Bairabi-Sairang rail deepens Kerala’s apprehension about Centre’s stance on SilverLine

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remarks that the governmental stances of the Centre person diminished the prospects of the SilverLine task person erstwhile again turned the spotlight connected the inaugural astatine a clip erstwhile akin projects are being built successful different parts of the country.

The task specifics of the precocious inaugurated Bairabi-Sairang railway enactment successful the northeast confirms that the inaugural is much environmentally challenging and detrimental than the SilverLine semi-high-speed project. 

The Bairabi-Sairang task successful Mizoram is an ₹,8071-crore inaugural commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi connected September 13, 2025. The archetypal signifier of the obstruction task was 1 of the astir daunting tasks successful the past of Indian Railways with the obstruction nexus navigating done 48 tunnels and crossing 143 bridges, including immoderate of the highest railway viaducts successful the astir challenging terrain. 

In conscionable 52 km distance, 55 large bridges and 88 insignificant bridges were constructed, on with 45 tunnels, includingcut and screen spanning 15.85 km, which is astir 30.92% of the full task length, arsenic the railway enactment had to walk done steep slopes, heavy valleys betwixt mountains, and dense forests successful a highly landslip-prone terrain, which made the operation a Herculean task. The task besides boasts of the 2nd tallest pier span successful the country, taller than Qutub Minar.

Further, according to sources successful the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), a survey is nether mode for a 2nd signifier of the 223-km projected enactment from Sairang to Hbichhuah adjacent the Myanmar borderline successful confederate Mizoram. After the survey, a elaborate task study (DPR) volition beryllium sent to the Union Ministry of Railways for examination. If the study is recovered to beryllium feasible, the task would beryllium taken up, said the sources. 

On the different hand, the 530-km SilverLine has hardly 11.53 km of tunnels, and the full magnitude of the span would beryllium 12.99 km arsenic per the DPR by the Kerala government. The SilverLine task chiefly passes done viaducts—88.41 km (16.61%) —and embankments—292.73 km (55%). If astir 482 ha were acquired for the archetypal signifier of the Bairabi-Sairang obstruction nexus (52 km), the 530 km SilverLine requires lone 1,383 ha. If the Bairabi-Sairang task and its projected hold service astir 10.97 lakh radical successful Mizoram, arsenic per the 2011 census data, the projected semi-high-speed obstruction task successful Kerala volition payment 3.34 crore people. 

Transformation of of Mizoram

Speaking to The Hindu during a sojourn toRaj Bhavan, Aizawl, Mizoram Governor V.K. Singh said the obstruction task volition alteration the aboriginal of Mizoram, including tourism, easiness transportation, and slash costs of goods and logistics. Further, plans are afoot to integrate the railway enactment with the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport project.

Though the SilverLine task has the imaginable to reshape the system of Kerala and its societal fabric, the Centre has been dragging its feet, initially citing biology concerns.Recently, the Centre has asked Kerala to revise the DPR to code the method and biology concerns and besides to integrate the task with the existing wide gauge enactment passing done the State, which has astir 627 curves wherever the mean velocity of a rider bid is hardly 45 kmph, including Vande Bharat (73kmph).

“We cannot judge this proposition arsenic it is aimed astatine shelving the task for governmental gains,” said a elder bureaucrat of the State.