Ernakulam Junction railway station (also known as Ernakulam South, code: ERS) is the biggest railway station in the city of

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India. Controlling 376 train routes at a time, it is the busiest railway junction station in South India. At in financial year 2018–19, it is the second largest in terms of passenger revenues in Kerala and the fifth largest in Southern Railway. It is an A1 classified station operated by 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 tota ...

and comes under the

Thiruvananthapuram railway division Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division (TVC) is one of the six administrative divisions of the Southern Railway, Indian Railways. It has its headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the state of Kerala, India. Thiruvananthapuram D ...

. Ernakulam Junction is also the first fully disabled-friendly railway station in India.

Important trains originating from Ernakulam Junction

The following trains starting from Ernakulam Junction station:

History

Ernakulam Jn was first opened as Ernakulam South in 1932 when the metre-gauge line then terminating at Ernakulam Terminus railway station (ERG) was extended from Pachalam to the

Cochin Harbour Terminus Cochin Harbour Terminus (CHTS) is one of the railway stations in the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. It is located on the Willingdon Island. The Cochin Harbour Terminus is the principal station providing rail connectivity to the ...

on the

Willingdon Island Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously ...

for proximity to the Kochi Port. Ernakulam North, Perumanur (later closed), Mattanchery Halt and CHTS were the newly opened stations on the route. In 1946 the station was converted into broad gauge as part of the Shoranur–CHTS line, linking it directly to the rest of India via the Mangalore–Jolarpet mainline at Shoranur Jn. In 1956 the Ernakulam–Kottayam metre-gauge line was opened and further extended to Kollam in 1958, joining to the Kollam–Trivandrum line, connecting Ernakulam with Trivandrum for the first time. Since the opening of the Kottayam line made it a junction, Ernakulam South was renamed Ernakulam Junction, and Ernakulam North was renamed Ernakulam Town. This was what made Ernakulam Jn rise to prominence, which was until then just a small wayside station en route to the much busier Cochin Harbour Terminus station. Until 1979 when the Kottayam line was converted into broad gauge, ERS had both broad and metre-gauge tracks. As the coastal line to Alappuzha was opened in 1989, Ernakulam Jn rose to the status of the most premier railway station in central Kerala.

Layout

Ernakulam Jn is a railway junction with lines branching off from it to four different directions: * North towards Chennai/Bangalore (via Palakkad) and Mumbai (via Shoranur–Kozhikode) * South towards Thiruvananthapuram via Alappuzha–Kollam * South-west towards

and

(CHTS) * East towards Thiruvananthapuram via Kottayam–Kollam The station has six platforms to handle long-distance trains and local trains and two entrances (the Main entry and the Eastern entry). Its A1 classification is the highest a station can achieve on Indian Railways. It does have all amenities expected out of a major junction including a paid air-conditioned lounge with free WiFi, a library, rest room, children's play areas etc. However, the station lacks the spread-out roominess and large built-up area of similarly large stations. Ernakulam Junction was the first railway station in Kerala to have an escalator. It was installed on 9 September 2013. Currently all its platforms are served by escalators.

References

External links

www.irctc.com
Southern Railway zone
* {{Top 100 booking stations of Indian Railways Railway junction stations in Kerala Railway stations in Kochi Railway stations opened in 1932 Thiruvananthapuram railway division