In 1861, the Great Southern of India Railway (GSIR) built the 125 km (78 mi)-long 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)-wide line between Nagapattinam and Tiruchirappali (then known as Trichinopoly) via Thiruvarur, Nidamangalam, Thanjavur and the line was opened to traffic next year.

After taking over GSIR by South Indian Railway Company in 1874, the Nagapattinam–Tiruchirappalli line was converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3/8 in)-wide metre gauge in 1875.

On the Panagal Road is also located the Thiruvarur Bus Depot where buses to Mannargudi, Thiruthuraipoondi, Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Karaikal, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and several nearby destinations are available.

The next nearest train stations are Mankudi (south), Kulikarai (west), Adiyakkamangalam (east) and Vijayapuram (north).

(Current processing) There are 4 lines that branch out of the station: Thiruvarur to Karaikkudi via Thiruthuraipoondi Passenger train starts 1 June 2019 New electrification survey in 2012–13 had been sanctioned in the Railway Budget for the Karaikal/Karaikal port–Thiruvarur Jn–Thanjavur–Tiruchirappalli and Nagapattinam–Velankanni sectors.