Manamadurai Junction railway station

This station was constructed as a part of the Madurai Rameswaram Branch Railway line, built in Colonial India in 1902. This line was mainly constructed to connect the Indian province with Ceylon Province. Later, after the annexation of Sivagangai Estate, a 20 km branch line was constructed between Manamadurai and Sivaganga which converted this station into a railway junction and became the first junction in the Ramnad region. Pamban became a junction when a 17 km branch line was built between Pamban and Dhanushkodi; after the 1964 rameswaram cyclone, that branch line was closed. After India gained independence, a new railway line was constructed between Manamadurai and Virudhunagar under the rule of Kamaraj. This was the first railway line in Tamil Nadu to be built after Indian Independence.

Manamadurai Junction is located close to its district headquarters, Sivagangai, which is 20 km away; it is 50 km away from its railway divisional headquarters Madurai. This railway junction has 6 railway tracks and 5 platforms, usually crowded in the morning and night. It has the second-largest curve.

The junction connects with Tirunelveli, Tiruchirapalli, Chennai, and Madurai. Its facilities include a clean waiting hall, food, large parking space, Railway Protection Force (RPF) police station, and Railway Hospital facilities within the station complex premise. A retiring room, railway canteen, and adequate restrooms are also available at this junction. The nearby bus stand is well connected with the Cochin - Rameswaram Interstate Corridor National Highway (NH45), which is also an Asian Highway Network which is numbered AH43, which gives round-the-clock bus connectivity to various places nearby.

There is also a goods terminal that generates huge revenue for the entire Madurai railway division. Mostly the goods handled here are loading and sending charcoal to various parts of India. The nearby SIDCO and SIPCOT (industrial complex area by the government of Tamil Nadu) also contribute considerable profit to this junction. Goods unloaded here include some civil supplies for the Sivagangai district where it is located and various raw materials for those industries present near Sivagangai and Manamadurai regions.[2][3]

The Manamadurai Junction has four rail branches, leading to Madurai, Virudhunagar, Karaikudi and Rameswaram. It is a main railway junction, so all trains have to make a technical halt at this junction.[4][5][6] Trains to Rameswaram have to cross this junction as there are no other railway routes existing to connect Pamban Island with mainland India. For the convenience of long-distance passengers such as tourist places from Varanasi, Ayodhya, Ajmer who are traveling to Madurai have to deboard at this station and vice versa. From here, adequate bus facilities are available to and from Madurai at all hours.

Manamadurai Junction falls under the administrative control of the Madurai Division of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. The tracks are electrified. It works under electric Broad Gauge. This junction comes under the control of Sivaganga senior section engineer and Karaikudi Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADEN).

Once upon a time, this was the source station for Silambu Express.[7] During meter gauge era, it was a source station for Tirunelveli Manamadurai Express[8] which is currently running as Puducherry–Kanniyakumari Weekly Express and the proposed Manamadurai Quilon Express[9] which is planned to run between Ernakulam to Velankanni as a weekly express.

Due to the New Pamban Bridge being under construction,[10] rail sevices to Rameswaram is temporarily closed. All trains must have to terminate at Mandapam railway station. Since it is a small station with only 2 platforms, all the long expresses and superfast expresses that run towards Rameswaram are docked in the non-functioning 4th and 5th platforms of Manamadurai junction for water filling and Rake maintenance. Trains like Ayodhya Rameswaram exp, Okha Rameswaram Exp, etc. make a technical dock at this station for water filling and rake maintenance