Ariyalur railway station (Code: ALU) is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Ariyalur Ariyalur () is a town and district headquarters of Ariyalur district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is rich in limestone, surrounded with seven cement factories and two sugar factories. The town is located at a distance of from th ...

, headquarters of the

Ariyalur district Ariyalur district is an administrative district, one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts in the Indian state, state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters is located at Ariyalur. The district encompasses an area of 1,949.31& ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. It is located on the chord line between Viluppuram and Tiruchirappalli. For administrative reasons, it comes under the

Tiruchirappalli railway division Tiruchirappalli railway division () is one of the six railway divisions of Southern Railway zone (SR) of India. It has its administrative headquarters located at Tiruchirappalli. It serves most of the districts of delta region and Central Tamil ...

of the Southern Railway zone.

Location and layout

The railway station is situated on the Perambalur main Road on the western part of the city. It is the main railhead for both

, Thanajvur and

Perambalur Perambalur is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of Perambalur district and Perambalur ''taluk'' (sub-district). census, the town had a population of 49,648. There are a set of 11th century Buddha statues aroun ...

districts since railway stations in other towns of Ariyalur district such as

Lalgudi Thiruthavathurai (Lalgudi) is a town in Tiruchirapalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town of Lalgudi heads the Lalgudi taluk, Lalgudi division, Lalgudi Educational District, Lalgudi DSP and Lalgudi Constituency (1952 onwards) ...

and

Sendurai Sendurai is the headquarters of the Sendurai taluk in the Ariyalur district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is about from the state capital of Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is th ...

barely have any express trains halting and Permbalur district does not have a railway station at all, ever since the bifurcation of the Ariyalur district. It hence serves as an important railway hub for passengers from the central districts of

. Certain TNSTC busses are operated from Thanjavur to Ariyalur Railway station for passengers' convenience. The station falls on the Viluppuram–Tiruchirappalli chord line, which is the only line passing through the station. The railway line towards the south has been completed doubling work, spanning across two sections namely the Ariyalur-Kallakudi Palanganatham stretch and then the Valadi-Kallakudi Palanganatham stretch, after which it is single line till

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. The same double line infrastructure completed extends up to R.S. Mathur towards the north beyond which it is single line again till .

Amenities

The station has been declared as one of the Adarsh railway stations in

. Hence it has amenities such as upper-class waiting rooms, ATMs, ramps and wheel chairs for the differently-abled, retiring rooms etc. During the rush hour, TNSTC busses which provides local bus services from the station to the Ariyalur Bus Stand and certain TNSTC busses operates towards

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

. The station however is suffering from serious infrastructural problems according to passengers. The withdrawal of many of the direct bus services from the station to

, as well as absence of sufficient services on other routes is viewed as a great hardship on the part of commuters to the station. This is compounded by lack of regular bus services from Ariyalur railway station to the Ariyalur main bus stand and high auto rickshaw fares for commuting that distance. Lack of porters and petty shops, inadequate number of seats and shelters and unavailability of additional platforms form the other issues at the station. Project on doubling the track between Ariyalur and Valadi segment to a length of 50 km had been executed, the 25-km stretch between Ariyalur and Mathur also commissioned. As part of doubling of the track, the Ariyalur station has been beautified and expanded, according to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). Additional platform created was 550 metres. The additional platform would ensure smooth operation of trains.

References

{{Railway stations in Tamil Nadu Railway stations in Ariyalur district Trichy railway division