29-11-2017, 09:58 AM
The railway division of Madurai is a railway division belonging to Southern Railways (SR), India. Officially created in 1856, it occupies more than 1,356 km (843 miles), which makes it the largest railway division of the southern railways. Before the formation of the railway division of Thiruvananthapuram, carved into the division, it was one of the largest railway divisions. throughout the country Currently covers up to 12 districts of Tamil Nadu and 1 in Kerala. Its headquarters is in Madurai.
The railway division of Madurai was formed in 1956 and comprises the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram line, the Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil-Tirunelveli-Madurai line, the Kollam-Sengottai-Tirunelveli line, the Rameswaram-Manamaadurai-Madurai line, the Manamadurai-Karaikudi-Tiruchirappalli line , Madurai-Dindigul- Pollachi Line and the other branches of these lines. All lines currently in use have been converted to Broad Gauge, while the remaining sections, specifically the Madurai-Bodinayakkanur section and the Punalur-Sengottai section, are in the process of gauge conversion.
In 1979 certain sections of the railway division were carved to form the railway division of Thiruvananthapuram. The meter sections of the Madurai division were retained, while all the newly calibrated wide-gauge sections of the Madurai division were transferred to the Trivandrum division. Therefore, the BG Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil-Kanyakumari line and the BG line under construction of Tirunelveli-Nagercoil were transferred to the Trivandrum Division, thus reducing the jurisdiction of the division to 1356 km. Then it was mentioned that when the Tirunelveli-Madurai line becomes the BG line, the sections that fall under the Kanyakumari district and the Tirunelveli district would be transferred to the Madurai Division. The Tirunelveli-Madurai line became the BG line on 8-4-1981 but the railway lines in the southern district have not been restored to date. The Kanyakumari terminal station lacks the railway infrastructures required and therefore the request for more train services was always turned down by them citing the same disadvantage as the reason.
