Kollam Junction railway station

Kollam Junction
കൊല്ലം ജംഗ്ഷന്‍
Junction station

From Top: Entrance of Kollam Junction Railway Station, A MEMU train at Kollam railway station, Foot over bridge, Name board of the station, Kollam MEMU Shed building
Location Kollam, Kollam District, Kerala
India
Coordinates 8°53′10″N 76°35′42″E / 8.8860°N 76.5951°E / 8.8860; 76.5951Coordinates: 8°53′10″N 76°35′42″E / 8.8860°N 76.5951°E / 8.8860; 76.5951
Elevation 6.74 metres (22.1 ft)
Owned by Indian Railways
Operated by Southern Railway zone
Line(s) •Kollam Junction-Thiruvananthapuram Central
•Kollam Junction-Ernakulam Junction (via Alappuzha and Kottayam)
•Kollam Junction-Punalur-Sengottai-Thenkasi Junction
Platforms 6 (1A,1,2,3,4,5)
Tracks 17
Connections Taxi Stand, Pre-paid Auto service
Construction
Structure type Standard (on ground station)
Parking Available
Bicycle facilities Available
Disabled access
Other information
Status Functioning
Station code QLN
Zone(s) Southern Railway zone
Division(s) Thiruvananthapuram
History
Opened June 1, 1904 (1904-06-01)
Electrified 25 kV AC 50 Hz
Traffic
Passengers 23,350 per day[1]
Services

Kollam Junction railway station (station code: QLN) is a junction station situated in the city of Kollam in Kerala, India. It is the second largest railway station in Kerala in terms of area, after Shoranur Junction, and is one of the oldest railway stations in Kerala. The world's second longest railway platform is situated at Kollam railway station.[2][3][4]

Trains from here connect the city of Kollam to major cities of India, including New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Indore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Madurai, Vizag, Jammu, Howrah, Guwahati, Madgaon, Itarsi, Hubli, Ahmedabad, Kanyakumari, Gwalior, Nagpur, Pune, Kota, Bhubaneshwar, Gorakhpur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Amritsar, Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Nizamabad and Mangalore.

History

Kollam railway station in 1905

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.

Main foot overbridge in Kollam Railway Station
An evening view of Kollam railway station and Kollam MEMU Shed
Platform No.1&2 of Kollam Junction Railway Station
12695 Chennai-Trivandrum SF arriving at Platform No.1 in Kollam Junction Railway Station
MEMU Shed Office, Kollam: The biggest MEMU Shed of Kerala is situated in Kollam
Goods transferring in Kollam Railway Station
Eastern end of the second longest railway platform in India, situated at Kollam Junction railway station. This is the World's second longest railway platform
Eastern end of PF Nos. 2&3 in Kollam railway station
Smart Ticket vending Machine(ATVM) at Kollam Junction railway station. Passengers can use currency notes as well as smart cards to get tickets from the machine.

Location

Surrounding transport hubs:[8]

MEMU Shed

Main article: Kollam MEMU Shed
A MEMU train at Kollam Junction Railway Station

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.[9] Now the railways is operating 3 pair of Kollam-Ernakulam (via Alappuzha and Kottayam)[10] via both the routes and a Kollam-Kanyakumari[11] (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 12th February 2016.[12] DEMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) service would be launched in Kollam-Punalur section soon.[13] A new passenger train connecting Punalur and Kanyakumari is also proposed in the budget, which will pass through the station.[14] 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.

Google's High-speed Wi-Fi service

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.[15] The service will be available at Kollam station by November 2016.[16][17][18][19]

Suburban railway stations

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Station Re-development Data - Kollam Junction(QLN)". Central Railway Zone - Indian Railways. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "At a glance: Longest railway platforms in India". Railnewscenter. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Top 6 Longest Railway Platforms of India". Walk through India. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "West Bengal: tea plantations and other Raj-era relics".
  5. ↑ A station of yore, its golden links
  6. ↑ Railways cross a milestone
  7. ↑ "Current Affairs: Longest Railway Platforms".
  8. ↑ https://maps.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
  9. ↑ MEMU Maintenance Work Begins in Kollam Kollam MEMU Shed
  10. ↑ MEMU service flagged off Kollam-Ernakulam MEMU
  11. ↑ MEMU service flagged off in Kollam Kollam-Kanyakumari MEMU
  12. ↑ "New entry for rail station". Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Train flagged off Punalur-Guruvayur train flagged off
  14. ↑ Rail Budget-2014 Three trains for Kerala
  15. ↑ "These 5 Railway stations in Kerala will first get Google's Wi-Fi! Is your city among the list?". Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Experience high speed Wi-Fi at Trivandrum Central railway station". 30 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Central station is Wi-Fi hotspot now - The Hindu". 29 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Surf the rail net for free from Thiruvananthapuram station - The New Indian Express". 29 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "Wi-Fi in three more Kerala railway stations soon - The Hindu". 27 April 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.

External links

Media related to Kollam Junction railway station at Wikimedia Commons

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