Railways Drop Mysuru–Kushalnagar Rail Project Citing Negative Returns

The railway line, which was planned to connect Mysuru with Kushalnagar, would have required the acquisition of nearly 1,379 acres of land. Image used for representation purpose only

Mysuru: The long-discussed Mysuru–Kushalnagar railway line has officially been dropped, bringing an end to a project that had remained on the drawing board for several years. The proposed rail corridor, spanning about 87.2 km, will not be pursued further after railway authorities concluded that it does not meet economic and operational benchmarks.

Speaking to The Kodagu Express, Girish Dharmaraj Kalagonda, Divisional Commercial Manager, Mysuru division of South Western Railway(SWR), said the decision was based on a detailed assessment of projected traffic and financial returns. He explained that the expected passenger and freight volumes along the route were insufficient to justify the scale of investment required. As a result, the project was found to have a negative rate of return, making it financially unviable in the long term.

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The railway line, which was planned to connect Mysuru with Kushalnagar, would have required the acquisition of nearly 1,379 acres of land. Initial estimates had pegged the cost of the project at around ₹1,800 crore, a figure that further weighed against its feasibility.

The project had received formal sanction during the 2018–19 financial year, and the Final Location Survey (FLS) tender was awarded in June 2022. Despite these steps, railway officials have now confirmed that both the financial outlook and future operational prospects of the line remain unfavourable, leading to its shelving.

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