Thoothukudi is an Industrial City and it has transport connections via road, rail, sea and air. After Chennai, Thoothukudi is the only city in Tamil Nadu to have all four means of transport.

Roadways

2017_four_lane_state_highway_SH_49_Tamil_Nadu_India

Thoothukudi City is well connected by road. The Major Highways are, * Thoothukudi– Madurai– Tiruchirappalli– Viluppuram- Vellore ( NH-38) * Thoothukudi– Tirunelveli ( NH-138) * Thoothukudi– Ramanathapuram- Nagapattinam- Puducherry- Tindivanam- Chengalpattu- Chennai (NH-32) * Thoothukudi– Palayakayal– Tiruchendur- Kudankulam- Kanyakumari (SH-176) * Tiruchendur– Sathankulam–Valliyur- Nagercoil (SH-93 & NH-44) * Tiruchendur - Alwarthirunagari - Tirunelveli ( SH -40) * Srinagar to Kaniyakumari - ( via kovilpatti, Kayathar ) ( NH 44) * Thoothukudi - Vagaikulam - Tiruvaikundam - Nazareth - Sathankulam ( SH 93 , SH 40 , NH 138)

Railways

WDM-3D_class_Locomotive_of_Indian_Railway

Thoothukudi railway station Tuticorin railway station (station code: TN) is an NSG–3 category Indian railway station in Madurai railway division of Southern Railway zone. The station serves the city of Thoothukudi, located in Thoothukudi district of the Indian state of ...

is one of the oldest railway stations in India and South Indian Railway began a ''Madras – Thoothukudi'' service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899. The station was declared as Model Station in 2007 and several infrastructure developments are in process. There is also another station, known as '' Tuti-Melur''. It has suburban stations such as:

Airport

Tuticorin Airport Tuticorin Airport is a domestic airport serving Thoothukudi and its adjoining districts of Thoothukkudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located at Vagaikulam, west of the city centre, on National Hig ...

is a one of the

domestic airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

s in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

serving

Thoothukkudi Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the district. Ac ...

, the sea gateway of the Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. It is located at

Vagaikulam Vagaikulam is a small village in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu, India. It is in between the cities Tirunelveli and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. The distance from Tirunelveli is approximately 28 km, and from Tuticorin is 22 km. Airpo ...

Thoothukkudi district The Thoothukkudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. On 20 October 1986, an M. G. Ramachandran-led government bifurcated the Tirunelveli district to form the district. It is shared by its boundaries ...

, situated southwest from the city centre on National Highway 7A. It is owned by the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Republic of India and operated by the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civi ...

. On 13 April 2018, the airport was certified with ISO 9001:2015 quality.

IndiGo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

is operating 5 direct daily flights to

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and 1 direct daily flight to

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

SpiceJet SpiceJet is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. , it is the fourth largest airline in India by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 4% and connects 73 destinations, including 60 Indi ...

is operating 2 direct daily flights to

and 1 direct daily flight to

. The nearest international airport is

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is an international airport that serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and the fifth international airport of ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, which is about by road.

Seaport

V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority V. O. Chidambaranar Port is a port in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, and is one of the 13 major ports in India. It was declared to be a major port on 11 July 1974. It is the second largest port in Tamil Nadu and third largest container terminal in Ind ...

is one of the 12 major ports in

. It was declared to be a major port on 11 July 1974. It is the second largest port in

and the third largest container terminal in India. V.O. Chidambaranar Port is an artificial port. It is the third international port in Tamil Nadu, and it is the second all-weather port. As a mark of paying tribute to the legendary freedom fighter V. O. Chidambaranar, who plied the first swadeshi ship from

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

in 1907, Tuticorin Port Trust was renamed as V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust. Consequent to the repeal of the Major Port Trust Act, 1963, on 3 November 2021, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust was renamed as

. The port is located strategically close to the East-West International sea routes on the southeastern coast of India, and it is located in the

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) (; ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in the southeast and the large landmass of India in the west; it is also well sheltered from the fury of storms and cyclone winds. It is the only port in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

to provide a direct weekly container service to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(transit time 22 days). There are regular weekly direct services to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

(transit time 17 days),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(transit time 10 days) and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

(transit time 8 days).

Spaceport

The construction of the

SSLV Launch Complex SSLV Launch Complex (SLC) is the second spaceport of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), located in Kulasekarapattinam, a coastal village in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, India. The facility is being constructed over . T ...

(SLC) facilities at

Kulasekarapattinam Kulasekharapattinam, also spelt Kulasekharapatnam is a town in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, India. Historically, it was an important port on the Coromandel Coast, alongside Kaveripumpattinam (Poompuhar) and Arikamedu (near Pondich ...

Thoothukudi district The Thoothukkudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. On 20 October 1986, an M. G. Ramachandran-led government bifurcated the Tirunelveli district to form the district. It is shared by its boundaries w ...

commenced on 5 March 2025 with the groundbreaking ceremony for the realisation of three major facilities. The foundation stone for the complex was laid on 28 February 2024. Subsequently, the site development activities were carried out, and the site is now ready for the commencement of the construction of the Upper Stage Assembly Facilities (UAF-I & UAF-II) for the preparation of the second and third stages of the 3-staged SSLV vehicle along with a Launch Service Building (LSB). The launch complex planned at

is primarily to address the polar launches of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) which is envisaged to capture the global launch service market for small satellites up to 500kg. SSLV development has been completed and in the operational phase, the vehicle is envisaged for production by Indian industry.

References

External links

Thoothukudi

Thoothukudi Corporation

Tuticorin Port Trust

V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority

* {{Transport in India Thoothukudi

Thoothukudi Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port city, port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the di ...