THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — Fulfilling a core election promise to affected landowners, the state government officially scrapped the previous administration's stalled ₹64,000 crore, 530km semi-high-speed rail project on Tuesday, immediately paving the way for the state's own identically proposed semi-high-speed rail project.

"The previous government's rail scheme was a poorly planned disaster that left citizens in perpetual limbo, unable to sell or mortgage their land," a government spokesperson said of the 2021 initiative. "That is why we have canceled it completely, removed the old concrete markers, and submitted an in-principle approval for a 583km Regional Rapid Transit System that will unfortunately require us to install brand new markers."

The administration's new proposal, designed to firmly distance the state from its predecessor's failed "dream project," boasts a completely reimagined model based on preliminary engineering reports for a line estimated at just under ₹1 lakh crore. The project will rely on a new funding structure comprising 20 percent state funds, 20 percent central funds, and 60 percent international loans.

Reached for comment, local residents expressed profound relief that their properties would now be indefinitely expropriated by a transit system with a slightly longer name.