Chennai Egmore

Chennai Egmore (Madras Egmore) Station of Chennai Suburban Railway and Southern Railways
The Main Entrance of the Station
Station statistics
Address	Station Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Lines	Chennai Egmore—Vijayawada Chennai Egmore — Kanyakumari
Connections	Taxi Stand
Structure	Standard on-ground station
Platforms	11
Tracks	15
Parking	Available
Baggage check	Not Available
Other information
Opened	1908
Accessible
Code	MS
Owned by	Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways
Fare zone	Southern Railways
Formerly	South Indian Railway

Chennai Egmore (Tamil: சென்னை எழும்பூர்), formerly known as Madras Egmore, is a railway station in Egmore, Chennai (Madras), South India. The station acts as the arrival and departure point for trains connecting Chennai and southern, central Tamil Nadu and Kerala.This is one of the two main railway terminals in the city along with Chennai Central (Madras Central), which serves the north and west bound trains from the city. However, some trains to the north-east and eastern parts of the country also start from/pass through here, though the number is much fewer than the ones from Chennai Central. The Chennai Beach—Tambaram suburban railway line also passes through the station. The building of the railway station with decorative domes is one of the prominent landmarks of Chennai. This station is known in Tamil as Ezhumbur. Over 75% of the trains starting from Chennai Egmore station pass through Tiruchirapalli at different times. The Chennai Egmore station has a platform which allows vehicles to be driven up almost to the side of the train—to allow for easy loading/unloading of baggage and passengers. The elegant building is built in the Gothic style of architecture with imposing domes and corridors. It is one of the prominent landmarks of the city of Chennai. The recently opened northern entrance to this railway station is on the arterial Poonamalee High road in Chennai city.

History

The station was apparently constructed from 1906, and was officially opened on June 11, 1908. It was built by T. Samynada Pillai at a cost of 1.7 million. It became the major meter-gauge terminal for Chennai after the formation of Southern Railway in 1951. Henry Irwin, who did much of latter day Indo-Saracenic in Madras, and E.C. Bird, an architect, worked on the design of the Egmore building, which was sympathetically added to in the 1930s and 1980s. In the 1990s it was converted into a major broad gauge terminal, a role in which it became operational in 1998.

Egmore Station circa 1908

Egmore Station in 1913

Trains

Morning view of Egmore from the east showing a blue engine and two trains

Trains originating from Chennai Egmore

• Chennai Egmore - Tirunelveli-Nellai Express - Superfast - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Madurai-Vaigai express- Superfast - Day train
• Chennai Egmore - Madurai-Pandian Express- Superfast - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Kanyakumari-Kanyakumari Express - Superfast - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Tuticorin-Pearl City Express-Superfast - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Nagercoil- Nagercoil Superfast Express - Weekly/Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Tiruchirappalli-Pallavan Express- Superfast - Day train
• Chennai Egmore - Tiruchirappalli/ Kumbakonam - Rockfort Express - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Sengottai- Pothigai Express - Superfast - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Thiruvananthapuram-Ananthapuri Express - Night train
• Chennai Egmore - Dibrugarh Weekly Express Day/Night train - via Chennai Beach
• Chennai Egmore - Guwahati Weekly Express Day/Night train - via Chennai Beach
• Chennai Egmore - Gaya Superfast Weekly Express - Day/Night train - via Chennai Beach
• Chennai Egmore - Mangalore-Mangalore Express - Day/Night train via Vriddhachalam, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Shoranur
• Chennai Egmore – Kacheguda Express - Day/Night train - via Chennai Beach, Renigunta, Gooty, Dhone
• Chennai Egmore – Jodhpur Weekly Express - Day/Night train - via Chennai Beach
• Chennai Egmore – Pondicherry Express/Fast Passenger - Day train
• Chennai Egmore – Pondicherry Express - Day train
• Chennai Egmore – Dadar Superfast Express - Day/Night train
• Chennai Egmore – Salem/Mettur Dam - Salem/Mettur Dam Link Express via Villupuram, Attur, Salem - Night/Link train
• Chennai Egmore – Kakinada Circar Express - Night train via Chennai Beach, Vijayawada, Via Circars district
• Chennai Egmore – Guruvayur-Koodal Express-Day/Night Train-Via Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Ernakulam
• Chennai Egmore – Tiruchirappalli Cholan Express - Day train via Cuddalore,Mayiladudurai
• Chennai Egmore – Madurai Superfast Express - Bi-weekly/Night train via Mayiladudurai, Tiruchirappalli, Dindigul
• Chennai Egmore – Rameswaram Express - Night train via Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Ramanathapuram
• Chennai Egmore – Rameswaram Sethu Express - Night train via Vriddhachalam, Tiruchirappalli, Manamadurai
• Chennai Egmore – Karaikal Kamban Express Night train via Mayiladudurai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagore
• Chennai Egmore – Tiruchendur Chendur Express - Night train - Chidambaram, Mayiladudurai, Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli
• Chennai Egmore – Mannargudi Mannai Express - Night train - Chidambaram, Mayiladudurai, Thanjavur, Nidamangalam

Trains passing through Chennai Egmore

• Tiruchirappalli–Howrah Howrah Express
• Kanyakumari–Howrah Cape Howrah Express
• Madurai–Hazrat Nizamuddin Tamil Nadu Sampark Kranti Express
• Kanyakumari–Hazrat Nizamuddin Thirukkural Express
• Pondicherry–Bhubaneswar Express
• Pondicherry–New Delhi Superfast Express - Weekly
• Rameswaram–Bhubaneswar Express via, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur,Mayiladudurai, Chidambaram
• Rameswaram–Varanasi Express via, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur,Mayiladudurai, Chidambaram, Cuddalore

# Services scheduled to be commenced soon

Layout

Chennai Egmore station lies between two flyovers separated by a distance of about 925 m. The 300-ft by 70-ft building, bigger than London's Charing Cross Station, was raised on 2.5 acres of land that belonged to Paul Andy. The station is about 750 m long and has 11 platforms. Platforms 1, 2 and 3 are on the eastern side. They are relatively short in length. They are used for short trains. Platform 4 is the main platform leading to the portico. Platforms 4, 5, 6 and 7 lie under the dome. These are used for long-distance trains. Platforms 10 and 11 are newly constructed ones that are handling borad-gauge electric multiple units (EMUs or suburban electric trains). Some platforms have escalators.

Panorama of Chennai Egmore

View towards Egmore Station from the east, May 2011.

The future

As the growth potential at Chennai Egmore station is limited due to space constraint, the railway is planning to originate or terminate some of the additional trains to be introduced in future at Tambaram Railway Station. However, the station will remain a hub of train services and there is no proposal to shift all the services to Tambaram.

See also

• Railway station layout
• Train Timings
• Egmore Train Station
• Train Arrivals at Egmore
• Satellite View of Egmore