Kanhangad railway station ''(Code:KZE)'' is a major and one of the busiest railway station under A – category stations of Palakkad Division, serving the town of

Kanhangad Kanhangad () is a town, located in the Kasaragod District, state of Kerala, India. Location The area contains villages around Kanhangad town with Kasaragod as the northern border, Nileshwar, popularly known as the 'cultural town' of Kasara ...

in the

Kasaragod district Kasaragod ( and Malayalam language, Malayalam: , English language, English: ''Kassergode'', Tulu language, Tulu: ''Kasrod'', Arabic language, Arabic: ''Harkwillia'') is one of the 14 List of districts of Kerala, districts in the southern Indi ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. It lies in the

Shoranur–Mangalore section The Shoranur–Mangaluru section is a railway segment of IR functioning under Palakkad Division of Southern Railway Zone. This is a broad gauge electrified line which begins at the Shornur Junction railway station in Kerala and ends at the ...

of the Southern Railway. The station has three platforms and four tracks.

Services

Trains halting at the station connect the town to prominent cities in India such as

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, and so forth. Railway Station KHD

Significance

The prominence of Kanhangad station has increased recently owing to the growth of the city as a major tourist destination with tourist spots like

Bekal Fort Bekal Fort is a medieval fort built by Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi in 1650 AD, at Bekal. It is the largest fort in Kerala, spreading over . Structure The fort appears to emerge from the sea. Almost three-quarters of its exterior is in con ...

Ranipuram Ranipuram (also known by its former name Madathumala) is a village and a major tourist attraction in the Kasaragod district of the Indian state of Kerala. It is located near Talakaveri Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala-Karnataka border. Situated at a ...

and

Talacauvery Talakaveri or Talacauvery is the place that is generally considered to be the source of the river Kaveri and a holy place for many Hindus. It is located on Brahmagiri hills near Bhagamandala in Kodagu district, Karnataka State. It is locat ...

hill station besides leading pilgrim centres like Anandashram and Nithayanandashram and also as an upcoming educational hub. The station also assumed importance in view of its proximity with the

Central University of Kerala Central University of Kerala (CUK) is one of the 15 central universities established under ''The Central Universities Act, 2009'' (Act No.25 of 2009) by the Parliament of India. The university is seated in Kasaragod, the northernmost distr ...

's campus at Periya.

Projects

A proposed railway line from Kanhangad railway station to

through

Kaniyuru Kaniyooru, also spelled Kaniyooru is a village in Puttur taluk in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. It houses one of the Ashta Mathas established by Madhvacharya, the Dvaita philosopher. The village is located on Mangalore t ...

is pending since a very long time and is waiting for the final approval from the railway authorities. The survey for the full stretch has already been carried out and is found to be feasible in all aspects. The project have an estimate cost of 1200 crores for which both the states of Kerala and Karnataka has to bear half the cost and the rest by the centre. This 91 km Kanhangad-Kaniyur line project has been conceived in two phases—Kanhangad

(40 km) which passes through Kerala and the rest in Karnataka. The supporters of the line claim that if it materializes, then

will be only 348 km away from Kanhangad or in other words, the duration to reach Bangalore will be six hours only. Currently, the Kanhangad-Bangalore route either via

or Palakkad is more than 650 km taking an exhausting 12 hours to reach. The distance and time required to connect

, Subramanya and

Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...

to North Kerala will also be reduced. It will also give fillip to the tourism sector connecting

, Subramanya,

Bekal Bekal is a small town in the Kasaragod district on the West coast of the state of Kerala, India. Location Bekal is a town located south of Kasaragod town and north of Kanhangad on the State Highway 57. Bekal Fort is the largest fort in Ker ...

and

and will also be a boon to education and business sector where a number of students and professionals hailing from Kerala will have an easy access to the IT city,

. It will also help the merchants in easing their trade and can have a good revenue as it helps in easy access and exchange of goods between the two states. If implemented, Kanhangad station will be upgraded as a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

and a special train service from Kanhangad to Bangalore will be a major push for the station and this will also accelerate the development of the city and entire North Malabar region.

References

{{Palakkad Railway Division http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150831/nation-current-affairs/article/kanjangad-kaniyur-rail-route-survey-completed Railway stations in Kasaragod district Palakkad railway division