Transport in Thiruvananthapuram

The Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram has a well-developed transport infrastructure. The city and its suburbs may be traversed using road and rail. Within the city, city buses, taxis and auto rickshaws provide mobility. Scooters and motorcycles are the favored means of personal transport. Ola, Uber and a taxi service operate there.

The Kowdiar Square

Road
Map of South Kerala

National Highway 66 (old NH 47) passes through the city. Thiruvananthapuram can be accessed from the North South Corridor National Highway 44, via NH 544 (old NH-47) at Salem, and at Kochi via NH 66. It connects southern cities such as Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore and Salem.

From the south NH 66 at Kanyakumari provides the North South Corridor (NH 44). It passes through Nagercoil.[1]

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

Mahatma Gandhi road is a multi-lane road and the main arterial. The main wholesale business district of the city, Chalai Bazaar is situated there. Kerala Government Secretariat, Kerala University etc. are near that road. Another important road is the Kowdiar road, also known as the royal road, as it leads to Kowdiar Palace.

The exponential growth of service and IT-based sectors coupled with its prominence as the state capital and tourist center has strained transport infrastructure. Mitigating projects[2] include the construction of flyovers[3] and underpasses.[4] The first phase includes 42 km of six-lane and four-lane dual carriage ways.[5] Although road construction is of a high standard, with appropriate marking and signage; a majority of Tier-II roads remain too narrow for the levels of traffic using them.

Bus

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

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 Padmanabha Swamy temple. The Central Inter State bus station is located 1 km (1 mi) away at Thampanoor, opposite Trivandrum Central Railway Station. The terminal connects Thiruvananthapuram to other parts of Kerala as well as other states.

No bus service connects the Trivandrum airport to the central city bus terminal.

Rail
Trivandrum Central railway station

Six railway stations operate within city limits, including Thiruvananthapuram central station and three stations that serve the metropolitan area. Thiruvananthapuram Pettah, Kochuveli railway station, Kazhakoottam and Veli Railway Stations are located towards the north and Nemom railway station is to the south.[6] The Central railway station is located at Thampanoor, 8 km from the airport. Kaniyapuram, Balaramapuram and Neyyattinkara railway stations serve the metropolitan area.

The city is connected by rail to almost all major cities in India on a daily basis, while cities like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Jammu Tawi, Dibrugarh, Lucknow, Bilaspur, Indore, Howrah and Guwahati are multi-day journeys. Kochuveli railway station is a satellite station developed to ease congestion.[7] Thiruvananthapuram is the first major South Indian city on the longest train route in India, Kanyakumari to Jammu.[8]

Air
Terminal 3 entrance of Trivandrum International Airport
The Baggage Carousel of Terminal 3

Trivandrum International Airport offers direct flights from the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Flights can operate under all weather conditions.[9]

The airport is approximately 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) due west from the city center.[10] Apart from scheduled flights, many chartered flights from Europe such as First Choice Airways from London Gatwick and Monarch operate during tourist season (around December). Thiruvananthapuram airport is the southernmost airport in India and the closest to neighboring countries such as Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Terminal, T3 was inaugurated on 12 February 2019 for the operation of international services. It has three jet bridges and parking space for eight aircraft.

Port

A deep water container trans-shipment port is under construction at Vizhinjam. The natural sea depth facilitates the maintenance of deep draft with limited dredging. It is one of the deepest ports in India. It is in close proximity to the international shipping lanes between Europe and the Far East.[11]

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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. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  4. "Palayam underpass to be opened on August 1". The Hindu. 29 July 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. 25 December 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
  8. "Himasagar Express". India Rail Info. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  9. "Plea for AIE headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram". The Hindu. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  10. "Thiruvananthapuram Airport General Information". Thiruvananthapuram General Information. Airports Authority of India. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  11. "Government of Kerala international deepwater seaport and container transshipment terminal - Opportunity for private investors at Vizhinjam, Trivandrum, Kerala, South India". Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
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