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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the Southern Railway's passenger service expansion during 2025-26. The zone has introduced 23 new train services linked to the State, adding 65 coaches to existing trains.
Data released by the Southern Railway shows that the zone also expanded capacity on heavily patronised routes, increased frequencies, extended select services and added more than 150 new stoppages across Tamil Nadu and Kerala, covering trains from the Chennai-Hyderabad corridor to the Kerala coastal routes, the Nilgiris foothills to the southern tip at Cape Comorin. Stations like Vadakara in Kerala gained stops on multiple trains.
Five Amrit Bharat services between Erode-Jogbani, New Jalpaiguri-Nagercoil, New Jalpaiguri-Tiruchy, Tambaram-Thiruvananthapuram and Podanur-Dhanbad are among the major services introduced. The Southern Railway also introduced the Bengaluru–Ernakulam Vande Bharat Express with four stops in Tamil Nadu.
When it comes to extending existing services to new destinations, the Thiruvananthapuram-Madurai Amrita Express was extended up to Rameswaram. Frequency enhancements were introduced on select routes, including the tri-weekly Tirupati-Rameswaram Express, which has been upgraded as a four-day-a-week service. Passenger services on the Tiruchy-Karaikudi and Karaikudi-Virudhunagar sections were also converted into daily operations.
Frequency enhancements were introduced on select routes, including the tri-weekly Tirupati-Rameswaram Express, which has been upgraded as a four-day-a-week service. Passenger services on the Tiruchy-Karaikudi and Karaikudi-Virudhunagar sections were also converted into daily operations
The Southern Railway has also permanently augmented 41 pairs of trains and seven individual services, deploying 95 additional coaches through 43 rakes. Tamil Nadu accounted for the largest share of the additions with 65 coaches, followed by Kerala (47), Karnataka (34), and Andhra Pradesh (22), according to the Southern Railway.
The 16-coach Chennai-Nagercoil Vande Bharat Express was expanded to 20 coaches, and the Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat grew from eight coaches to 20.
The Southern Railway claims to provide fresh halts at more than 150 stations across its jurisdiction. In Tamil Nadu, Budalur, Pennadam, Kovilpatti, Pichcandar Kovil, Perambur, Ambattur, Tindivanam, and Pudukkottai were among those that gained new train stoppages.