The Railway Board has sanctioned ₹ 2.45 crore for the preparation of a detailed project report( DPR) for the Jolarpet Krishnagiri - Hosur- railway line. The report will be completed in 3 to 4 months, according to Krishnagiri MP A.Chellakumar.
Announcing the Railway Board’s decision over phone from New Delhi, Dr.Chellakumar said this was the first time in the last 70 years that the Railway Board had approved the project that was dismissed as unviable. With this, the Jolarpet-Krishnagiri-Hosur railway line project has been rendered a “live project”, Dr.Chellakumar said.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also promised budgetary allocation for the project in the current fiscal itself, Dr.Chellakumar said.
Detailing the process leading up to the approval by the Railway Board, Dr.Chellakumar said the railway line that existed until the 1940s was dismantled. For the last 70 years, multiple surveys were carried out with every survey declaring the project’s Rate of Return(ROR) as negative and hence unviable.
“The last such survey that was done in 2018 also arrived at the same conclusion, but I had insisted that the negative ROR was faulty given the concentration of industries in Hosur belt. After multiple consultations and deliberations, the 101 km line was reduced to 98 km line and on June 14, the Railway Minister personally met me and said the project was being sanctioned for the persistent follow-up and efforts,” Dr.Chellakumar said.
The Railway Board, on Tuesday, filed a Final Location Survey Report to Chennai and directed for a DPR, according to Dr.Chellakumar.
Krishnagiri is the only district headquarters in Tamil Nadu that does not have railway connectivity.
