Chennai Central

Chennai Central Indian Railway Station
The Main Entrance of the Station
Location
Coordinates	13.09°N 80.27°E
City	Chennai
District	Chennai
State	Tamil Nadu
Elevation	MSL + 20 ft
Station Info & Facilities
Station type	Terminus Station
Structure	Standard (on ground station)
Station status	Functioning
Other name(s)	Madras Central.
Parking	Available
Connections	Taxi Stand, MTC
Operation
Code	MAS
Division(s)	Chennai (Madras)
Zone(s)	Southern Railway
Line(s)	Chennai-Erode Junction Chennai-Vijayawada Junction
Track(s)	15
Platform(s)	15
History
Opened	1853
Former Owner(s)	Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway
Electrified	1931
Location on Map
Chennai Central Station Chennai Central Station (Chennai)

Chennai Central (Tamil: சென்னை சென்ட்ரல்), erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai (Madras). It is the home of the Southern Railway and the most important rail hub in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Trains from here connect the city to New Delhi and prominent state capitals of India like Bhopal, Lucknow, Jaipur, Mumbai, Patna, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, and so forth. Chennai Central is also the main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. The building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect Henry Irwin.

This station is also noted for a whole range of amenities available within the premises. The station has book-shops, restaurants, accommodation, Internet browsing centers and even an essential commodities shopping mall. In 2005, the buildings were painted a creamy yellow colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color, which was how the buildings were built originally.

Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. Madras Central has been greatly instrumental in earning Chennai the famous sobriquet Gateway of the South. The entrance to this station and the adjacent suburban railway complex is on the arterial Poonamalee High Road in the city.

History

The station in 1874.

Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station which was being utilised for port movements. Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Hardinge and consisted of just four platforms. The station was later modified with the addition of the central clock tower and other changes by Robert Fellowes Chisholm. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900.

Madras Central gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in 1907 and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead and its position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway (India)) adjacent to it in 1922.

Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original.

Capacity at the station was further augmented after construction of the multistoreyed Moore Market Complex as a dedicated terminus for the Madras suburban railway system.

Southern Railway

Chennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways.

Layout

The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length is about 950 m. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short trains like the Rajadhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Expresses and the Gudur Passenger.

Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until early 90's. The Brindavan Exp. used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Exp. (popularly known as Blue Mountain) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting Air-Braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi Express. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Expresses has a vivid green / cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.

The building to the west of the railway station is the Ripon building, which houses the Chennai Corporation. To the east of the station lies the Southern Railway Headquarters.

Trains

Some of the trains from/to Chennai Central are:

No.	Train No:	Origin	Destination	Train Name
1.	12615/2616	Chennai	New Delhi	The Grand Trunk Express
2.	12621/2622	Chennai	New Delhi	Tamil Nadu Express
3.	12433/2434	Chennai	H.Nizamudin	Rajdhani Express
4.	12611/2612	Chennai	H.Nizamudin	Garib Rath
5.	11028/11027	Chennai	Mumbai	Mumbai Mail
6.	11042/11041	Chennai	Mumbai	Mumbai Express
7.	12842/12841	Chennai	Howrah	Coromandel Express
8.	12840/12839	Chennai	Howrah	Howrah Mail
9.	12679/12680	Chennai	Coimbatore	Intercity Express
10.	12673/12674	Chennai	Coimbatore	Cheran Express
11.	12675/12676	Chennai	Coimbatore	Kovai Express
12.	12243/12244	Chennai	Coimbatore	Duronto Express
13.	12681/12682	Chennai	Coimbatore	Coimbatore Express
14.	12671/12672	Chennai	Mettupalayam(Coimbatore)	Nilgiri Express
15.	16627/16628	Chennai	Mangalore Central	West Coast Express
16.	12601/12602	Chennai	Mangalore Central	Mangalore Mail
17.	12685/12686	Chennai	Mangalore Central	Superfast Express
18.	12656/12655	Chennai	Ahmedabad	Navjivan Express
19.	12669/12670	Chennai	Chapra	Ganga Kaveri Express
20.	16057/16058	Chennai	Tirupati	Saptagiri Express
21.	16053/16054	Chennai	Tirupati	Tirupati Express
22.	16203/16204	Chennai	Tirupati	Garudadiri Express
23.	12759/12760	Chennai	Hyderabad	Charminar Express
24.	12603/12604	Chennai	Hyderabad	Hyderabad Express
25.	16669/16670	Chennai	Erode	Yercaud Express
26.	12639/12640	Chennai	Bangalore	Brindavan Express
27.	12607/12608	Chennai	Bangalore	Lal Bagh Expres
28.	12657/12658	Chennai	Bangalore	Bangalore Mail
29.	12027/12028	Chennai	Bangalore	Shatabdi Express
30.	12609/12610	Chennai	Bangalore	Bangalore Express
31.	12691/12692	Chennai	Satya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam	Satya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam Express
32.	12007/12008	Chennai	Mysore	Shatabdi Express
33.	16222/16221	Chennai	Mysore	Kaveri Express
34.	16041/16042	Chennai	Alapuzha	Alleppey Express
35.	12623/12624	Chennai	Trivandrum	Trivandrum Mail
36.	12695/12696	Chennai	Trivandrum	Superfast Express
37.	12697/12698	Chennai	Trivandrum	Trivandum Express
38.	16089/16090	Chennai	Tirupattur	Yelagiri express
39.	16031/16032	Chennai	Jammutawi	Andaman Express
40.	12687/12688	Chennai	Dehradun	Dehradun Express
41.	12712/12711	Chennai	Vijayawada	Pinakini Express
42.	12077/12078	Chennai	Vijayawada	Jan Shatabdi Express
43.	12829/12830	Chennai	Bhubaneswar	Bhubaneswar Express
44.	12967/12968	Chennai	Jaipur	Jaipur Express
45.	16093/16094	Chennai	Lucknow	Lucknow Express
46.	17311/17312	Chennai	Vasco da Gama, Goa	Vasco Express
47.	17313/7314	Chennai	Hubli	Hubli Express
48.	12689/12690	Chennai	Nagercoil	Nagercoil Express
49.	12291/12292	Chennai	Yeswantpur	Yeswantpur Express
50.	12755/12756	Chennai	Haldia	Haldia Express
51.	12852/12851	Chennai	Bilaspur	Bilaspur Express

Trains passing through Chennai Central

• Indore - Trivandrum Ahilyanagari Express
• Gorakhpur-Trivandrum/Barauni—Ernakulam Raptisagar Express
• Trivandrum - falknuma Express
• Coimbatore - Jaipur Express
• Ernakulam - Guwahati Express
• Trivandrum - Guwahati Express
• Bangalore - Guwahati Express
• Bangalore - Rajendra Nagar(Patna) Sangamithra Express
• Muzaffarpur - Yeswantpur Express
• Ernakulam - Patna Express
• Trivandrum - Howrah(Shalimar) Express
• Dhanbad - Alappuzha Express
• Bangalore-balugaon Bagmati Express
• Trivandrum - Korba Express

Gallery

• 

  Inside the main station

• 

  Side view of station extension that was added a few years back

• 

  Panorama of Chennai Central

• 

  The Main Entrance of The Station

External links

• Google Satellite Map of Madras Central
• How to get Metro Train routes and timing information for Chennai