Chennai Central (officially Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, formerly Madras Central) (station code: MAS
), is an NSG–1 category
Indian railway station in
Chennai railway division of
Southern Railway zone.
It is the main
railway terminus in the city of
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is the busiest railway station in
South India and one of the most important hubs in the country. It is connected to
Moore Market Complex railway station,
Chennai Central metro station,
Chennai Park railway station, and
Chennai Park Town railway station. It is about from the
Chennai Egmore railway station. The terminus connects the city to major cities of India, including
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
, and
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
, and different parts of India.
The century-old building of the railway station, designed by architect George Harding, is one of the most prominent landmarks in Chennai.
The station is also a main hub for the
Chennai Suburban Railway system. It lies adjacent to the current
headquarters
Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...
of the
Southern Railway and the
Ripon Building. During the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
, the station served as the gateway to South India, and the station is still used as a landmark for the city and the state.
The station was renamed twice: first to reflect the
name change
Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name.
The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have looser procedures for a name chan ...
of the city from Madras to Chennai in 1998, it was renamed from ''Madras Central'' to ''Chennai Central'', and then to honour the
AIADMK founder and the former
chief minister of Tamil Nadu
The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de ...
M. G. Ramachandran, it was renamed as ''Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station'' on 5 April 2019.
About 550,000 passengers use the terminus every day, making it the busiest railway station in South India.
Along with Chennai Egmore and
Coimbatore Junction, the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central is among the most profitable stations of the
Southern Railway.
As per a report published in 2007 by the
Indian Railways
Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...
, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central and
Secunderabad Junction were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
History
Marking the initial days of the railways in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at
Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–
Vyasarpadi line,
called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at
Park Town around the slopes of
Periamet, then known as ''Narimedu'' or ''Hog's Hill'',
as a second terminus to decongest the
Royapuram harbour station, which was being used for
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called ''John Pereira's Gardens'', belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a
Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present-day
Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with
cockfighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station.
The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company.
The station's 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) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of
South Indian Railway Company during the
British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in
Trichinopoly. Egmore railway station was made its northern terminus in 1908.
It was then shifted to
Madurai
Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...
and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore railway station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped.
The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the
Madras Beach–
Tambaram section.
In 1959, additional changes were made to the station.
Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to
Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to
Tiruvallur
Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai ( Madras) in the western part of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA). It is a satellite tow ...
were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
Expansion
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile
Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms.
Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed
Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the
Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown 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 colour. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
Location

The terminus lies on the southern arm of the
diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the
Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from
Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at
Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and
Wall Tax Road between the
People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on the grounds known as the Kannappar Thidal in Periyamet, on either side of the
Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the
Park railway station and the
Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of
subways. During the building of the
Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
Layout
Architecture
Built in the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms
and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains.
It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by
Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900.
The main building, a combination of
Gothic and
Romanesque styles
has been declared as a
heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft.
It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
Some of this railway station pictures are shown below:-
File:Chennai Central side.jpg, Side view of station extension in 2008
File:Chennai Central .jpg, The main entrance in 2006
File:Chennai Central Station panorama.jpg, Panoramic view in 2008
File:Chennai Central D.jpg, Chennai Central in 2014 (Panaromic View)
File:Chennai Central (Front Entrance - 2024).jpg, Front Entrance at Daylight (2024)
File:Chennai Central (Front Entrance at Night time).jpg, MGR Chennai Central at night-time (2024)
The station has a platform area of 51,182 square metres (excluding the suburban station building) and the total building area of the main station is 14,062 square metres.
Platforms
Chennai Central is a
terminal station with
bay platform
In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. They must have a buffer stop ...
s. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres.
The entire complex has 17 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 5 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long-distance trains. 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 short-length trains like the
Chennai Rajadhani Express,
Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express,
Bengaluru Shatabdi Express,
Mysuru Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annexe building, the Moore Market Complex building, has 5 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The
Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows;
Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) 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 expresses. The
Sapthagiri Express,
Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE locomotive from
Arakkonam (AJJ) electric locomotive shed.
Chennai Central, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, the
Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches.
Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the
Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
Bridge
Bridge No.7 across the
Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the
2001 accident of
Mangalore Chennai Mail killing 57 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new
RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
Traffic
On an average, 89 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches.
About 400 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 86 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 857 suburban trains handled by the five platforms at the station's
suburban terminus.
About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day,
in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them,
generating a revenue of as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around passengers in the station at a given point.
As of 2015–16, the main station alone (excluding the suburban station) has an average passenger footfall of 95,560 per day. Passenger earnings in the same period amounted to 8947.4 million. The station managed 491 trains a day. It has been projected that the number of passengers using the main station per day in the next 40 years will be 650,000.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
Services
Chennai Central railway station is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from
Kasimedu which is sent to
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to
West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising to of consumable fish.
The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
Facilities

