Munnar May Soon Get Train Service, Nearly A Century After The 'Great Flood Of 99' Washed It Away

It is the midst of Monsoon in Kerala and tourists from all across the world are flocking the picturesque hill station Munnar to enjoy the showers that inspire poetry.

One of the biggest attractions of Munnar is its greenery, hills covered with tea plantations, like a green carpet as far as the eye can see. Now just imagine taking a train through the tea plantations meandering around the hills! Well, that could soon be a reality.

Idukki, along with Wayanad are the only two districts in Kerala, which do not have train connectivity, thanks to the hilly terrain.

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But it may soon change as Munnar see train service once again.

Yes, it is once again! In fact, Munnar has a special place in the railway history of Kerala as the first railway line in the state was from the city. According to the now largely forgotten history, the first railway lines in Kerala was laid in Munnar.

It was called the Kundala Valley Railway. Established as a monorail in 1902 and upgraded as a narrow gauge as a light railway in 1908, its purpose was to transport the British's main produce from the hills - tea.

The trains used to run between Mattupetty Top Station to Thoothukudi carrying tea and people till 1924, the year of the 'Great Flood of 99'.

Nearly a century ago Kerala was hit by a massive flood, almost the size of what happened in 2018. It was called the flood of 99 because it happened in kollavarsham 1099, (traditional Malayalam calendar).

The flood of 99 completely destroyed the railway infrastructure in Munnar including tracks and stations beyond repair and it was never rebuilt. Today all that remains of the Kundala Valley Railway is some broken tracks and bridges.

But now the Tourism Department has proposed to resume the train service once again, 95 years after it was shut down.

S Rajendran, the MLA from Devikulam along with officials from the Tourism Department and Tata-owned Kanan Devan Hills Plantation conducted the preliminary inspections to identify the old routes and railway lines and the possibility of resuming it.

Unlike the train service that existed before 1924, the proposed new line will be aimed at attracting tourists.

According to the Tourism Department initially, a 5km monorail is considered, in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

It will be modeled after the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which is also known as the Toy Train that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal, which is a UNESCO World Heritage.

According to officials, after identifying the old routes a detailed report will be submitted to the Indian Railway for the project.