Palakkad railway division

Palakkad railway division (formerly Olavakkod railway division) is one of the six administrative divisions of the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways, headquartered at Palakkad in Kerala. Managing 588 route kilometers of track in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Union Territory of Puducherry (Mahe), it is one of the oldest railway divisions in India. The major stations of Palakkad are Palakkad Jn., Shoranur, Kozhikode, Kannur, Mangalore Jn., and Mangalore Central.

History

What is today the Palakkad railway division was formed on 31 August 1956 as the fifth division of the Southern Railway, the first Railway Zone of the newly formed Indian Railways^[1] It was named Olavakkod railway division at the time because it was headquartered at railway junction at Olavakkod, which is today known as Palakkad Junction. At the time of its formation, it managed the Broad Gauge trunk line from Jolarpet to Mangalore via Shoranur including the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, the Shoranur - Cochin Harbor Terminus line, the Shoranur - Nilambur Road branch line, giving it a total of 1,132 km of route kilometers. In 1979, the Shoranur - CHTS line was delinked from PGT to create the new Thiruvananthapuram railway division. Most of Palakkad division was made double track in the three decades. In 2007, 623 km of route track from Jolarpettai to Podanur, including the Coimbatore region and the NMR were removed from Palakkad division to create the Salem division. At this time 79 km of Meter Gauge track of the Palakkad Town - Pollachi and Pollachi - Podanur lines were granted to Palakkad as a consolation, making its total trackage to 588 km.^[2]

Timeline

• 1956: Palakkad Division formed under the name Olavakkod Railway division
• 1976: Entire stretch from Jolarpettai to Irugur is double track.
• 1979: The Shoranur - Ernakulam line is handed over the Thiruvananthapuram division.
• 1984: Palakkad - Shornur doubling completed.
• 1991: Tirupur-Salem line electrified.
• 1992: Salem-Erode line electrified.
• 1994: Twin single lines (effectively double) between Podanur and Palghat opened.
• 1995: Palakkad-Shoranur line electrified.
• 1996: Erode-Palakkad line electrified.
• 1997: Palakkad Jn-Palakkad Town line electrified
• 2000, ‘X’ class Meter Gauge locomotives were rebuilt and successfully run on Nilgiri Mountain Railway
• 2007: Palakkad loses more than half of its trackage to the newly formed Salem division.
• 2014: Entire line stretch from Shoranur to Mangalore is double track.^[3]
• 2016: Gauge conversion of the Palakkad - Pollachi line completed.

Area covered

The Palakkad division starts just after Podanur Junction and proceeds westwards towards Kerala. The double track line splits into two single track sections widely spaced apart after the Ettimadai station and pass through the jungle of the Palakkad Gap. The two tracks briefly reunite at the Walayar station, and then again split to join at Kollengode. At Palakkad junction the tracks to Palakkad Town and Pollachi proceed to the left. The main line continues onwards to Shoranur and the division jurisdiction ends just after the bridge across the Bharathapuzha. Two single lines connect Shoranur Junction to the mainline. From Shoranur the branch line to Nilambur disappear into the teak forests on the right, while the mainline continues on north and runs past Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod to cross the Karnataka border just before Ullal to enter Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.

Just after Ullal, the line splits into two with lines to the Mangalore Central Terminus branching off to the right. The line continues past Mangalore Junction (Kankanady) and then the Padil station triangle. Padil is also the zonal interchange point between Southern Railway (Palakkad division) and South Western Railway (Mysore division) which starts just a couple of meters after the Padil station and continues on eastwards towards Hassan and Mysore. Just a couple of kilometers ahead the line reaches Thokur where the Konkan Railway starts. Palakkad's northern most point of jurisdiction lies just short of Thokur station. The line continues until it ends at the Panambur New Mangalore Port.

Stations

The list includes the stations under the Palakkad railway division and their station category.^[4][5]

Stations closed for Passengers -

See also

• Palakkad Junction
• Coimbatore Junction
• Southern Railway Zone
• Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division
• Indian Railways

References

External links

Railways in Southern India
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