The Southern Railway (SR) is all set to strip the South Coastal Railway’s (SCoR) distinction of having the longest loop lines in the country soon, with the creation of a second track between Aduthurai and Sundaraperumal Kovil on the main line section.

Inquiries reveal that as of now, the South Coastal Railway has two longest loop lines measuring around 1.5 km against the normal 750 metre length loop lines at Bikavolu and Navabpalem stations in its domain to “enhance train operations, ease congestion and to accommodate long haul goods trains with additional wagons than the standard composition”.

While the creation of longer loop lines in South Coastal Railway was primarily aimed at ensuring quick movement of goods traffic, the Up Loop Line at Multai station in Central Railway was upgraded as a 1036.83-metre Common Loop Line with Clear Standing Room in 2025.

Recently, the Railway Board has sanctioned doubling of a portion of the 193-km Thanjavur-Kumbakonam-Mayiladuthurai-Villupuram main line section, starting from Aduthurai to Sundaraperumal Kovil.

Once the ₹289.17-crore project of creating a 21.5-km additional track between these two stations gets completed before the Mahamaham festival at Kumbakonam in 2028, this stretch would be the longest loop line in the country.

The new track between Aduthurai and Sundaraperumal Kovil would be utilised to operate short-distance diesel electric multiple units to clear the extra rush during Mahamaham days without affecting the regular passenger and goods trains operations on the main line section.

While welcoming the proposed operation of short-distance DEMU services during the 2028 Mahamaham period, the rail passenger associations along the main line section are disappointed by the Southern Railway’s decision to convert only a part of the 193-km main line section into a double line section though the preliminary engineering survey and final location survey for the entire stretch had been completed.