Madurai railway division

The first railway line in this region was open in 1857 connecting Madurai to Trichirappalli {Trichy} via Dindigul and onward. In the following year, the railway line from Madurai to the port city of Thoothukudi was completed. In the same year, another line branching off from Vanchi Maniyachchi to Tirunelveli was opened.[1]

Only in the next century, most of the other present lines were completed. Among them were:[1]

• Madurai-Mandapam line in 1902
• Tirunelveli-Kallidaikurichi line in 1902
• Kallidaikurichi-Sengottai line in 1903
• Kollam-Punalur line in 1904
• Punalur-Sengottai line in 1904
• Pamban-Rameswaram line in 1906
• Pamban-Dhanushkodi line in 1908
• Mandapam-Pamban line in 1914
• Virudhunagar-Tenkasi line in 1927
• Dindigul-Pollachi line in 1928
• Thiruchirappalli-Pudukkottai line in 1929
• Pudukkottai-Manamadurai Jn line in 1930
• Virudhunagar-Aruppukkottai Line in 1963
• Aruppukkottai-Manamadurai Line in 1964

The Government decided to locate the Headquarters of the Division, which includes Tinnevely also, at Madurai.[3] The Madurai railway division was formed in 1956, comprising the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram line, Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil-Tirunelveli-Madurai line, Kollam-Sengottai-Tirunelveli line, Rameswaram-Manamaadurai-Madurai line, Manamadurai-Karaikudi-Tiruchirappalli line, Madurai-Dindigul-Pollachi line Karaikudi-Thiruduraipoondi-Thiruvarur line and the other branches of these lines. All lines currently in use have been converted to Broad Gauge while remaining sections namely Madurai-Bodinayakkanur section are in the process of gauge conversion.

In 1979, certain sections of the railway division were carved out to form the Thiruvananthapuram railway division. The Metre Gauge sections of Madurai division were retained, while all the newly laid Broad Gauge Sections of Madurai Division were transferred to Trivandrum Division. Thus, the Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil-Kanyakumari BG line, and the under-construction Tirunelveli-Nagercoil BG line were transferred to Trivandrum Division thus bringing down the jurisdiction of the division to 1356 km.[4] It was then mentioned that when the Tirunelveli-Madurai line is converted into BG line the sections falling under Kanyakumari district and Tirunelveli District would be transferred back to Madurai Division. The Tirunelveli-Madurai line was converted into BG line on 8-4-1981 but the railway lines in the southern district haven't been restored till date. Kanyakumari terminal station lacks the required Railway infrastructures and therefore request for more train services were always turned down by them citing the same handicap as the reason.[5]

The list includes the stations under the Madurai railway division and their station category.[7][8][9]

Stations closed for passengers - Nataransankottai, Nedugulam, Manamadurai East, Kulathur, Thondaimanallur and some stations.