Kollam Junction railway station

History

Kollam was the fifth city in Kerala to be connected to the nascent Indian Railway. The idea of a rail link from Tirunelveli to Kollam, then the trading capital of the Travancore Kingdom was first conceived in 1873. The line was sanctioned by the Madras Presidency in 1899 and a survey completed in 1900. The railway line was built jointly by South Indian railway, Travancore state and the Madras Presidency. Kollam's (formerly Quilon) railway station was built in 1904 by Sree Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore. It was the ruler’s desire to create a rail link between Kollam, the then commercial capital of his State and Madras. The meter gauge line from Kollam to Punalur was inaugurated on 1 June 1904. The Kollam-Sengottai railway line was inaugurated on 26 November 1904. The meter gauge line was later extended to Chala at Trivandrum via Paravur and Varkala and inaugurated on 4 January 1918. The meter gauge railway line from Kollam was extended to Ernakulam via Kottayam on 6 January 1958. The meter gauge lines between Kollam and Ernakulam were converted to broad gauge in 1975 and inaugurated on 13 September 1976. The broad gauge conversion between the Punalur and Kollam sections was inaugurated on 12 May 2010.

There was once a 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) meter gauge line connecting Quilon Junction and Ashramam Maidan. During the inauguration of the Kollam-Punalur meter gauge line in 1904, parts of locomotives which were to be used for Quilon-Schencottah line were shipped to Quilon Port from Tuticorin Port. They were assembled at the Ashramam Maidan, which was an open ground. The line was laid to carry these locomotives to the main station. The line was dismantled in 2000 to allow for town expansion.

Layout

There are a total of 17 tracks in the Kollam railway station, 2 lines are passing through the MEMU shed. The station has 6 platforms for handling long distance, passenger, MEMU & goods trains. The platform 1 is divided into two sections. Platform 1A handles the trains to Punalur-Sengottai line and platform 1 handles trains towards Trivandrum Central. The platform 1 and 1A together have a length of 1,180.5 m making them together the second longest railway platform in India. The station has a MEMU shed which is situated near to Platform 1A. An FCI godown owned and operated by Food Corporation of India is also situated near Kollam junction.

Location

Surrounding transport hubs:

MEMU Shed

Kollam MEMU Carshed is constructed at a cost of ₹40.68 crore (US$6.0 million), for Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) rakes. It was formally commissioned on 1 December 2013, five years after its completion. Now the railways is operating 3 pair of Kollam-Ernakulam (via Alappuzha and Kottayam) via both the routes and a Kollam-Kanyakumari (via Trivandrum, Nagercoil) services from Kollam. Kollam MEMU Shed is the largest MEMU Shed in Kerala, which is equipped with most modern facilities.

Future

Construction works for the second terminal at Kollam Junction station is inaugurated by Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on 12 February 2016. DEMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) service would be launched in Kollam-Punalur section soon. A new Express train connecting Punalur and Palakkad is also proposed, which will pass through the station. Foundation stone was laid for a new terminal at Kollam railway station, facing National Highway-744. Also the modernization works of the station like works for lifts, escalators etc. have been initiated in the railway station but not yet completed.

Kollam is among the first 100 railway stations in India selected for providing high-speed Wi-Fi services by Google, named as ‘Project Nilgiri’. There are 5 railway stations from Kerala in the initial stage. The service inaugurated at Kollam station on 26 December 2016 by Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister of India, through video conferencing.