With Southern Railway set to operate a special train between Tambaram and Kollam, the train service between Kollam and Chennai is resuming through Sengottai-Punalur section, after 8 years.
The Punalur-Sengottai section is part of the 325 km Kollam-Sengottai-Tenkasi-Tirunelveli- Thiruchendur gauge conversion project. The 320 crore project was launched in 2010 for gauge conversion of 112 year old metro gauge section between Sengottai and Punalur.
The rail route works also passed through the century-old heritage 13-arch bridge in the Thenmala station. The gauge conversion process was delayed as this required digging of hills and caves to match the width of broad guage.