The Chord Line connects and , via in Tamil Nadu. It is the shortest, busiest and most vital route connecting and Southern Tamil Naduhttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/Dindigul-Villupuram-project-set-to-cross-another-milestone/article12135801.ece.

History

Until 1927, and were only connected by Main line that traversed through Cuddlaore,

Mayiladuthurai Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a :ta:சிறப்பு நிலை நகராட்சிகள், Special Grade Municipality and district headquarters of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town ...

, and

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of southern Indian religion, art ...

, which was . Hence, the need for shorter route arose and construction began on 22 August 1927 for a new railway line via in phases. Initially, the stretch between and

Virudhachalam Virudhachalam, also called Vriddhachalam, is a Municipality and taluk headquarters in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The ancient name of this town is Thirumudhukundram. As per the 2011 census, the town had a population of ...

were completed and opened on 1 December 1927, the

Srirangam Srirangam is a neighbourhood in the city of Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A river island, Srirangam is bounded by the Kaveri River on one side and its distributary Kollidam on the other side. Considered as the first among ...

- stretch on 22 August 1927, Bikshandarkoil - Srirangam stretch on 12 December 1927 and the entire stretch began its operations since 1 February 1929. This line gradually reduced the Madras - Colombo journey by around four hours.

Gauge conversions

The conversion from metre gauge to broad gauge was effected during 1992-93 and completed during September 1998.

Introduction of EMD diesel locomotives

10 years post the gauge conversion, in 2008, Southern Railway decided to introduce new advanced hi-tech state-of-the-art

EMD GT46PAC The Indian locomotive class WDP-4 (EMD GT46PAC) is a passenger-hauling diesel–electric locomotive with AC electric transmission designed by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and built by both GM-EMD and under license by Banaras Locomotiv ...

aka WDP-4 diesel-electric locomotives, powered by a record-breaking 4,000-horsepower (3,000 kW) 16-cylinder

EMD 710G3B The EMD 710 is a line of diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel (previously General Motors' Electro-Motive Division). The 710 series replaced the earlier EMD 645 series when the 645F series proved to be unreliable in the early 1980s 50-se ...

diesel engine, equipped with a 3-phase AC Traction with a top speed of 180 kmph, to haul some of their top Express services, another reason being the electrification on the Viluppuram-Vriddhachalam-Trichy section was still pending as well. With Krishnarajapuram (KJM) & Hubballi (UBL) diesel loco sheds belonging to

South Western Railway zone The South Western Railway (SWR) is one of the 19 Indian Railways, railway zones of Indian Railways, headquartered at Hubballi in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Karnataka. SWR was created from carving out the routes ...

(SWR) getting more of these locomotives, the then General Manager of SR, Shri V. Anand, took the initiative to speak to SWR, to allot WDP-4 links to the Chord line express services, starting with the pristine Pandian Express, followed by Guruvayur Express,

Nellai Express Nellai Express is a Superfast Express trains in India, Superfast train operated by the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It runs on all days connecting with via Villupuram Junction (rail), Junction, Tiruchirappalli Junction and M ...

, Pothigai Express and since 2009-10, even Vaigai Express, to train the Piloting Crew of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Trichy Tiruchirappalli (), also known as 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 being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

and

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

railway divisions with EMD locomotives. 4-5 Pairs of WDP-4 locomotives (8-10 locos totally) worked on the Chord Line per day, Individually, with WDP-4 Multiple Units as "twins" supplied occasionally, making it up to 9-11 locos in a day. 2-3 trains on the Electrified Bangalore-Chennai Main Line, including the Sanghamitra Superfast Express (which then ran from Bangalore to Patna via Reversal at

Chennai Central Chennai Central (officially Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, formerly Madras Central) (station code: MAS), is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station in Chennai railway division of Southern Railway zone ...

), ran on WDP-4 (or WDP-4 Twins occasionally), to supply them to Chennai division. This practice happened till late 2011, until SR's own diesel loco shed at Golden Rock Ponmalai (GOC), belonging to Trichy Division, got its own passenger hauling EMD WDP-4B locomotives to haul many more further passenger and express services since then.

Electrification

This stretch was proposed for electrification phase by phase by

CORE Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (laboratory), a highly specialized shared research resource * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber ...

. The electrification was completed during 2010.

Operations

Passenger services

The line experiences a heaviest traffic handling about 30 passenger and 56 express trains passing through every day in addition to goods train, particularly during night.

Freight services

The line has a number of Industrial establishments which utilises their nearby railway stations for their logistics and transports such as Central Workshop (Golden Rock), Cement and gypsum factories at

Perambalur Perambalur is a City Municipal corporation which is located in the heart of Tamil Nadu and is 267 kilometers South of the capital city of Chennai. The district covers an area of 1,757 square kilometers, located between 10.54' and 11.30' degrees ...

and

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 ...

, and the Sugar factories at

Villupuram Viluppuram, Villupuram, or Vizhuppuram () is a municipality and the administrative headquarters of Viluppuram district. Located south west of a Tiruvannamalai and north west of Cuddalore null The town serves as a major and largest railway ...

and Vridhachalam,

References

External links

Southern Railways - Official Website
{{Railways in Southern India * 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Railway lines opened in 1929 Rail transport in Tiruchirappalli