Kochi: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said the Kerala government has started land acquisition for the 111-km Angamaly-Sabarimala railway line project.
A total of 279 hectares out of 302 hectares remains to be acquired, Vaishnaw said in a written statement in the Lok Sabha on July 22.
The Union Minister said that the work on the 7-km-long Angamali-Kaladi section and long lead works on the 10-km Kaladi-Perumbavoor section hit due to issues like road block owing to public protests over land acquisition, rail alignment, litigation, lack of Kerala government’s support.
“The estimated cost was updated at Rs 3,801 crore and submitted to the Kerala Government,” he said.
Vaishnaw said that in August 2024, the Kerala government gave its conditional consent for the project. The Ministry of Railways then asked the state government to provide unconditional consent for sharing 50 per cent of the project’s cost,” he added. The project was approved in 1997-98.
“Kerala begins to acquire land for Sabari rail line”
