Railway line to Kodagu district back on track as SWR awards FLO to Bengaluru firm

Mysuru: The South Western Railways (SWR) has awarded tender for final location survey (FLO) to a Bengaluru-based firm for a new railway line from Mysuru to Kushalnagar in Kodagu district for Rs 1.26 crore. The proposed line is 88 km long.

According to SWR officials, the tender was invited for the first time in December 2020, but it was rejected as it did not meet eligibility criteria. A fresh tender was floated in June and a Bangalore company bagged the contract. The survey work is expected to begin by September first week and the FLO report will be submitted within six months.

This proposed railway line will connect Mysuru to Kodagu which is the only district in the State without A railway connectivity.

It is decades old dream of the people of the district to have a railway connectivity as lakhs of tourists visit it every year. The project is estimated to cost Rs 1,650 crore 50 percent of which will be borne by the state government.

The promise to build the new railway line was made in 2009 by the then Union railway state minister K H Muniyappa. However, the railways dropped the project as it was found economically unviable.

Kodagu-Mysuru parliament member Prathap Simha vowed in 2014 to fulfil the dream of the people in the district and he even declared in an interview to a TV channel that he would not contest in the next election if he failed to keep his word. However, Simha contested in the 2019 parliament election though the project was not sanctioned officially, saying that the railway line work was under process.

Kodagu district produces more than 30 percent of coffee in India and 70 percent of which is exported. The railway line reduces the transport cost of coffee and other spices produced in the district like cardamom, pepper, etc., to the Cochin port. The line also will reduce travelling cost of people to Mysuru and Bengaluru and other States.