Varkala Sivagiri railway station

Varkala Railway Station, station code VAK, is a major railway station (NSG 4 B Category) in Kerala serving the town of Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, India started on 1904. The station serves as the northern gateway to the capital Trivandrum. Varkala Railway Station is the second busiest after Trivandrum Central and 3rd most revenue generating railway station in the district and 8th busiest in Thiruvananthapuram railway division. It is situated in the municipality of Varkala which is 40 km (25 mi) from Trivandrum City, 15 km (9.3 mi) from Attingal town and 33 km (21 mi) from Kollam City. Free WiFi of railway is available in Varkala railway station. It falls in the Thiruvananthapuram railway division of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It is on Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram railway line. Station is well connected to major metropolitan & tier 2 cities like Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Kochi, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Goa etc.

This article is about the railway station. For the Varkala, see Sivagiri, Kerala.

Varkala
Regional rail and Light rail station
Varkala Railway Station in 2011
LocationSH63, Varkala, Trivandrum, Kerala
India
Coordinates8.741°N 76.723°E / 8.741; 76.723
Elevation58m
Owned byGovernment of India
Operated byIndian Railways
Line(s)Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram line
Platforms3
Tracks5
Connections
Construction
Structure typeStandard (On ground Station)
ParkingYes
Bicycle facilitiesYes
Disabled access
Other information
StatusFunctioning
Station codeVAK
Zone(s) Southern Railway zone
Division(s) Thiruvananthapuram
ClassificationNSG-4[1]
History
Opened1904 (1904)
Rebuilt1974 (1974)
ElectrifiedYes, 25 kV AC 50 Hz
Previous namesVarkala Railway Station till 2005 (2005)
Traffic
Passengers (2018-19)11,427/day[2]
Annual Passengers - 41,70,860 (7.65%)
Rank2nd in Trivandrum district, 8th in Trivandrum division
Services
Preceding station   Indian Railways   Following station
Southern Railway zone
Kollam Junction – Thiruvananthapuram Central branch line
Location
Varkala
Location in Kerala
Varkala
Location in India

Traffic

In 2018-19 FY about 41lakh passengers were passed through this station and make a profit of 11.12 cr. Varkala is the second busiest railway station after Trivandrum Central Railway Station. In close proximity to the station is Varkala Municipal Bus Station. It serves the people from Varkala Taluk and Chirayinkeezhu Taluk.

Name of the Station

The station name used to be 'Varkala' till 2005. It was renamed "Varkala Sivagiri" after the samadhi of Sri Narayana Guru, situated in Varkala in the year 2005. Most of the trains are allowed temporary halt at this station during a week period of the famous "Sivagiri Theerthadanam" (Sivagiri Pilgrimage).

Significance

Varkala beach which is one of the popular tourist destination in India is at a distance of 3.1 km (1.9 mi) from the railway station. Sivagiri Mutt founded by the social reformer Sree Narayana Guru is situated at the top of the Sivagiri hill near Varkala. Janardana Swami Temple is a Vaishnavite shrine which is estimated to be 2000 years old. Kappil Beach & Backwaters situated 8 km (5.0 mi) from Varkala is major tourist destination in Varkala.

Annual passenger earnings of Varkala railway station
Passenger Earnings
Year Earnings
(in crores)		 Variation
2015–16 â‚ą9.4484 crore (US$1.3 million) NA
2016-17 â‚ą9.8191 crore (US$1.4 million) â‚ą0.3707 crore (US$52,000)[3]
2017-18 â‚ą10.4254 crore (US$1.5 million) â‚ą0.6063 crore (US$85,000)[4]
2018-19 â‚ą11.1201 crore (US$1.6 million) â‚ą0.6947 crore (US$97,000)[5]
gollark: Does this place just really like these "R710"s?
gollark: I duckduckgoed it, first result was a similar error, apparently you need to use PHP 5.5 or greater for something or other to work.
gollark: Like I said, wildly guessing. Maybe Google the error?
gollark: No clue.
gollark: I'm entirely guessing here.

See also

References
  1. "Annual originating passengers and earnings for the year 2018-19 - Thiruvananthapuram Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  2. "Annual originating passengers and earnings for the year 2018-19 - Thiruvananthapuram Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  3. "Stations Profile 2017 - Thiruvananthapuram Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  4. "Annual originating passengers and earnings for the year 2017-18 - Thiruvananthapuram Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  5. "Annual originating passengers and earnings for the year 2018-19 - Thiruvananthapuram Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
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