3 days ago
Egmore railway station redevelopment work gathers pace
The Egmore railway station is set for a major transformation in outlook as well as passenger amenities on various fronts, as the redevelopment project is gaining pace and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The Dr. MGR Chennai Central station is the numero uno terminal in the city.
The 114-year-old Egmore railway terminal is the gateway for hundreds of trains operated to the south and down south parts of the State and remains as the important link towards the Gudur route in Andhra Pradesh. The station handles more than 560 train services including suburban train services daily. The heritage-tagged railway terminal is undergoing redevelopment at a cost of ₹734.91 crore by Hyderabad-based DEC Infrastructure and Project India with the project management service awarded to Tata Consulting Engineers.
M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations officer of Southern Railway, said the redevelopment project would put Egmore railway station in the international range of standards for passenger amenities and operation of trains with the focus being to remove the cluttered and congested passenger movements by creating dedicated separate arrival and departure of passengers similar to airports. As part of the access facilities for the passengers a total of 32 escalators and 47 lifts are proposed to be installed at various points of the mega terminal to be spread over 1.35 lakh square metres.
The redevelopment project has been designed in such a way to merge the modern design while retaining the facade of the heritage building housed on Gandhi Irwin Salai. As part of this two new station buildings would come up to have ease of access from the two arterial roads including Gandhi Irwin Salai and Poonamallee High Road with arrival and departure concourses, multi level car parking, foot over bridge, connectivity to all platforms, food plazas, modern public conveniences, and new electrical substation. In this redevelopment work which has been divided into 13 sub projects four sub works have been commenced and the remaining works to be started by next month.
As part of energy conservation the station would have rooftop solar power with an installed capacity of 2.95 mega watt per hour.
S. Arun, a regular suburban commuter, wanted the redevelopment project, which was initiated nearly two years ago in 2022, to be completed fast as the project was progressing slowly.
M. Ganesan, a resident of Kodambakkam, complained about the escalator in the suburban section located on north side of the railway station not operating regularly causing severe inconveniences to the commuters.
