Thiruvananthapuram–Nagercoil–Kanyakumari line

The Thiruvananthapuram–Nagercoil–Kanyakumari line is a line in the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways. It connects the cities Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil. The railway opened on 15 April 1979.

Thiruvananthapuram–Kanyakumari line
Thiruvananthapuram Central Station main building
Overview
TypeRegional rail
Light rail
SystemElectrified
StatusOperational
LocaleKerala
Tamilnadu
TerminiThiruvananthapuram Central (TVC)
Kanyakumari (CAPE)
Stations16
Services1
WebsiteSouthern Railway
Operation
Opened1979 (1979)[1]
OwnerSouthern Railway zone
Operator(s)Thiruvananthapuram
Rolling stockWAP-1, WAP-4 electric locos; WDS-6, WDM-2, WDM-3A, WDP-4 and WDG-3A, WDG-4
Events
Electrification2012[2]
Technical
Line length86 kilometres (53 mi)
Number of tracks1
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Loading gauge4,725 mm × 3,660 mm (15 ft 6.0 in × 12 ft 0.1 in) (BG)[3]
ElectrificationOverhead catenary
Operating speed100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) (between Thiruvananthapuram Central and Nagercoil Junction)
90 kilometres per hour (56 mph) (between Nagercoil Junction and Kanyakumari)[4]
Route map
 km
0 Tirunelveli Junction
MDU
TVC
limits
 4 Melappalaiyam
 16 Sengulam
 30 Nanguneri
 36 Dalapathy Samudram
 43 Valliyur
 51 North Panakudi
 61 Aralvaymoli
 65 Tovalai
74
0
 Nagercoil Junction
4 Suchindram
16 Kanyakumari
79 Nagercoil Town
 85 Viranialur
 92 Eraniel
 101 Palliyadi
 107 Kulitthurai
 110 Kuzhuthurai West
Tamil Nadu
Kerala
 117 Parassala
 121 Dhanuvachapuram
 126 Amaravila Halt
 128 Neyyattinkara
 132 Balaramapuram
 137 Nemom
 145 Thiruvananthapuram Central
Foundation Stone

History

In 1955, a survey for the railway line was sanctioned.[5] It was completed in 1965, and construction began on 6 September 1972 with a ceremony with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[6] On 15 April 1979, the line began to operate.[7]

The Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil-Kanyakumari railway line is fully electrified.[2] Track doubling work is in progress[8] and is expected to finished in 2022.[9]

Stations

There are 16 railway stations along the line. The major stations are Nagercoil Junction, Nagercoil Town, Eraniel, Kulitthurai, and Neyyattinkara. Nemom, the second satellite passenger terminal to the proposed Thiruvananthapuram Central, also comes under this section.

The train line has seen financial gain, and its earnings are shown below.[10] Stations in bold letters generated a minimum of 2 crore.

Sl. No Station Name Category[11][12][note 1] (based on 2011-12 earnings) Earnings during 2016-17 Total no. of passengers booked during 2016-17 Passengers per day Daily avg. earnings during 2016-17
1 Thiruvananthapuram Central (TVC) NSG 2/ A1 1844816371 14363426 39352 5054291
2 Nemom (NEM) NSG 6/E 459865 64823 178 1260
3 Balaramapuram (BRAM) NSG 6/E 1229900 189367 519 3370
4 Neyyattinkara (NYY) NSG 5/D 20004580 1814997 4973 54807
5 Amaravila Halt (AMVA) HG 2/F 724075 124130 340 1984
6 Dhanuvachapuram (DAVM) HG 2/F 2080930 385654 1057 5701
7 Parassala (PASA) NSG 5/E 17622854 1182863 3241 48282
8 Kuzhuthurai West (KZTW) HG 2/F 2218990 257362 705 6079
9 Kulitthurai NSG 5/B 61304832 1337257 3664 167958
10 Palliyadi (PYD) HG 2/F 890791 123953 340 2441
11 Eraniel (ERL) NSG 5/D 22149696 526474 1442 60684
12 Viranialur (VRLR) HG 2/F 607565 63872 175 1665
13 Nagercoil Town (NJT) HG 1/F 14865233 131912 361 40727
14 Nagercoil Junction (NCJ) NSG 3/A 464332656 2380085 6521 1272144
15 Suchindram (SCH)
16 Kanyakumari (CAPE) NSG 4/A 83780622 695368 1905 503509

Rail traffic

Around 35 trains run on the line. The longest-running train service in India (Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express) operates on the line. More trains are expected to be introduced along the route with the completion of track doubling.

The operating speed of trains running between Thiruvananthapuram to Nagercoil ranges from 80 to 100 km per hour. Trains operating from Kanyakumari to Nagercoil run from 75 to 90 km per hour.[4]

Notes
  1. Station grouping has been separated into three categories. Non-suburban (NS), Suburban (S), and Halt (H). These groups have further been put in grades ranging from NSG 1-6, SG 1-3 and HG 1-3, respectively.

References
  1. "Railway Budget speech 1979-80" (PDF). www.indianrailways.gov.in. Government of India, Ministry of Railways. 20 February 1979.
  2. "First electric engine-hauled train reaches Kanyakumari". The Hindu. Thiruvananthapuram. 25 May 2012.
  3. J S Mundrey (2010). Railway Track Engineering (Fourth ed.). New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-07-068012-8. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  4. "The Trivandrum division has also decided to increase the speed of trains". The Hindu. Nagercoil. 4 December 2013.
  5. "Railway Budget speech 1956-57" (PDF). www.indianrailways.gov.in. Government of India, Ministry of Railways. 23 February 1956.
  6. "Railway Budget speech 1965-66" (PDF). www.indianrailways.gov.in. Government of India, Ministry of Railways. 18 February 1965.
  7. "Railway Budget speech 1973-74" (PDF). www.indianrailways.gov.in. Government of India, Ministry of Railways. 20 February 1973.
  8. "Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari doubling to begin on Jan 23". The Hindu. Thiruvananthapuram. 12 January 2018.
  9. "Railways begin doubling work". The Hindu. Thiruvananthapuram. 24 January 2018.
  10. "Southern Railway - Annual originating passengers & earnings for the year 2016-17" (PDF). Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  11. "Minister of Railways directs to re-categorize railway stations taking into account earnings, passenger footfall, strategic importance". pib.nic.in.
  12. "Railways revise station categories to improve services". The Economic Times.
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