Senior Survey and Construction department officials of the Southern Railway reached here on Tuesday to carry out carry out a traffic and feasibility survey of the 75-km stretch of the proposed Kanhangad-Kaniyooru rail line, that provides easiest access to Bengaluru from north Kerala.
A three-member survey team headed by senior transportation Manager S. Sreedharan, reached here in the morning for a two-day survey of the entire stretch and held talks with P. Karunakaran, MP, along with people’s representatives, local railway passenger association members at the railway station here.
The team later left for Panathur where they held talks with people’s representatives before proceeding to Sullia en route to Kaniyooru railway station. The team’s visit comes as part of the announcement made by former Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda during the maiden railway budget of the BJP-led government last year. Having successfully carried out both the traffic and feasibility surveys in the 40-km long Kanhangad-Panathur stretch in 2009, the survey team focused their attention in the Karnataka stretch, where even the preliminary survey is yet to commence.
The team after reaching Sullia held talks with people’s representatives and office-bearers of the Chamber of Commerce to elicit information on the freight and passenger traffic in the stretch where several commodities including rubber and spices are produced, a senior railway official told The Hindu . The survey team was told that around 200 bus services to Bengaluru are operating everyday through Sullia. The team later went to Kaniyooru to get first-hand information from the public who were reported to have shown keen enthusiasm in realising their pet project which they said, would speed up all-round development of the socially and economically backward region.
Presently passengers from north Kerala have either to touch Mangaluru or take the circuitous route via Palakkad to reach Bengaluru.
The proposed line would enable a passenger travel just 350 km to reach Bengaluru from north Kerala.
75-km proposed track to provide easier access to Bengaluru
