The Kerala government’s ambitious K-Rail semi-high-speed rail project is back in the news again as the Centre assured on Sunday that the project can be taken forward if the technical and environmental issues in its design are addressed by the state authorities.

The multi-crore project has been shelved for some time due to intense protest from opposition parties and the general public and also for want of permission from the union government.

Giving a fresh hope to the project, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that he had discussed the matter with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan when they had last met in New Delhi.

“I requested the CM that whatever technical and environmental issues are there in the design of the K-Rail, please address them expeditiously, so that, this project can also be taken forward. Because from our side – the NDA government – we believe in cooperative federalism,” he told reporters here.

The union minister further said that the Centre is committed to constructing the Sabari rail from Angamaly to Erumely as per the original alignment.

Vaishnav said that the state government recently sent a letter to the Centre with attaching certain conditions. “So, we will be very soon sending a format to the Kerala government which we have done with the government of Maharashtra,” he said.

Once the state authorities fill up the format, then the project (Sabari rail) can start and move forward, the union minister added.

The K Rail, a semi-high speed rail corridor, aims to ease transportation along the entire north and south stretch of Kerala and reduce the travel time to less than four hours, as against 12 to 14 hours at present.

The SilverLine would cover a 530-kilometre stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and be developed by K-Rail, a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways.

The Opposition Congress and the BJP in Kerala have been protesting against the SilverLine project, saying it will affect the families who will be displaced due to its implementation.