Summary

For the ease of travel of Sabarimala devotees and the development of Pathanamthitta district where Sabarimala is situated, an Integrated Multimodal Transit Hub involving road, rail and air transports should be developed in the town of Adoor. The proposed projects are as follows. 

1. Adoor Sabari Greenfield International Airport: The proposed airport for  Sabarimala should be constructed in the government owned land in Adoor.

2. Cheriyanad – Pandalam – Adoor – Auvaneeswaram rail line: A new rail line connecting the existing Kayamkulam – Kottayam rail line and Kollam – Tenkasi rail line  should be constructed via Pandalam, Adoor  for the ease of movement of Sabarimala devotees.

3. A rail terminal station in Adoor: A new terminal station for Sabarimala trains should be constructed in Adoor.

4. Adoor – Pamba Elevated rail line: The proposed elevated rail line to Pamba on the foothills of Sabarimala should  be constructed from Adoor.

Detailed Overview

Sabarimala Dharma Shastha Temple, situated in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala is a famous centre of pilgrimage in south India. During the pilgrimage period of 2022-2023, more  than 45 lakhs of devotees visited the temple in just the three months of November-January. This number is expected to rise every year.

Currently the temple is accessible only by road. The nearest railway station is situated in a different district and the state government is proposing to set up a new airport for Sabarimala in another district.  

This is unlike other centres of worships in India like Tirupati and Varanasi where rail, road and air transport facilities are situated within the same city or atleast within the same district.

Since Sabarimala temple is situated in Periyar Tiger Reserve, any large scale construction is  not viable there. Hence our proposal is to develop a Multimodal Transit Hub in Adoor, Pathanamthitta District which would integrate road, rail and air transport for devotees visiting  Sabarimala and other places of worship related to Sabarimala such as Pandalam Temple,  Achankovil Temple, Kulathuppuzha Temple, Aryankavu temple and Erumely Temple. This  integrated transit hub will serve as a single entry-exit point for the growing number of devotees visiting Sabarimala every year

Proposals

1. Adoor Sabari International Airport for Sabarimala

The proposed airport for Sabarimala should be constructed in the town of Adoor. Nearly 1200  hectares (~3000 acres) of land is available with the government in Kodumon village  in Adoor. This land currently consists of a rubber plantation operated by the Kerala Plantation Corporation. As the land is completely owned by the government, the cost of land acquisition will be next to nil and there would be no need to displace families and individuals for this project. As the proposed airport would need only 1039  hectares of land, there would be sufficient land to implement the project in Adoor as  well as surplus land for the future expansion of the airport. This is not the case with  Erumely as additional 123.53 hectares of private land is currently needed to start the project there, which is expected to impact nearly 579 families. There is an ongoing legal dispute regarding the ownership of the rest of the 916.27 hectares of land  earmarked for the project in Cheruvally estate in Erumely. 

As there are more than 12 major urban centres within 30 km radius of Adoor and since they are home to a large population of non-resident Indians (NRI), an airport in Adoor would run in profit even during the months when Sabarimala temple is closed.

This airport would not only serve Kerala but also south western districts of Tamil Nadu like Tenkasi and Tirunelveli.

The proposed land for airport in Adoor is well connected by road as multiple state  highways (SH 01, SH 05, SH 08) and national highways (NH 183A, proposed  Thiruvananthapuram-Angamaly Greenfield Highway, NH 744) run very close to this  area. 

The air passenger traffic is showing a rising trend in India, the same is the trend in  Kerala as well. This new airport in Adoor, located roughly midway between  Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin airports will also relieve the rising traffic load of both  the airports in the future. 

2. Cheriyanad – Pandalam – Adoor – Auvaneeswaram Railway line 

A new rail line from Cheriyanad (a railway station in Kayamkulam – Kottayam rail  route) to Auvaneeswaram (a railway station in Kollam – Punalur – Tenkasi rail route) via Pandalam and Adoor would greatly help the devotees. The length of this new line  would be less than 45 km. As this new line would connect the two existing interstate  rail lines, this would not only decongest the highly saturated existing rail network in south Kerala but this would also open up another rail route for devotees from Tamil Nadu via Tenkasi and Punalur to Adoor. In future this new line can be extended to south to Thiruvananthapuram from Auvaneeswaram and to north to Angamaly from  Adoor via Pathanamthitta, Pala and Muvattupuzha.

3. A rail terminal station in Adoor 

Currently the special trains for Sabarimala terminate at Kollam, Kottayam, Eranakulam and Thiruvananthapuram railway stations. Each year the number of trips  run Sabarimala special trains are increasing and the existing terminal station will be insufficient to handle the growing rail traffic. This would necessitate a new terminal station which should be constructed in Adoor. 

4. Adoor – Pamba elevated rail line 

There is a current proposal to construct an elevated rail line from Chengannur to Pamba. This proposal was formulated because Chengannur is the nearest railway  station to Sabarimala as of now and majority of the Sabarimala devotees coming by train  board / alight train in Chengannur. Since we are already proposing to build the Sabarimala airport in Adoor (kindly refer proposal 1), along with a new rail line via Pandalam, Adoor (kindly refer proposal 2) and a new rail terminal in Adoor (kindly refer proposal 3), it would only be wise to construct the elevated rail line to Pamba from Adoor instead of Chengannur as Adoor would become an entry-exit point for majority of devotees visiting Sabarimala, Pandalam, Achankovil, Aryankavu, Kulathuppuzha and Erumely. 

The implementation of the above four proposals in tandem in Adoor in Pathanamthitta district would create a pilgrimage circuit covering Sabarimala, Pandalam, Achankovil, Aryankavu, Kulathuppuzha and Erumely. This project will also benefit many other tourist and cultural destinations nearby such as Thenmala Eco Tourism, Konni Eco Tourism, Aranmula, Jatayu Earth Centre, Alleppey Backwaters, Kollam Backwaters etc.