Transport in Madurai

Madurai has well-developed transport facilities. Modes of transport in Madurai include road, rail and air. Madurai faces increasing daily traffic problems, so master plans have been prepared to reduce the city traffic and traffic problems in suburbs.

Mattuthavani High Road

Road

Madurai is located south of Tamil Nadu. It is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu and connects the southern districts to northern districts in Tamil Nadu, and is also the major transport city in Tamil Nadu. The floating population is much heavier in the city during the day time. Most of the people from southern districts visit for medical, educational, marketing, cargo, shopping, tourism or official purposes. Day by day Madurai city faces more traffic problems. It is the one of the important traffic circles in Tamil Nadu.

Mattuthavni Integrated Bus Terminus

There are 12,754 registered three-wheeled vehicles called auto rickshaws, which are commercially available for renting within the city.[1] In addition to the government operated city buses that are used for public transport, there are 236 registered private mini-buses that support local transportation.[1] Madurai connects with the following major national highways;

Road No Route
National Highway 7 Kanyakumari - Tirunelveli - Madurai City - Salem - Bengaluru - Varanasi
National Highway 45 B Thoothukudi - Madurai - Trichy - Viluppuram - Chennai (Grand southern Trunk Road)
National Highway 49 Rameswaram - Madurai - Kochi
National Highway 85 Thondi - Sivagangai - Madurai - Theni - Kochi (Point Highway)
National Highway 208 Madurai - Rajapalayam - Tenkasi - Sengottai - Kollam
Mattuthavani High Road

The state highways passing through the city are SH-32, SH-33 and SH-72, which connect various parts of Madurai district.[2] Madurai is one of the seven circles of the Tamil Nadu State Highway network,[2] is the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Madurai) and provides local and inter-city bus transport across four districts, namely Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, .[3]

City bus service

Madurai city has major city bus stands and originating terminals such as;

Madurai city has the best city bus service second only to Chennai. The major city areas are connected by Madurai city bus service. Most of the buses, like Ashok leyland and TATA Marcopolo, are equipped with LED Displays. The city buses are available during day time, but some important areas have city bus services all day long.

Mofussil Bus service

Madurai has two important mofussil bus terminus;

MIBT ( Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Terminus )

Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Stand is an ISO 9001:2000 certified integrated mofussil bus stand in the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India and it is the one of the largest bus terminus in Tamil Nadu. It is the second busiest mofussil bus terminus in Tamil Nadu after CMBT. The bus station was built at the cost of R100 million.[1] After the successful launch of this new bus stand, more mofussil buses are being operated to the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhunagar, Nagercoil, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Northern districts like Chennai, Vellore, Trichy, Viluppuram, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Tanjore, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai from the station.

Mattuthavani Bus Stand Entrance
Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Stand
MIBT 2nd & 3rd Platform
PlatformBus Route
1 Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Tirupati, Cochin, Trivandrum and other interstate buses (SETC)
2 Tiruchirappalli, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai, Viluppuram, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Natham
3 Sivagangai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Karnataka state buses
4 Karaikudi, Devakottai, Melur
5 Ramanathapuram, Rameshwaram, Paramakudi, Kamuthi, Kilakarai, Aruppukkottai, Kerala state buses
6 Rajapalayam, Tenkasi, Srivilliputhur, Sankarankoil, Papanasam, Kadayanallur
7 Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Sivakasi, Sattur, Virudhunagar, Vilathikulam
8 Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Kovilpatti, Nanguneri, Valliyur

Aarapalayam bus Terminus

This is another important bus stand in Madurai. Some of the city buses operating here are Coimbatore region and Salem region. The cities like Dindigul, Theni, Coimbatore, Thirupur, Erode, Ooty, Palani, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dharmapuri, Hosur, Kodaikanal and Pollachi.

In Arapalayam Bus Terminus there are 10 tracks are used to handle the mofussil buses

TrackBus Route
1 Periyakulam, Batlagundu, Kodaikanal
2 Theni, Bodinayakkanur
3Cumbum, Kumily, Thevaram, Uthamapalayam, Thekkadi, Theni
4 Bit line ( Free Pass )
5 Erode, Gobichettipalayam, Sathyamangalam
6 Dindigul
7 Salem, Karur, Namakkal
8 Palani, Pollachi
9 Coimbatore
10 Tirupur

Rail

Madurai Junction railway station is one of the major railway junctions in south India and the headquarters of Madurai Railway Division. It is well connected with all major cities in India. Madurai division is the second largest by revenue in Southern Railway. It is one of the A1 graded stations in the Southern Railway (railway stations which earn of Rs. 50Cr p.a will get an A1 Grade). Madurai has two terminals;

