The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which had conducted a feasibility study has asked the State government to rethink the proposed Thalassery-Mysuru railway project as it would not be beneficial to the State.
According to the DMRC, the project would benefit only the people of north Kerala beyond the Kuttippuram railway station, while for the rest of the State from Parassala to Kuttippuram, the existing rail route would be more convenient. The rail distance between Thalassery and Mysuru will be 206.51 km, of which the actual construction length will be 190.22 km. The project cost at current prices is estimated to be ₹5,538 crore, and by the time the project is completed, its cost will be ₹6,685 crore. The cost per km would thus work out to ₹32 crore.
The expenditure is high on account of the high land costs, long length of 53 km in the Ghats section and the need for a TBM tunnel (length of 11.45 km) to cross over the wildlife sanctuary of Karnataka.
The expected traffic on this line is very low in terms of passenger patronage and quantum of goods carried. As a result, the internal rate of return (IRR) on the project is negative. Even the social benefits reflected by the economic rate of return are also very low at only about 6.65% .
There is no scope for more industries to come up at the Thalassery end. Hence, the IRR of the project may not improve in the future, the DMRC has said in its report.
