Transport in Thiruvananthapuram

The Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram has a well-developed transport infrastructure. The city and its suburbs may be traversed using its road and rail networks. Within the city, city buses, taxis and auto rickshaws provide means of transportation. Scooters, motorcycles are the favoured means of personal transportation.

Road

A part of the Kowdiar road

Mahathma Gandhi Road

Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam Road

The new central bus terminal at Thampanoor

The NH-47, which runs from Kanyakumari to Salem, passes through the city. It connects important southern cities such as Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore and Salem in the north and Nagercoil and Kanyakumari in the south.^[1]

The city is also connected with several state highways like SH 1, SH 2, SH 45 etc. The Main Central Road (MC Road) which is the arterial State Highway in Kerala starts from National Highway NH 47 at Kesavadasapuram in the city. It connects Angamaly through Kottayam with the capital city.

The Mahatma Gandhi road is a multi lane road in the City. It is the main arterial road in the city. The main wholesale business district of the city, Chalai Bazaar is situated here. Kerala Government Secretariat, Kerala University etc. is also situated near the road. Another important road is the Kowdiar road which is also known as the royal road, as it leads to the Kowdiar Palace.

The exponential growth of the services and IT-based sectors coupled with its prominence as the state capital and tourist center has caused considerable strain on the transport infrastructure of the city. To ease the strain, several construction projects are underway and completed^[2] including the construction of flyovers^[3] and under passes.^[4] In the first phase, 42 km of six-lane and four-lane dual carriage ways are being built.^[5] Although road construction is of a high level, with good marking and signage, a majority of Tier-II roads, remain narrow for the high levels of traffic using them, with few plans to widen them.

The Kowdiar Square

Public transport

The intra-city public transport is dominated by the state-owned KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation). There are also private bus services. The city services of KSRTC operate from six depots namely, the City depot, Vikas Bhavan, Peroorkada, Pappanamcode, Kaniyapuram and Vellanad. These services were revamped in 2005 with the introduction of modern buses and electronic ticketing mechanisms.

KSRTC also operates JnNURM transport services and the Ananthapuri City Fast services for the city.

The central city bus terminal is located at East Fort (Kizhakke kotta), near the Padmanabha Swamy temple. The Central Inter State bus station is located 1 km (1 mi) away at Thampanoor, opposite Trivandrum Central Railway Station. It connects Thiruvananthapuram with other parts of Kerala as well as other states.

But there is no bus service available to the Trivandrum airport from the central city bus terminal.

Railway

Trivandrum Central railway station

There are six railway stations within the city limits including the Thiruvananthapuram central station and three stations serves the metropolitan area. Thiruvananthapuram Pettah, Kochuveli railway station, Kazhakoottam and Veli Railway Stations are located towards north direction and Nemom railway station is located south direction from the central station.^[6] The Central railway station is located at Thampanoor in the heart of the city, 8 km from the airport. Kaniyapuram, Balaramapuram and Neyyattinkara railway stations serves the surrounding metropolitan area.

The city is well connected by rail to almost all major cities in India in a daily basis such as New Delhi, Mumbai CST, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Secunderabad, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Vellore, Katpadi, Madurai, Chennai, Bangalore, Madgaon, Mangalore and on a non daily basis with cities like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Jammu Tawi, Dibrugarh, Lucknow, Bilaspur, Indore, Howrah and Guwahati. Kochuveli railway station is developed to ease congestion on central station and it act as satellite station to Thiruvananthapuram Central.^[7] Thiruvananthapuram is the first major South Indian city on the longest train route in the India, Kanyakumari to Jammu.^[8]

Light Metro

A system of light metro has been proposed in the city stretching from Technocity to karamana. The construction of preparatory works for the metro system is planned to begin on 27 February 2016.

Airways

Terminal 3 entrance of Trivandrum International Airport

The Baggage Carousel of Terminal 3

Thiruvananthapuram's International Airport, with direct flights from the Middle East, Singapore, Maldives and Sri Lanka is one of the gateways to the tourism-rich state of Kerala.

One of the major advantage of the airport is the flights can be operated on all weather conditions.^[9] The airport is approximately 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) due west from the city center.^[10] Apart from regular scheduled flights, many chartered flights from Europe like First Choice Airways from London Gatwick and Monarch, land here during the peak tourist season (around December) with Kerala fast becoming a prime tourist destination in India. Thiruvananthapuram airport's importance is also due to the fact that it is the southernmost airport in India and also the closest to neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Maldives.

A new terminal, T3 is inaugurated on 12 February for the operation of international services. It offer three jetways and parking space for 8 aircraft.

Port

A Deep Water Container Trans-shipment Port is under implementation at Vizhinjam. The natural depth of the sea here facilitates the maintenance of deep draft with limited dredging, making it one of the deepest ports in the country. The close proximity to the international shipping lanes between Europe and the Far East increases the potential of the port as a container transshipment terminal.^[11]

References

1. "National Highway No. 47". National Highway No. 47. Mapsofindia.com. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
2. "Kerala Road Fund Board". The Trivandrum City Road Improvement Project (TCRIP ). Kerala Road Fund Board. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
3. "Bakery Junction flyover inaugurated". The Hindu. Jun 16, 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
4. "Palayam underpass to be opened on August 1". The Hindu. Jul 29, 2005. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
5. "Widening of roads". TRIDA- On going Projects. Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
6. "India rail info". Railway Stations. Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. India rail info. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
7. "Master plan to develop Kochuveli terminal". The Hindu. 2006-12-25. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
8. "Himasagar Express". India Rail Info. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
9. "Plea for AIE headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram". The Hindu. Nov 12, 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
10. Trivandrum International Airport "Thiruvananthapuram Airport General Information" Check |url= value (help). Thiruvananthapuram General Information. Airports Authority of India. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
11. https://web.archive.org/web/20100406013849/http://www.keralaports.gov.in/vizhinjm.htm. Archived from the original on April 6, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)