hyderabad-Chennai, Delhi-Varanasi, Varanasi-Siliguri, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, and Bengaluru-Chennai.

Kerala’s proposed high-speed rail, K-Rail, has long faced opposition from the Centre. Following this, Metro Man E Sreedharan suggested that an alternative high-speed rail project would come to Kerala. The state government welcomed the idea, stating that any project that improves connectivity from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod would be appreciated. However, E Sreedharan’s statement appears misleading, as Kerala’s original request has been explicitly denied.

So far, Kerala has only been included in the rare earth corridor, along with Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. According to the Finance Minister, this initiative is aimed at promoting mining, processing, research, and manufacturing. In Kerala, rare earth resources are currently managed by public sector enterprises. The introduction of the central government’s scheme may pave the way for private players to enter the sector.