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Thalassery-Mysore rail link: Railways to conduct resurvey - Times Of India by sushil on 05 September, 2012 - 06:01 PM
avatar sushil Thalassery-Mysore rail link: Railways to conduct resurvey - Times Of India on 05 September, 2012 - 06:01 PM

KANNUR: Minister of state for railways K H Muniyappa's announcement that his ministry would conduct a resurvey of the proposed rail link between Thalassery and Mysore, has once again revived the hopes that this 56-year-old dream would become a reality in the coming years.

According to the minister, a resurvey is being conducted as there were many controversies surrounding the previous survey done many years back. It had concluded that the project was not viable.

"Since there are many contradictions in the previous survey, Railway has decided to conduct a survey on its own. A decision will be taken based on it," he said at a press conference in Thalassery on Sunday.

The survey is to be conducted on the route connecting Mattannur, Karikottakkari, Nadukani, Ponnambettu and Mysore.

"Of course, this is a positive move, and we are happy that the government has taken the initiative to revive the project," said Kalavoor Johnson, general convener, Thalassery-Mysore Rail Line Action Council.

He said the council had submitted a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Kerala high court six months ago along with a copy of the memorandum signed by 42 MPs and also the report of the survey that people had conducted.

"Since the government has not given any affidavit or reply to our questions as to what had happened to the project, it has to do something before giving a reply in the court, and hence this plan for the resurvey," he said. And it is good that the survey is being conducted along the alignment proposed by the action council, he said.

As per the old survey, the distance by between Mysore and Thalassery would be around 298 km while the distance by road is only 185 km. The project was shelved because of this.

However, according to the survey conducted by the action council a few years back, the distance would only be around 145 km, and the environmental impact would be less.

It was in 1956 that the Thalassery-Mysore railway line was first proposed. Though many governments had promised to revive the project, nothing has materialized so far.