Nearly 60 years after Dhanushkodi was wiped out by a devastating cyclone in 1964, the Indian Railways is working to expedite plans to revive this ghost town by reconstructing the 18-km railway line between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi.
The Railways has begun the process of acquiring land for the ₹733-crore project, for which the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. About 28.6 hectares are forest land and 43.81 hectares belong to the State government, while 3.66 hectares are privately held.
The ruins of the abandoned station, which have become the identity of the town over the past six decades, would be razed to make way for the new station, Madurai Division's Assistant Executive Engineer Anand told The Hindu. “The ruins will have to be removed…We can’t keep it as a heritage site also, simply because the new railway line is proposed to go through there,” he said.
