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. This is the southernmost section of Indian Railways. The terminus of the line is at Kanyakumari railway station.

Thiruvananthapuram–Kanyakumari line
Thiruvananthapuram Central Station main building
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Southern Railway zone
Locale	Kerala Tamilnadu
Termini	Thiruvananthapuram Central (TVC) Kanyakumari (CAPE)
Stations	16
Website	Southern Railway
Service
Type	Regional rail Light rail
System	Electrified
Services	1
Operator(s)	Thiruvananthapuram
Rolling stock	WAP-1, WAP-4 electric locos; WDS-6, WDM-2, WDM-3A, WDP-4 and WDG-3A, WDG-4
History
Opened	1979; 46 years ago (1979)[1]
Electrification	2012[2]
Technical
Line length	86 kilometres (53 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Loading gauge	4,725 mm × 3,660 mm (15 ft 6.0 in × 12 ft 0.1 in) (BG)[3]
Electrification	Overhead catenary
Operating speed	100 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 Legend km to Vanchi Maniyachchi Junction 0 Tirunelveli Junction Thiruvallur overpass to Tenkasi Junction Thamirabarani River to Tiruchendur MDUTooltip Madurai railway division TVCTooltip Thiruvananthapuram railway division limits 4 Melappalaiyam SH 40 Road 16 Sengulam NH 44 30 Nanguneri 36 Dalapathy Samudram 43 Valliyur 51 North Panakudi NH 44 61 Aralvaymoli 65 Tovalai Pazhayar River 74 0 Nagercoil Junction 4 Suchindram 16 Kanyakumari NH 944 Putheri overpass 79 Nagercoil Town NH 66 SH 91 overpass 85 Viranialur Valliyaru River 92 Eraniel SH 180 overpass Thenkankuzhi overpass Panavilai overpass Palliyadi overpass 101 Palliyadi Valvaithankoshtam Tunnel 107 Kulitthurai NH 66 Thamiraparani River 110 Kuzhuthurai West Kazhuvanthittai Junction overpass Kaithakuzhi Tunnel Tamil Nadu Kerala 117 Parassala Vellarada Road Aalampara Road overpass Parasuvaikkal overpass 121 Dhanuvachapuram Dhanuvachapuram overpass 126 Amaravila Halt Neyyar River Neyyattinkara overpass 128 Neyyattinkara 132 Balaramapuram Thannivila Tunnel Pravachambalam overpass 137 Thiruvananthapuram South (Nemom) Nemom Railway overpass Studio Road overpass Pappanamcode Malayinkeezhu Road overpass Karamana River Poojapura Karamana Road overpass Killi River Kochar Road Valiashala overpass NH 66 145 Thiruvananthapuram Central to Kollam Junction

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. Thiruvananthapuram_South_(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	184,48,16,371	1,43,63,426	39,352	50,54,291
2	Thiruvananthapuram_South_(Nemom) (NEM)	NSG 6/E	4,59,865	64,823	178	1,260
3	Balaramapuram (BRAM)	NSG 6/E	12,29,900	1,89,367	519	3,370
4	Neyyattinkara (NYY)	NSG 5/D	2,00,04,580	18,14,997	4,973	54,807
5	Amaravila Halt (AMVA)	HG 2/F	7,24,075	1,24,130	340	1,984
6	Dhanuvachapuram (DAVM)	HG 2/F	20,80,930	3,85,654	1,057	5,701
7	Parassala (PASA)	NSG 5/E	1,76,22,854	11,82,863	3,241	48,282
8	Kuzhuthurai West (KZTW)	HG 2/F	22,18,990	2,57,362	705	6,079
9	Kuzhithurai(KZT)	NSG 5/B	6,13,04,832	13,37,257	3,664	1,67,958
10	Palliyadi (PYD)	HG 2/F	8,90,791	1,23,953	340	2,441
11	Eraniel (ERL)	NSG 5/D	2,21,49,696	5,26,474	1,442	60,684
12	Viranialur (VRLR)	HG 2/F	6,07,565	63,872	175	1,665
13	Nagercoil Town (NJT)	HG 1/F	1,48,65,233	1,31,912	361	40,727
14	Nagercoil Junction (NCJ)	NSG 3/A	46,43,32,656	23,80,085	6,521	12,72,144
15	Suchindram (SCH)
16	Kanyakumari (CAPE)	NSG 4/A	8,37,80,622	6,95,368	1,905	5,03,509

Rail traffic

Around 21 trains run 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.