KOLLAM to SENGOTTAI via PUNALUR | Complete Journey on The First Broad Gauge Train in Tenmala Hills

The wait of the people is over as the first train sees the light of the day on the much awaited Punalur - Sengottai section. The first train towards Punalur chugged out of Sengottai on 31st of March 2018, after a gap of nearly 8 years.

Train : 06028 Kollam - Tambaram Special via Punalur

Loco : GOC WDG3A #13283 Leading, GOC WDG3A #13114 Banking

The train came to Kollam as 06027 special which was the first commercially operated train in the Sengottai - Punalur section. This train was the first in the reverse direction.

The train departed Kollam at 13.00 hours and arrived at Sengottai by 17.35 hours.


From 2019, the train has been regularised as 16101 / 16102 Chennai Egmore - Kollam Express.

The Chennai Egmore–Kollam Junction Express (16101/16102, earlier known as the Quilon Mail) is a daily train that runs between Chennai Egmore and Kollam Junction in India. It is the successor of 115 years old Quilon Mail, which ran once upon a time in Meter Gauge lines between Madras and Quilon.

Opened on 1 June 1904, the Quilon–Madras rail line was the first line in Travancore. Its official gauge conversion started in 1998 and completed in 2018. On 31 March 2018, the entire Kollam–Sengottai line was opened for passenger train service. The first passenger train was the Tambaram–Kollam–Tambaram special train (06027) that earned Rs 3.15 lakh by carrying 879 passengers against a capacity of 712.

On 4 March 2019, railway started daily service between Kollam Junction and Chennai Egmore by extending Tambaram–Kollam tri-weekly special train to Chennai Egmore and increased the frequency as a daily service. The service was speeded-up by 35 minutes and the number of intermediate stops were reduced to 21 from 25 (Tiruttangal, Pamba Kovil Shandy, Bhagavathipuram, Auvaneeswaram). The daily express train service between Chennai Egmore and Kollam Junction via Punalur, Rajapalayam and Madurai Junction was one of the oldest routes in South India. The service was first flagged off by Travancore Maharajah Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma in 1904 as Quilon–Madras Mail. The service was diverted through Virudhunagar and Manamadurai in 1996 due to gauge conversion works in Virudhunagar–Madurai stretch. Later, the service discontinued in 2000 for gauge conversion works.


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