Infrastructure
The district is well-connected by a network of roads and railways. Tirunelveli city serves as the main junction. It has no airports; the nearest airports are at Tuticorin (40 km away), Madurai (150 km) and Thiruvananthapuram. The district has a total of 27 Railway stations. Given below are tables listing the length of roads and railways in the district.
| Roads | National highways | State highways | Corporation and Municipalities Roads | Panchayat Union and Panchayat Road | Town Panchayat and Townships Road | Others (forest roads) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length (km.) | 174.824 | 442.839 | 1,001.54 | 1,254.10 and 1,658.35 | 840.399 | 114.450 |
| Railways | Route length (km) | Track length (km) |
|---|---|---|
| Broad gauge | 257.000 | 495.448 |
| Meter gauge | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Canals, wells, tanks and reservoirs are the sources of irrigation in the district. As of 2005–2006, the district had a total of 151 canals with a length of 499 km, 85,701 irrigation wells, 640 tube wells, 8 reservoirs and 2,212 tanks. The district also has 21,776 wells used for domestic purposes. Electricity is provided by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The district has hydroelectric power plants and windmills, with an installed capacity of 1,089.675 MW; it is one of the major producers of wind energy in the state. The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant project is being undertaken (with Russian aid) at the village of Koodankulam. Koodankulam is a place in the Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated 24 km north-east of Kanyakumari, 36 km from Nagercoil and about 106 km from Thiruvananthapuram.
The place is notable as the construction site of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. It is also the location of hundreds of windmills used for power generation, eight of which are located inside the grounds of the nuclear plant. These wind turbines have currently a total capacity of 2000 MW and represent one of the largest wind farms in India.
Since the beginning of 2011, this place has been embroiled in a nuclear plant controversy over fears of the plant safety.
Read more about this topic: Tirunelveli District