is fully demolished and a new bus station will be built under smart city plan. The State Express Transport Corporation has intercity services to Bangalore, Chennai, Kanyakumari, Trivandrum and other cities. Tirunelveli Junction railway station is one of the oldest railway stations in India. The line from Tirunelveli to Sengottai was opened in 1903; the connection to Quilon, which was completed later, was the most important trade route to Travancore province in British India. The city is connected to major cities in all four directions: Madurai and Sankarankovil to the north, Nagercoil and Trivandrum to the south, Sengottai and Kollam to the west and Tiruchendur to the east. Tirunelveli is also connected to major Indian cities with daily services to Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Salem, Tirupati, Hosur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Guruvayur, Kolkata, Jabalpur, Varanasi, Delhi, Jammu, Kollam, Palghat and Ahmedabad. There are daily passenger services to Tuticorin, Madurai, Tiruchendur, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagercoil, Palghat and Kollam. The nearest airport to Tirunelveli is Tuticorin Airport (TCR) at Vaagaikulam in Thoothukkudi District, east of the city, which offers daily flights to Chennai and Bangalore. The nearest international airports are Madurai International Airport, away and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV), about away. Culture Nellaiappar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva in the form of Nellaiappar. The deity is revered in the verses of Tevaram, a seventh-century Saiva work by Sambandar. The temple was greatly expanded during the 16th-century Nayak period and has a number of architectural attractions, including musical pillars. The temple has several festivals, the foremost an annual festival when the temple chariot is brought around the streets near the temple. It is one of the Pancha Sabhai temples, the five royal courts of Nataraja (the dancing form of Shiva), where he performed a cosmic dance. The Nataraja shrine in the temple represents copper, and features many copper sculptures. Tirunelveli has its fair share of temples, dating back to ancient times. It also prides itself as being the site where the Nellaiappar Temple is located Tirunelveli is also known for halwa, a sweet made of wheat, sugar and ghee. It originated during the mid-1800s at Lakshmi Vilas Stores, which still exist. The art of sweet-making spread to other parts of Tamil Nadu, such as Nagercoil, Srivilliputhur and Thoothukudi. Tirunelveli halwa was popularised by Iruttukadai Halwa, a shop opened in 1900 which sells the sweets only during twilight.