Thiruvananthapuram Central Station
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Locale | Kerala, Tamil Nadu |
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Dates of operation | October 2, 1979 | –
Track gauge | 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) |
Electrification | 25 kV AC 50 Hz |
Length | 625 km |
Headquarters | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
Thiruvananthapuram railway division (TVC) is one of the six administrative divisions of the Southern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways. It has its headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the state of Kerala. It is the southernmost railway division of India and manages 625 km of route track and 108 railway stations in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The major stations of the division are Nagercoil Jn., Thiruvananthapuram Central, Kollam Jn, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam Jn, Ernakulam Town and Thrissur.
The Thiruvananthapuram (TVC) division was formed on 2 October 1979 as the 53rd division in the country. TVC was created by joining the existing Shoranur - Thrissur - Ernakulam - Cochin Harbor Terminus section of the Olavakkod (now Palakkad) railway division and the Ernakulam - Kottayam - Kayamkulam - Kollam - Trivandrum - Nagercoil - Kanniyakumari section of the Madurai division. The Trivandrum - Nagercoil - Kanniyakumari section had completed construction only a few months before the formation of TVC and the Nagercoil-Tirunelveli section was undergoing construction. The Ernakulam - Alappuzha - Kayamkulam line and the Thrissur (Punkunnam) - Guruvayur line did not exist then and were later built by the Trivandrum division.
Creation of the Trivandrum division was followed by the formation of Bangalore railway division which was also under the Southern Railway.
The Trivandrum division manages 625 kilometers of route length and 893 km of track length, making it one of the smallest divisions in India. It serves the southern half of Kerala and the southernmost parts of Tamil Nadu in the Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts, roughly amounting to areas formerly under the Travancore kingdom. The jurisdiction of the Trivandrum division consists of one major north-south line, in the shape of the mirror image of a 'J', also consisting of a section of two parallel lines for 100 kilometers, two branch lines, and four industrial sidings. The main line runs from Vallathol Nagar just south of Shoranur Junction in central Kerala to Melappalaiyam just before Tirunelveli junction in Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli district) via Ernakulam - Kottayam/Alappuzha - Kayankulam - Kollam - Trivandrum - Nagercoil / Kanniyakumari.