Peralam–Karaikal line
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The Peralam–Karaikal line is a branch line connects
Peralam Peralam is a panchayat town in Thiruvarur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Demographics India census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given popula ...
,
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 ...
with
Karaikal Karaikal ( /kʌdɛkʌl/, french: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Karaikal was sold to the French by the Rajah of Thanjavur and became a French Colony in 1739. The French held control, with occasi ...
, Puducherry in
South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. It is the one and only unconverted railway line in Puducherry union territory and one of the few unconverted railway lines in southern railway zone. This line is one of the cauvery delta railway line which falls under Tiruchirappalli division. It is one of the 4 unconverted railway lines in south India. The other 3 are the Mayiladuthurai Junction to
Tranquebar Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...
railway line and Thiruthuraipoondi Junction to
Point Calimere Kodiakkarai also called Point Calimere or Cape Calimere, is a low headland of the Coromandel Coast, in the Nagapattinam district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Cape is located about south of Vedaranyam in the delta region of the Cauv ...
Railway line. The works are going on a fast phase at Bodi nayakkanur to Madurai Junction Railway line section, Currently operational till Theni Railway station. The three railway lines, Tranquebar railway line, Peralam-Karaikal railway line and Point Calimere railway line were closed during the 1980s due to poor patronage citing unviability. But now they are under consideration for conversion to
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 ...
lines. On the 2020-21 February Indian budget
The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...
88 crores were sanctioned for this line out of the total ₹177 crores. And all railway work on this line is planned to be completed by December 2023.


History

This
metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...
branch line between and was approved for construction by
French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...
during December 1895. The French government invested about 1,201,840 (approximately in 2014) for the construction, which was done by the then Great South Indian Railway (which was later merged with South Indian Railway Company) and opened on 14 March 1898.


Route

With a route length of , the line had four stations Ambagarattur, Paruttikudi,
Thirunallar Thirunallar is a small town in Karaikal, India, in the Union Territory of Puducherry, and can be reached by road from the town of Karaikal, an enclave which lies within the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Thirunallar contains the shrine of L ...
and Karikovilpathu within a stretch of up to Karaikal, all falling within the territory of French India (now Karaikal district). The rest of between Ambagarattur and Peralam falls within British India region (now Tiruvarur district).


Operations


Passenger services

Though owned by French India, the operations were transferred to the then Great South Indian Railway in accordance with agreement signed in 1902. There were 4 up-and-down services, but due improvement in road connectivity the earnings dropped and subsequently the services were reduced to one in 1943. After Indian Independence and Railway Re-organisation, the line fell into the jurisdiction of
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 ...
. In 1967, citing under utilisation of the line for passenger traffic in its transport survey, the National Council for Applied and Economic Research recommended for closure of the line.


Freight services

This line provided rail connectivity to Karaikal port and transfer of goods through rail into
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, as this line would give further connectivity to , which falls on the
main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
. Cement, fertilisers, tiles, timber, kerosene oil, rice, wheat, grains, pulses and paddy were the main goods involved in traffic. Raw materials like pressed cotton and coal for textile mills and iron billets for Pondicherry Rolling Mills were brought in, processed and the finished product was supplied all over the country. Though the goods traffic density fared better, the passenger traffic slumped and services were called off except the rolling stock.


Gauge conversion

Due to persistent demand from various quarters, revival of line gained momentum for surveying the feasibility outside the purview of Railway Budget, which proposed a rough estimate of about . Officially, the line was taken up for survey as the announcement came in the 2013–2014 Railway Budget, at an outlay of and at an estimate of about for full-fledged activities. Apart from retaining the four railway stations in the past and laying broad gauge tracks in the same old path, detour lines of about is planned at and about for Tirunallar yard. In June 2019 tenders were floated for the execution of the project, expecting to complete it by March 2021.


See More

Project Unigauge Project Unigauge, started on 1 April 1992, is an ongoing effort by Indian Railways to convert and unify all rail gauges in India to broad gauge. Present status & yearly progress Following table tracks the yearly changes. Lines wher ...


References

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/17769-crore-sanctioned-for-laying-karaikal-peralam-railway-line/article26611268.ece


External links


Southern Railways - Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peralam - Karaikal line * Rail transport in Tamil Nadu Railway lines opened in 1898 Railway lines closed in 1987 Transport in Karaikal Rail transport in Puducherry