Regular passenger train service on Karaikal-Peralam BG line will start from 20

Front view of Thirunallar railway station building. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Regular train services on the new Karaikal-Peralam broad gauge line via Thirunallar are scheduled to start from May 20. On the 23.5 km long electrified section, a high-speed train and two passenger services will operate daily, paving the way for the resumption of regular traffic after almost 40 years. The section under the Tiruchi railway division had a meter gauge track which was built years ago and passenger services were suspended in the mid-1980s.

Regular service is to be introduced on this stretch almost a year after the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bengaluru, inspected the electrified new BG line and issued permission to run train services on this stretch in May last week in 2025.

A railway official confirmed that three regular train services will be operated on this section from May 20. The official said that the passenger reservation system counter will be opened at Thirunallar station on Tuesday. The Tambaram-Karaikal-Tambaram daily express (16175/76) will be diverted and run via the Karaikal-Peralam section with an extension up to Velankanni from May 20. The train stops at Karaikal, Thirunallar and Peralam.

The express from Velankanni will depart as per the schedule at 9:50 PM with a two-minute halt at Karaikal and Thirunallar stations and to Tambaram at 4:35 AM. The train leaves Tambaram at 9:30 PM and reaches Velankanni at 4:30 AM the next morning.

Daily passenger services will be operated from Velankanni to Mayiladuthurai and back via Karaikal, Thirunallar and Peralam. Similarly, a daily passenger service will be operated from Karaikal to Mayiladuthurai via Thirunallar and Peralam.

Since the opening of the BG line last year, only freight trains have run on it. Though special trains were run only on one day for Velankanni festival, Nagore Kandoori festival and ‘Sani Peyarchi’ festival at Thirunallar, regular services were not run despite repeated requests from railway users. Railway users staged a demonstration at Thirunallar to protest the delay in resuming regular services on the stretch.

Published – 18 May 2026 19:57 IST