Southern Railways opens Agasthiyampalli station for goods traffic

Southern Railway has given its nod for transportation of goods from the Agasthiyampalli railway station falling under the Tiruchi Railway Division limits. 

Southern Railway has given its nod for transportation of goods from the Agasthiyampalli railway station falling under the Tiruchi Railway Division limits. 

A communication to this effect was issued recently and conveyed to the Tiruchi Division and other divisions in the Southern Railway zone. 

“Agasthiyampalli station in Tiruchi Division is opened for goods traffic with half rake handling capacity for all kinds of inward/outward traffic (except petrol, oil and lubricants) with immediate effect,” the communication said.

The nod from the Southern Railway headquarters has now paved the way for resumption of goods movement especially salt from Agasthiyampalli station, situated in the coastal Nagapattinam district, after a long gap of over 20 years. 

Railway sources said as of now the plan was to transport goods through 21 wagons (half rake) by rail from the Agasthiyampalli station. The 37-km section from Agasthiyampalli to Thiruthuraipoondi was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge last year. The Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bengaluru had given authorisation in late October 2022 for operating passenger and freight trains on this stretch at a maximum speed of 70 kilometres per hour. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the passenger train service in the broad gauge converted Thiruthuraipoondi - Agasthiyampalli section through video conferencing from Chennai in April this year. 

The sources said the Tiruchi railway divisional officials held a meeting with the salt merchants at Vedaranyam last month to convey to them about their plan to recommence goods movement from the Agasthiyamapalli. The discussions were on the rates and piece meal loading of salt besides providing canopy for the yard under construction at the Agasthiyampalli station.  Nearly three-fourth of the construction of a goods yard at Agasthiyampalli taken up at a cost of around ₹4 crore had been completed, railway sources said adding that the remaining portion was expected to be completed in a month.