Aravankadu railway station is a railway station serving the small town of Aravankadu in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, India. It lies on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, the metre-gauge rack railway that connects Mettupalayam in the plains with the hill station of Udagamandalam (Ooty).
| Station name | Aravankadu |
|---|---|
| Location | Aravankadu, Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu |
| Country | India |
| Line | Nilgiri Mountain Railway |
| Track gauge | Metre gauge (1,000 mm) |
| Operator | Southern Railway, Indian Railways |
Aravankadu is situated in the upper reaches of the Nilgiri Hills, between the stations of Coonoor and Wellington on one side and Ketti further up the line towards Ooty. The town is known for the Cordite Factory, an ordnance establishment that has historically been one of the principal employers in the area.
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was opened in stages between 1899 and 1908. The line from Mettupalayam to Coonoor was inaugurated in 1899, and the extension from Coonoor to Udagamandalam, which passes through Aravankadu, was completed in 1908. The railway uses the Abt rack-and-pinion system on its steepest gradients on the Mettupalayam–Coonoor section, while the section beyond Coonoor through Aravankadu operates on adhesion working.
In 2005, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway was inscribed by UNESCO as part of the Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site, an extension of the original 1999 listing of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
The station is served by the daily passenger trains that run between Mettupalayam, Coonoor and Udagamandalam. The hill segment past Aravankadu is typically worked by diesel locomotives, while steam haulage is retained on the rack section below Coonoor. The line is administered by the Salem division of the Southern Railway zone of Indian Railways.
Although a small wayside halt, Aravankadu station is part of one of the few operating heritage mountain railways in the world. It provides local rail access for residents and workers of Aravankadu and the neighbouring cantonment town of Wellington, and forms part of a journey widely valued for its scenic and engineering interest.