My views on Road Widening & High Speed Rail Corridor

I agree with most of the points mentioned there except the ones related to widening of existing NH, as population density of KERALA is 819/Sq. Km [1], when that of INDIA is only 324/Sq. Km [1], area of Kerala  is only 1% of India but has 3% of population[2], India has 19.5% of its area as FOREST but Kerala has 28.9% of its area asFOREST [3] .

# Even though HSR & NH widening are two different things, their purpose - easing out of our traffic congestion - is common for both. Hence my views:

# The either boarders of NH are the MOST VALUED lands of Kerala. Acquiring it for construction of road is nothing less than a colossal waste. 

# Both the edges of NH are thickly packed with high valued residential & commercial buildings including Fuel stations, Restaurants, Hotels, Movie Houses, Hospitals Etc. All of them will have to be demolished and reconstructed elsewhere. Imagine the prohibitive cost, wastage of material time & manpower etc involved.

# Existing Road (NH) have to be dug-up to construct High Speed road. This will totally paralyze, for decades, the already limping road traffic of Kerala.

# After clearing ALL THESE hurdles, we will again have only one good road, NH47.

# If a NEW high speed 6 or 4-lane road -NH- be contemplated & constructed through a less populated &  less costly area, WE WILL HAVE TWO HIGHWAYS FOR THE SAME OR EVEN LESSER COST OF ONE, WITHOUT HAMPERING THE EXISTING TRANSIT FACILITY AS WELL AS RETAINING ALL THE CIVIL STRUCTURES AND LIVELIHOOD-EARNING BUSINESS ENTERPRISES SPANNING FROM PAN SHOPS TO STAR HOTELS!

** The present alignment of HSRC is almost completely through populated places & hence most of the above aspects are applicable to HSRC also. 

** New NH will provide 120 km/hr speed & HSRC provides 300 km/hr. Obviously, these are not meant for short distance or low speed transit. Hence those need not be through populated places. They may be aligned through boarders of forests (or even through forests, as overhead lines will not cause much hindrance to wild life) and stations be connected to cities by link roads. This will bring down acquisition and construction hindrances to the minimum.

[1] http://www.iloveindia.com/population-of-india/population-density.html

[2] http://www.prokerala.com/kerala/population.htm

[3] http://www.prokerala.com/kerala/forest.htm


More on KHSRC

Albert Einstein cannot be wrong ... 

It has been read that Albert Einstein once said "if at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it". Even though this does not imply that all absurd ideas will bloom & blossom in the future, some certainly do.

Many of the skeptical reactions on the proposed HSRC remind me those words of Einstein as well as the initial days and HISTORY of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Way back in mid 20th century when the great visionary Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai came up with the proposal for initiating Space Research in our (financially poor) country India, the supposedly learned Indians as well as foreigners including Americans of those days raised identical arguments (about affordability and problems demanding IMMEDIATE attention such as maintaining & widening roads, alleviating poverty, providing housing, improving educational and health facilities etc) against it. They even questioned the soundness of the brains behind the proposal.

Now it is all history, our present generation enjoys the fruits of it and I was fortunate enough, by The Grace of God, to be a part of it in the Department of Space, Government of India.

I humbly envisage a similar future for the proposed KHSRC.

Edappilly Mathew George