The State government’s ambitious railway line project connecting Thalassery to Mysuru via Kannur airport-Wayanad-Coorg and with links to Kozhikode is likely to be shelved.
This is because the Centre has second thoughts on the multicrore project in the wake of the recent floods ravaging north Kerala and Kodagu.
The proposed railway line will pass through Koothuparamba, Mananthavady, Thrissilery, Kutta, Kanoor Belale, and Thithimathi to reach Mysuru. Already, Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), a joint venture company of Kerala and the Ministry of Railways, submitted a feasibility report for the new line from Thalassery to Periyapatna for consideration and requisite approvals.
The total cost of construction of the proposed line has been estimated at ₹5,000 crore. Significantly, the 180-km line would pass through the Western Ghats. Both the Ministries of Railways and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) would not give their approval after the recent landslide-triggered floods in Kannur-Wayanad and the mountainous Kodagu district in Karnataka, official sources said.
Though the project would not ecologically disturb the protected Bramhagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagerhole National Park and Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and the Kottiyoor, Aralam and Wayanad wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala, it would severely exacerbate the impacts of the climate change. Even if these areas had not been affected by the recent floods, Railways would have a seemingly difficult task to get the approval of the National Board for Wildlife and the Supreme Court for a project that would severely impact the environment of both States.
Incidentally, two other railway line projects — Kannur-Mattanur and Mattannur-Koothuparamba — were envisaged in connection with the proposed Thalassery-Mysuru rail line via Mananthavady. These two were conceived with the development of the Kannur international airport.
The State government came up with the revised Thalassery-Mysuru project after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which had been earlier tasked with the project, could not get the clearance from the MoEFCC to carry out the survey of the forest and sanctuary areas in Kerala and Karnataka.
At the same time, the KRDCL was engaged to prepare a Detailed Project Report for the Nilambur - Nanjangud railway line, a long-pending project that the government apparently seemed indifferent about.
