Kerala Budget 2026-27: ₹100 crore earmarked for Regional Rapid Transit System

Although the Budget presented by Kerala’s Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal lacked big-ticket infrastructure projects, the State government pledged its support for high-speed travel by earmarking ₹100 crore to initiate the preliminary works for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project recently approved by the Cabinet. This move comes in the wake of the Union government’s recent approval of a high-speed rail project for the State ahead of the Assembly elections in Kerala.

Mr. Balagopal said a high-speed travel facility from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod is inevitable. In Kerala, this system is envisioned to be implemented in four phases along the lines of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has offered support for this scheme. Accordingly, the scheme is intended to be implemented in the first phase from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur, the second phase from Thrissur to Kozhikode, the third phase from Kozhikode to Kannur and the fourth phase from Kannur to Kasaragod.

The distinctive feature of this mode of transport, which generally runs on elevated pillars, is that it can be integrated with the urban-metro projects. However, technocrat E. Sreedharan, who had suggested an alternate project to the semi-high-speed rail project of Kerala (SilverLine), said the main purpose of the RRTS is linking the suburban towns with the cities, and the proposed RRTS will not serve the purpose of the high-speed travel. The RRTS will have more stoppages than the high-speed rail project, which will not only curtail the speed of the trains but also increase the cost of the project. Around ₹250 crore is required for constructing 1 km of RRTS line.

Mr. Sreedharan further said that formal approval for the high-speed project by the Railways is expected by the first half of February. Although the project components may vary based on the technology, the main appeal of Mr. Sreedharan’s RRTS and high-speed rail is that most of the route will be on elevated pillars, minimising environmental impact.

The State has prepared a detailed project report for the SilverLine project, with the majority of the route passing through embankments, which has drawn sharp criticism from environmental activists.