Coimbatore Suburban Railway

These are the 5 proposed routes.

1. Coimbatore Jn - Mettupalayam
2. Coimbatore Jn. - Pollachi Jn.
3. Coimbatore Jn - Tiruppur
4. Coimbatore Jn - Palakkad Jn
5. Coimbatore Jn - Irungur Jn - Coimbatore Jn (circular line)

The other stations serving Coimbatore include Coimbatore North Junction (CBF), Podanur Junction (PTJ), Irugur Junction (IGU), Madukkarai (MDKI), peelamedu (PLMD), Singanallur (SHI), Sulur (SUU), Perianaikanpalayam (PKU) and Somanur (SNO).[2] Other stations like Chettipalayam, Urumandampalayam, Veerapandi and Pudupalayam are defunct. The people have asked to reopen the stations.,[3] The 1 km long Nanjundapuram Railway link line became completely defunct and was dismantled soon after the Coimbatore North – Irugur line was put to use.

Restoration of this Nanjundapuram Railway link line will help plan circular suburban electric train track connecting major train stations in the outskirts of Coimbatore like Mettupalayam, Irugur, Podanur, Pollachi etc to ease growing peripheral traffic. Reopening this defunct Nanjundapuram Railway line & Station can benefit residents from Nanjundapuram, Ramanathapuram, Redfields, Puliakulam, Sowripalayam, Udayampalayam, Singanallur, Varadarajapuram, Uppilipalayam and Ondipudur areas of Coimbatore for train connections to onward destinations. Irugur via Nanjundapuram: This bye-pass connection from Irugur – Podanur line to Coimbatore bye-passing Podanur had been laid long back at a time when Coimbatore was connected only from Podanur as a branch from Irugur – Podanur – Shoranur line. It was done to facilitate trains from Erode side to directly go to Coimbatore. However, this connection became superfluous when Coimbatore was directly connected from Irugur side via Pilamedu and Coimbatore North in 1953, and accordingly, this link line was removed at that time by Kerala Railway dominated Lobby. Since the doubling work between Irugur – Coimbatore section is in progress, these double lines will be utilised for suburban traffic if required This is the poignant backdrop of Nanjundapuram Railway Station now defunct.[4][5]