Kerala-Mysuru rail link: New route with a tunnel proposed

Mysore-Malabar Rail Road Action Council appeals Karnataka Government to consider the project 

Mysore/Mysuru: The Mysore-Malabar Rail Road Action Council is generating public opinion in favour of Mysuru-Malabar Railway line that has Thalassery in Kerala and Kadakola in Karnataka near Mysuru as starting and ending points. 

This comes in the wake of the earlier Thalassery-Mysuru Railway project via the green swathes of Kodagu and Bandipur National Park not materialising due to stiff opposition from environmentalists and even the Karnataka Forest Department. 

Kerala had even proposed a tunnel via Bandipur for the Railway line to pass. This proposal too was rejected by Karnataka. 

Now the Mysore-Malabar Rail Road Action Council, Kannur, has proposed a new route via Sultan Batheri from Thalassery to Kadakola that does not cut through forests. Instead, the line will pass through H.D. Kote, Antharasanthe border, and reach Bavali village from where the line proceeds towards Kerala. 

22-kilometre tunnel 

Addressing a press conference at H.D. Kote yesterday, Mysore-Malabar Rail Road Action Council’s Kerala Coordinator Umesh Pochappan claimed that the proposed new route will not cut through forests as a 22-kilometre tunnel has been envisaged at Antharasanthe Range of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Bavali and surrounding forests. 

“We are not in favour of cutting trees and we are seeking the Governments of Karnataka and Kerala to follow the model of Konkan Railway where forest cover is not disturbed at all,” Umesh Pochappan he said. 

The Kerala Government has already agreed for the project and a proposal has been sent to the Union Railway Ministry. “The Ministry has conveyed to us that if both Karnataka and Kerala agree, the Railways will implement the project. We request the Karnataka Government to consider the proposal,” he said. 

The Action Council’s Karnataka Coordinator Shankar K. Muthu said that the project will not disturb wildlife or green cover in the Nagarahole National Park and also at Kabini backwaters. “We have conducted a survey with a helicopter and the report says that the tunnel will not damage environment. In the forest area, the Railway line will pass through a tunnel while in city areas, it will pass above ground,” he claimed.