Manamadurai Junction railway station serves in the city of
Manamadurai
Manamadurai is a Municipality Town in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Manamadurai falls under Manamadurai Legislative assembly.
Upgradation of Manamadurai to Municipality
Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru made ...
in
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 ...
. It belongs to
Madurai railway division
Madurai railway division is a railway division belonging to the Southern Railways (SR), India. Officially created in 1956, it spans over making it the largest railway division of the Southern Railways. Prior to the formation of the Thiruvanant ...
.
Manamadurai Junction, station code MNM, is a railway station in
Sivaganga district of the Indian state of
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 one of the two major railway junctions within the district. The other is
Karaikudi Junction
Karaikkudi Junction is one of the major passenger rail head and major junction located in Sivaganga district and serving the towns of karaikudi, Devakottai and Thirupathur in Tamil Nadu.
History
The station was constructed as a part of Pud ...
which is a smaller as it has three rail branches but a major passenger railhead.
History
This station was constructed as a part of Madurai Rameswaram Branch Railway line which was constructed in
Colonial India
Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices.
The search for the wealth and prosper ...
in 1902. This line was mainly constructed to connect
Indian province with
Ceylon Province. Later, after the annexation of
Sivagangai Estate, a 20km branch line was constructed in-between
Manamadurai
Manamadurai is a Municipality Town in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Manamadurai falls under Manamadurai Legislative assembly.
Upgradation of Manamadurai to Municipality
Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru made ...
and
Sivaganga
Sivaganga () is a city and headquarters of the Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Sivaganga is a rani velunachiyar kingdom of Tamil Nadu. It is an important city in this district for official and commercial purposes. Its ni ...
i which converted this station into a railway junction and becoming the first junction in the
Ramnad region. Pamban became a junction by constructing a small branch line between Pamban and
Dhanushkodi
Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclo ...
which spans 17 km but after the
1964 rameswaram cyclone
The 1964 Rameswaram cyclone (also known as the Dhanushkodi cyclone) was regarded as one of the most powerful storms to ever strike India on record. The system was first identified as an area of low pressure over the Andaman Sea on December 15. ...
that branch line was closed. After India gained independence, a new railway line was constructed between Manamadurai and
Virudhunagar
Virudhunagar is a city and the administrative headquarter of the Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located southwest of the state capital Chennai and south of Madurai. Virudhunagar emerged as an important trade ...
under the rule of
Kamaraj
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
. This was the first railway line in Tamil Nadu to be built after Indian Independence.
Location and layout
This junction is located close to its district headquarters, Sivagangai, which is 20 km away from this junction and it is 50 km away from its railway divisional headquarters Madurai. This railway junction has 6 railway tracks and 5 platforms, usually crowded in the morning and night. It has the second largest curve. Connects with
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...
,
Tiruchirapalli
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 ...
,
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, and
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
. Clean waiting hall, food, large parking space,
Railway Protection Force
Railway Protection Force is a security force under the ownership of Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957; enacted by the Indian Parliament for "the better protection ...
(RPF) police station and Railway Hospital facilities are available within the station complex premise. Nearby bus stand is well connected with Cochin - Rameswaram Interstate Corridor National Highway (NH45) which is also an
Asian Highway Network
The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hig ...
which is numbered as
AH43
Asian Highway 43 (AH43) is a route of the Asian Highway Network, running from Asian Highway 1 in Agra, India to Matara in Sri Lanka.Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific2003 Asian Highway Handbook, 2003, page 98
Route
It passe ...
, which gives 24/7 bus connectivity to various places nearby. Retiring room, railway canteen, adequate restrooms are available at this junction. This junction also has a goods terminal which generates a huge revenue to the entire madurai railway division. Mostly the goods handled here are loading and sending charcoal to various parts of India and the nearby SIDCO and SIPCOT (industrial complex area by government of Tamil Nadu) also contributes a considerable amount of profit to this junction whereas unloading of goods includes some civil supplies for the sivagangai district where it has located and various raw materials for those industries present nearby sivagangai and manamadurai region.
Importance of this junction
The Manamadurai Junction has four rail branches, each leading to
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
,
Virudhunagar
Virudhunagar is a city and the administrative headquarter of the Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located southwest of the state capital Chennai and south of Madurai. Virudhunagar emerged as an important trade ...
,
Karaikudi
Karaikudi is a Greater municipality in Sivaganga district, Sivagangai district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 21st largest urban agglomeration of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of t ...
and
Rameswaram
Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilo ...
. It is a main railway junction, so all trains have to make a technical halt at this junction.
Rameswaram
Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilo ...
Destination trains have to cross this junction as there is no other railway routes exist to connect
Pamban Island with Main Land
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. For the convenience of long-distance passengers such as tourist places from
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
,
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
,
Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...
who are traveling to
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
have to deboard at this station and vice versa. From here adequate bus facilities are available to and from Madurai 24/7.
Administration
It falls under the administrative control of the
Madurai Division of the
Southern Railway zone of the
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
. The tracks are completely electrified. It works under electric
Broad Gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
. This junction comes under the control of sivaganga senior section engineer and karaikudi Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADEN).
Trains operated
It acts as the source station for Mannargudi - Tiruchirappalli - Manamadurai DEMU passenger. Once upon a time, it acted as source station for
Silambu Express
The Silambu Express (20681/20682) is a train that runs between and via . Initially it ran up to Manamadurai, later it was extended up to Sengottai. It was the only train in Indian Railways where LHB rakes were replaced by ICF coaches again. Ac ...
. During meter gauge era, it acted as a source station for
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...
Manamadurai Express which is currently running as
Puducherry kanyakumari weekly express and Manamadurai
Quilon
Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...
Express
which is planned to run between Ernakulam to Velankanni Biweekly express.
Presently this junction handles various daily and weekly passenger and express trains along with some unscheduled freight trains.
References
{{Railway stations in Tamil Nadu
Madurai railway division
Railway stations in Sivaganga district
Railway junction stations in Tamil Nadu