Life in Tamil Nadu
Architecture Culture Climate Demographics Economy Education Film Holidays Language Literature Music Politics Religion Sports Temples Tourism Transport Wildlife

Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, has a developed, dense, and modern transportation infrastructure, encompassing both public and private transport. Its capital city Chennai is well-connected by land, sea, and air and serves as a major hub for entry into South India.

Tamil Nadu has an extensive road network covering about 2.71 lakh km as of 2023 with a road density of 2,084.71 kilometres (1,295.38 mi) per 1000 km² which is higher than the national average of 1,926.02 kilometres (1,196.77 mi) per 1000 km².^[1] The Highways Department (HD) of the state was established in April 1946 and was later renamed as Highways Department on 30 October 2008.^[2] The agency is primarily responsible for construction and maintenance of national highways, state highways, major district roads and other roads in the state. It operates through eleven wings with 120 divisions and 450 subdivisions.^[3] The agency maintains 73,187 kilometres (45,476 mi) of highways in the state.^[4]

The ‘’National Highways Wing’’ of the highways department of Tamil Nadu was established in 1971 to look after the works of improving, maintaining and renewing of National Highways laid down by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).^[5] There are 48 national highways of length 6,805 kilometres (4,228 mi) in the state.^[6]

Roads which connect district headquarters, important towns and national highways in the state are classified as state highways. Construction and maintenance wing of the highways department is responsible for the construction, maintenance of the state highways. The wing has eight circles namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur and Villupuram.^[7]

Other roads include major district roads (MDR), other district roads (ODR), rural & sugarcane roads and special roads such as East Coast Road, IT Expressway, Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP), Chennai Port – Maduravoyal Expressway and Outer Ring Road Project. These roads provide linkage between various towns and centers within districts and connectivity to respective district and taluk headquarters.

As of 2020, Tamil Nadu had 32.1 million registered vehicles.^[8]

As of 2020, 32,598 buses are operated with the state transport units operating 20,946 buses along with 7,596 private buses and 4,056 mini buses.^[9] Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) run by Government of Tamil Nadu is the primary public transport bus operator in the state. It was established in 1947 when private buses operating in Madras presidency were nationalized by the government.^[9] It operates buses along intra and inter state bus routes, as well as city routes. There are eight divisions of TNSTC including Metropolitan Transport Corporation in Chennai and State Express Transport Corporation.^[9] State Express Transport Corporation Limited (SETC), established in 1980, runs long-distance express services exceeding 250 km and above. It links important cities and other historical, religious and commercial towns, and adjoining states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry. SETC operates various classes of services such as semi-deluxe, ultra-deluxe and air-conditioned with advance booking and reservation on all of its routes.^[10]

The rail network in Tamil Nadu forms a part of Southern Railway of Indian Railways. Southern Railway is headquartered in Chennai and there are four divisions in the state namely Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Salem.^[11] As of 2023, the state had a total railway track length of 5,601 km (3,480 mi) covering a route length of 3,858 km (2,397 mi).^[12] There are 532 railway stations in the state with Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Madurai Junction being the top revenue earning stations.^[13][14] Indian railways also has a coach manufacturing unit at Chennai, electric locomotive sheds at Arakkonam, Erode and Royapuram, diesel locomotive sheds at Erode, Tiruchirappalli and Tondiarpet, Steam locomotive shed at Coonoor along with various maintenance depots. ^[15][16]

Chennai has a well-established suburban railway network operated by Southern railway, which was established in 1928.^[17] The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) is an elevated urban mass transit system established in 1995 operating on a single line from Chennai Beach to Velachery.^[17]

Chennai Metro is a rapid transit rail system in Chennai which was opened in 2015. As of 2023, the metro system consists of two operational lines operating across 54.1 km (33.6 mi) with 41 stations.^[20] Chennai metro system is being expanded with a proposed addition of three more lines and extension of 116.1 km (72.1 mi).^[21] Rapid rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai have been proposed.^[22][23]

Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway in Nilgiris district connecting Mettupalayam and Udagamandalam. It was built by the British in 1908 and is operated by the Southern Railways.^[24][25] It is the only rack railway in India and operates on its own fleet of steam locomotives between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam.^[26] In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Mountain Railways of India^[27]

There are three international, one limited international and six domestic or private airports in Tamil Nadu.^[28][29] Chennai airport, which is the fourth busiest airport by passenger traffic in India is a major international airport and the main gateway to the state.^[30] Other international airports in the state include Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli while Madurai is a customs airport with limited international flights.^[30] Domestic flights are operational to certain airports like Tuticorin and Salem while flights are planned to be introduced to more domestic airports by the UDAN scheme of Government of India.^[31]

The region comes under the purview of the Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force. The Air Force operates three air bases in the state Sulur, Tambaram and Thanjavur.^[32] The Indian Navy operates airbases at Arakkonam, Uchipuli and Chennai.^[33][34]

Tamil Nadu has 1,076 kilometres (669 mi) long coastline and is the second longest coastline in the country after Gujarat.^[35] There are three major ports Chennai, Ennore and Thoothukudi which are managed by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways of Government of India.^[36] There is an intermediate sea port at Nagapattinam and sixteen other minor ports which are managed by the department of highways and minor ports of Government of Tamil Nadu.^[1] Tamil Nadu forms part of both the Eastern Naval Command and Southern Naval Command the Indian Navy which has a major base at Chennai and logistics support base at Thoothukudi.^[37][38]

• Transport in India