Coimbatore Junction railway station

Coimbatore Junction, also known as Coimbatore Main or Coimbatore city is the primary railway station serving Coimbatore city.HistoryTrain service in Coimbatore started in 1861, upon the construction of the Podanur – Madras line connecting Kerala and the west coast with the rest of India. Coimbatore lies on the Coimbatore – Shoranur Broad gauge railway line. Until 1956, the Coimbatore railway Division was functioning with Podanur as the Headquarters. In 1956, the headquarters was shifted to Olavakkode, of Kerala state and was named Olavakkod railway division. In 1980, Olavakkod division was renamed Palakkad railway division. It comprised Kerala and western districts of Tamilnadu. The revenue from railway stations of western Tamilnadu, especially Coimbatore, was used to develop Railway stations in Kerala, which some saw as unfair. Because of this, protests arose in Tamilnadu to form new railway division with Coimbatore as its headquarters. Ultimately, a new Salem railway division was carved out of the Palakkad railway division in 2006 with Salem as its headquarters. The city falls under the Salem Division of the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways. The major railway station is the Coimbatore Junction which is the second-largest income generating station in the Southern Railway zone, after Chennai Central and is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways. Other major railway stations catering to the city include Coimbatore North Junction, Podanur Junction and minor stations at Peelamedu, Singanallur, Irugur Junction, Perianaikanpalayam, Madukkarai, Somanur and Sulur.