Kalpetta: Tender has been called in for the final survey of Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line, a long pending dream project for the Malabarites. The tender has been invited from the Ernakulam chief engineer's office of the Southern railways, with a request to submit a detailed project report (DPR) comprising details of aerial survey/traffic studies of the new broad gauge line. A detailed estimate and alignment details were also demanded. 

An amount of Rs 5.9 crores was allotted by the central railways for the purpose. The survey is expected to begin soon. The project will be a landmark in the history of Kerala and might realise the long pending dream of a railway network in Wayanad.

It was the Britishers who had first suggested the idea of a Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line, way back in 1882. The track will be laid between Vellarinala-Meppadi-Kalpetta-Meenangadi-Sulthan Bathery-Valluvadu, extending to Chikhbergi and Nanjangud in Karnataka.

Earlier, a DMRC led by E  Sreedharan was appointed for implementing the project as a joint venture of the central and state government. However all the works related to the project were stalled in 2017, after the state government shifted its focus to the Thalassery-Mysuru route. The DRC office set up in Kozhikode for the project was also shut down, and the project came to a dead-end.

At present, it is the intervention of the central railways that has reignited the hopes of implementing the project that had remained a dream for over 140 years.