Tiruchirappalli railway division

Tiruchirappalli railway division  is one of the six railway divisions of Southern Railway zone (SR) of India. It has its administrative headquarters located at Tiruchirappalli. It serves most of the districts of delta region and Central Tamil Nadu.

History and background
The history of division dates long back to 1853, when the Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters at England and first line was constructed between Negapatnam and Trichinopoly in 1859. Tiruchirappalli railway division was formed while consolidating all other railways of pre-independence era on 16 May 1956. It is the second largest division of the zone having a route length of about 1026.55 km, spread over 13 districts of Tamil Nadu. Also this could be the only division in the world that is serving the railway lines of erstwhile South Indian Railway Company and Pondicherry Railway Company developed by the British empire and French empire respectively.

Administration
The division comes under Southern Railway zone, which is headed by General Manager, A. K. Agarwal. The division is headed by Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Manish Agarwal. It was also once headed by Manjula Rangarajan, a 1983 batch Indian Railway Accounts Service officer, who became the first woman to head the division in its 150-year history. The divisional railway office (DRO) is located close to Tiruchirappalli Junction, which is one of the busiest railway junctions in India and second biggest railway station in Tamil Nadu only next to Chennai Central. Commercial Controller 9003864970

Jurisdiction
The division spans to Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, Nagappattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, Viluppuram, Tiruvarur, and Perambalur districts of Tamil Nadu state and Union Territory of Puducherry including Karaikal. The total area covered by the division is about 1026.55 km, of which BG accounts to 843.26 km (including electrified lines) and MG is 183.29 km, which are all under Gauge conversion.

The 2.8 km stretch between Golden Rock and Tiruchirappalli Junction is operating with Triple line, as Both Chord Line and Main Line runs parallel between these stations and for extensive shunting and maintenance purpose due to the proximity of Central Workshop, Diesel loco shed and a newly established electric locomotive trip shed, the entire division has single lines except for Trichy–Viluppuram Section of Chord Line which has been completely Upgraded to Double Line Electrified Section (FEDL).

Routes
Doubline line is available between Tiruchirappalli Junction and Thanjavur Junction only.

Electric Traction available between Mayiladuthurai Junction and Thanjavur Junction.

Electric Traction is available between Mayiladuthurai Junction and Tiruvarur Junction.

List of railway stations and towns
The list includes the stations under the Trichy railway division and their station category.

Passenger services
The division involves in operating about 150 trains per day, of which the 178 km stretch chord line experiences heaviest traffic handling about 30 passenger and 56 express trains passing through everyday in addition to goods train, particularly during night.

The division operates about 30 Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centers which includes six post offices at Villianur, Tiruvettipuram, Peravurani, Muthupet, Srirangam, and Ponmalai under the 1,000 PRS scheme, as a part of improving passenger amenities. At the headquarters station, plasma screen electronic display boards, electronic train arrival/departure boards were installed along with a renovated linen room and Integrated Security System to enhance security.

The division became the first in the Southern Railway zone to install multi-coloured LED coach indication boards at Kumbakonam railway station during November 2013 and at Tiruchirappalli junction during January 2014, for Platform.no.1 alone which is supposed to be extended till Platform no.5 and also at about 17 other stations including Viluppuram Junction, Puducherry, Thanjavur Junction, Mayiladuthurai Junction and Mannargudi within the division.

Freight services
The division has provided team tracks for a number of Industrial establishments adjoining the railway lines utilising the nearby railway stations for their logistics and transports such as Central Workshop (Golden Rock), Cement and gypsum factories (Trichy, Perambalur and Ariyalur),  Lignite industries (Neyveli), Sugar factories (Viluppuram and Vridhachalam), FCI and Civil supplies (Cauvery delta districts)  also BHEL (Tiruverumbur), and ports (Cuddalore and Karaikal).

Revenue
The division posted a decent earning of inr 7331000000 during the financial year during 2012–2013. It carried 42.5 million passenger and earned inr 2331500000 from regular and festival special trains and inr 4499200000, by transporting 9000000 MT of freight, of which karaikal port alone contributes about 40% of the revenue.

Awards
The division won the overall efficiency medical shield, cleanliness shield and electrical conservation shield for 2012–2013 at the zonal level, in addition to the overall safety shield at the Annual Safety Week Celebrations held at Zonal Railway Training Institute.

Towns and places of interest
On the chord line were Srirangam, Ariyalur, Vridhachalam Jn and Viluppuram Junction. On the main line and branch lines that traverses through delta districts has a lot of greenery in the form of agriculture and towns of religious importance like Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Kumbakonam, Mayiladuthurai, Sirkazhi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Nagore, Velankanni, Tirunallar.

Employees
The division has a total workforce of about 11,430 in various ranks.

Healthcare
The division manages one Divisional Railway Hospital, one Sub-divisional Railway Hospital and seven Health Units/Polyclinics. The Divisional Railway Hospital is at Golden Rock, which was established by the then South Indian Railway Company in 1927, caters exclusively to railway staff of the entire division, has about 297 beds including 100 beds in the newly opened surgical ward. Apart from DRH, Golden Rock, the division has 25-bed Sub-divisional Hospital at Viluppuram and eight Railway Health Units at Tiruchirappalli Junction, Tiruchirappalli Fort, Srirangam, Vriddhachalam, Tiruvannamalai, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Tiruvarur.

Education
The division oversees the management of railway schools within its jurisdictional limit at Tiruchirappalli (SRWWO Matriculation School at Kallukuzhi and RMHSS/GOC) and Viluppuram (RMHSS/VM).

Railway Protection Force (RPF)
About 275 security personnels including 30 commandos, headed by Divisional Security Commissioner, oversee the security arrangements on day-to-day basis round the clock for the entire division which includes protecting railway infrastructure, escorting passengers in trains and operations in all railway stations. Before being put into active service, all security personnel undergo training at Zonal RPF Training Center at Khajamalai, Tiruchirapalli.

Government Railway Police (GRP)
Apart from RPF, the Government Railway Police (GRP), a unit of Tamil Nadu Police also assists in civil and criminal issues at railway stations along with passenger safety. This unit was first established in 1932 with Trichy as its headquarters. Later in 1981, the unit was bifurcated and the headquarters was moved to Chennai. This unit has about 1400 personnel, headed by a Superintendent of Police. The jurisdictional limit starts from Viluppuram in the north to Kuzhithurai railway station in the south and Karaikal in the east to Palani in the west. It has about 16 police stations and 14 out-posts along with mobile units in Nellai Express and Rameswaram Express.