The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as coach position display boards.
The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three
split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number.
A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths.
The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
In September 2018, a 5,000-litre drinking water vending
reverse osmosis plant was commissioned in the station.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
Emergency medical care
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the
Madras High Court
The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...
citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
Parking
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
Maintenance
According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains.
Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country every day. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the ''Basin Bridge Train Care Centre''
for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as
Sapthagiri Express and
Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
Yards and sheds
Train care centre

A
broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips.
It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
Electric trip shed
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric locomotive trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five locomotive trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at
Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
Goods shed
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at
Salt Cotaurs.
Renovation

Chennai Central gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai Circle of
Archaeological Survey of India. The work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained. The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
In February 2019, as part of the Railway Ministry's plan to install flag masts at 75 major stations in the country, a 100-foot flag mast was installed at the front of the main building of the station at a cost of 1.5 million. Weighing around 2 tonnes, the mast is made of galvanised iron pipes. The mast is one of the tallest in the city. The polyester-and-cotton flag is 60-ft wide and weighs around 9.5 kg, and can be hoisted both manually and electronically.
Connectivity

Chennai Central is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include
West North Line,
North Line, and
West Line.
Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to
Tambaram/
Chengalpet/
Tirumalpur routes through
South Line and
South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby
Park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
suburban station or the
Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town
MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
An underground
metro station of the
Chennai Metro namely
Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central metro station serves as the hub. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (
Blue Line) (
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
–
Tiruvottiyur) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (
Green Line) (Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Metro–
St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J. Jayalalithaa CMBT Metro). The metro station, is at a depth of , is the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over .
The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and
Park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
Chennai Central is connected to the
Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the
Metropolitan Transport Corporation,
by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises.
However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round.
Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.

The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 per cent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
Environmental impact
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
Incidents
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from
Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the
Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, northwest of Chennai Central. Four passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train, which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am, started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014,
the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary
Guwahati–Bengaluru Cantt. Superfast Express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
In April 2020, all trains were cancelled till 30 September, except Chennai Central - New Delhi Rajdhani Express due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
Security
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central in May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the
National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School.
In 2009, following the train accident at the
Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus.
A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a
DSP and two inspectors.
In 2009, 39
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 12
CCTV camerasare to be installed in Chennai Central.
In April 2012, the GRP and the
Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as ''Kaakum karangal'' (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
Future
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at
Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of , along with two other stations (
Thiruvananthapuram Central and
Mangalore Central),
and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of . The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex.
However, the project is yet to begin.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and
Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of . It will be long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons—ballast-less tracks or tracks on a concrete bed—were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. on platform 3, on platform 4, and on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
Chennai Central is among the 23 stations in the country that will be privatised as part of redevelopment under the BFOT (Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer) scheme. More passengers amenities will be provided on a 1.545-acre plot of land adjacent to the Moore Market Suburban complex allotted for commercial exploitation. Additional space for operational purposes, including the station master's room, passenger information centre, movement control room, Railway Protection Force control room containing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, Government Railway Police station, and Travelling Ticket Examiner chart room, covering a total of 2,873.76 square metres will be built.
The developer will maintain the station premises for 15 years, while the lease period of the additional land and aerial space to be developed will be 45 years.
In 2017, the state government proposed to build a commercial square called the
Central Square in the around the station.
Renaming
On 6 March 2019,
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
announced at the
National Democratic Alliance political rally, which was held in
Kancheepuram in the presence of the
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal that the iconic station will be renamed after the
AIADMK founder and the former
chief minister of Tamil Nadu
The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de ...
M. G. Ramachandran.
On 5 April 2019, the station was officially renamed "''Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station.''"
The name is currently India's longest and the world's second-longest name for a railway station after
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
.
In popular culture

Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
* ''
Cochin Express'' (1967) (
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
)
* ''
No.20 Madras Mail'' (1990) (
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
)
* ''
Kadhal Kottai'' (1996) (
Tamil)
* ''
Mudhalvan'' (1999) (
Tamil)
* ''
Kushi'' (2000) (
Tamil)
* ''
Roja Kootam'' (2002) (
Tamil)
* ''
Madrasapattinam'' (2010) (
Tamil)
* ''
Siruthai'' (2011) (
Tamil)
* ''
Thodari'' (2016) (
Tamil)
* ''
Bigil'' (2019) (
Tamil)
The station has been poetised by
Vijay Nambisan
Vijay Nambisan (1963 – August 10, 2017) was an Indian poet, writer, critic and journalist who primarily wrote in English. He won the first All India Poetry Prize in 1990. He died following health complications on the 10th of August, 2017.
Li ...
in his 1988 award-winning poem '
Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the
Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a
postal stamp.
See also
*
Railway stations in Chennai
*
Transport in Chennai
*
Architecture of Chennai
*
Heritage structures in Chennai
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, India, Transport, Engineering
Railway stations in India opened in 1873
Railway stations in Chennai
Chennai railway division
1873 establishments in British India
British colonial architecture in India
Heritage sites in Chennai
Railway centrals in India