Building having a portico and pillared halls
Madurai Railway junction, the main railway station of Madurai

Madurai Junction is an important railway junction in southern Tamil Nadu and constitutes a separate division of the Southern Railway.[4] It is the second largest revenue division in Southern railway next to the Chennai division. There are direct trains from Madurai connecting important cities in India like Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Banglore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Coimbatore, Kollam, Kanyakumari, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Rameswaram, Thanjavur,Mayiladuthurai, Vijaywada, Calcutta, Nagpur, and Bhopal.[5] The state government announced a monorail project for Madurai in 2011, which is in its planning stages.[6]

Railway lines in Madurai Junction

Line No. Towards Passing through Station Type / Track
1 Chennai Egmore Dindigul Junction, Trichirappalli Junction Broad, Electrified - Double Track
2 Kanyakumari Virdhunagar Junction, Tirunelveli Junction Broad, Electrified - Single Track
3 Rameshwaram Manamadurai Junction, Ramanathapuram Broad, Single Track
4 Bodinayakannur Usilampatti, Theni Broad - Under Conversion
5 Thoothukudi Arupukottai Broad - Under Survey ( Proposed )
6 Karaikudi Melur, Thirupathur Broad - Under survey ( Proposed )

Suburban railway stations in Madurai

Madurai Junction Name Board
Sl No. Station Name Station Code
1 Kudalnagar KON
2 Samayanallur SER
3 Thirupparagundram TDN
4 Thirumangalam TMQ
5 Madurai East MES
6 Silaimaan ILA
7 Vadapalanji VAJ
8 Keelakyuilkudi KKY

Air

A view of the new Madurai Airport

Madurai Airport (IATA: IXM, ICAO: VOMD) is a customs airport serving Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu. The airport is located about 12 km (7.5 mi) from the Madurai railway station. The airport was established in 1956 It is one of the important airport in Tamil Nadu. It offers domestic flight services to major cities in India and international services to Colombo, Sri Lanka (beginning 20 September 2012).[7] The carriers operating from the airport are Air India, Jet Airways and SpiceJet.[8] The airport handled 520,000 passengers between April 2011 and March 2012.[9][10][11]

Terminals

The airport has two adjacent terminals. Currently the integrated terminal is being used for both international and domestic purposes. The Airports Authority of India is planning to convert the old terminal into a cargo complex.[12]

Passenger terminal

As the part of modernising 35 non-metropolitan airports, AAI constructed a state-of-art new integrated passenger terminal adjacent to the old terminal. The ₹1.29 billion (US$19 million) new integrated passenger terminal building was inaugurated on 12 September 2010. A total of 610 acres (250 ha) of land is under acquisition for the expansion of the runway to 12,500 ft (3,800 m) to accommodate large jet aircraft.[13] This terminal with an area of 17,560 m2 (189,000 sq ft) can handle a passenger capacity of 250 each on arrival and departure.[14][15] The airport parking area has the capacity to park 375 cars and 10 buses.[16] Some of the features of the new terminal include:[17]

The new terminal has two lounges, a VIP lounge managed by AAI and the Commercial Important persons (CIP) lounge managed by TNCC-Madurai.[18]

Cargo terminal

Considering the growing cargo potential in Madurai Airport, AAI has decided to modify the old terminal into a full-fledged cargo complex.[12] To start with, the union finance ministry has issued customs notifications dated 28 May 2013 regarding the handling of cargo at the Madurai airport.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air IndiaChennai, Mumbai
Jet AirwaysChennai
Mihin LankaColombo
Air PegasusBengaluru
SpiceJetChennai, Colombo, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Dubai

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Regional Transport Office – Registered commercial vehicles in Tamil Nadu.
  2. 1 2 Highways Circle of Highways Department, Tamilnadu.
  3. ↑ Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Madurai) Limited 2011.
  4. ↑ Southern Railway Madurai division.
  5. ↑ Train Running Information.
  6. ↑ ibnlive 6 June 2011.
  7. ↑ The Hindu 29 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Airports Authority of India – Madurai Airport.
  9. ↑ Air traffic statistics.
  10. ↑ International Air traffic movement.
  11. ↑ International Air freight movement.
  12. 1 2 Land acquisition for Madurai airport soon - Times Of India
  13. ↑ "New airport terminal to boost industrial growth". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 21 September 2010.
  14. ↑ AAI Magazine pg 13
  15. ↑ "Airports Authority of India". Aai.aero. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Legislators, tour operators demand international flights from Madurai". NDTV.com. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  17. 1 2 Airports Authority of India
  18. ↑ "Cities / Madurai : CIP lounge taken on lease". The Hindu. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
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