64-484: Chennai Egmore (formerly: Madras Egmore , also known as Chennai Elumbur )(station code: MS), is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station in Chennai railway division of Southern Railway zone . Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore , it is one of the four intercity railway terminals in the city; the other three are Chennai Central railway station , Tambaram railway station and Chennai Beach railway station . The station
128-559: A bill presented in 1846 was unsuccessful. In 1857, they proposed to Parliament that they would build a railway terminus in the West End , hoping to use Victoria , before reaching an agreement with the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway to build a line west from London Bridge . Later in the year, the SER secretary Samuel Smiles looked for potential routes and decided the best location would be on
192-507: A building to be proud of, "whose covered platform area is greater than that of Charing Cross Station in London." The signal cabin at the station was opened in 1935, when the suburban line between Madras Beach and Tambaram was electrified. The signalling of the station is controlled by a Siemens all-electric power frame of 1935. A new suburban station building was opened in November 2004 when
256-500: A building to suit the traffic need. After several alterations in the plan, the construction work began in September 1905 and was completed in 1908. It was constructed by contractor T. Samynada Pillai of thirunageswaram near kumbakonnam at a cost of ₹ 17 lakh (US$ 20,000). The station was officially opened on 11 June 1908. There was initially a demand that the station be named after Robert Clive , which was, however, strongly opposed by
320-571: A concrete bed—were laid along the entire length of track of platform 2 at the terminus. Though several changes were made to the station, the letters "SIR" emblazoned on its bas relief crest still remains, though the middle letter 'I' was painted out a few years ago to read "SR" (meaning Southern Railway). List of railway stations in India This is a list of railway stations in India . The railway operations are managed by Indian Railways (IR) in
384-641: A deep-level tube line on the west side of the station in the late 19th century, which opened on 10 March 1906 with a new station in Trafalgar Square and an interchange with the District Railway's station. The link between Charing Cross and Euston was finally built by the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern line ) as a deep-level tube line in 1906 which opened its station under
448-433: A distance of about 925 m (3,035 ft), measuring 300 ft × 70 ft (91 m × 21 m) on 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) of land The station is about 750 m (2,460 ft) 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
512-531: A double deck road / rail bridge, and a new Charing Cross station built to the east of the old one. The SR approved the idea as it would allow them to expand the station. Two years later, a proposal appeared again to build just a road bridge and relocate the station south of the Thames, as it was significantly cheaper. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin urged the SR to accept the proposal, as "a matter of national importance", but
576-562: A fort, called the Egmore Redoubt, similar to Leith Castle, which is a part of Santhome . It is said that the station came up in a place that once used to store ammunition for the British. The station building was constructed on a 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) land, for which 1.8 acres (0.73 ha) was acquired from S. Pulney Andy , an English physician, who, in his letter to the 'Collector of Madras,' initially refused to sell his property owing to
640-451: A heavily built-up area, which was exacerbated in 1862 when the company chose to upgrade the two running lines to three, and doubled the capacity over the bridge to four tracks. The bridge replaced the original suspension bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel which opened in 1845. Work began in June 1860 and took around three years. The old suspension bridge remained open until the new bridge
704-699: A modern office block, now known as Embankment Place. Charing Cross station is located at the western end of the Strand in the City of Westminster , east of Trafalgar Square and northeast of Whitehall . It is close to the Embankment Pier , providing river services along the River Thames . The railway leads directly out onto Hungerford Bridge and across the river towards the London Borough of Lambeth . The station code
SECTION 10
#1732924480292768-561: A period of 3 years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 2.05 crore (US$ 250,000). The station has a train care centre named Egmore Railway Yard(GSN Yard – Gopal Samy Nagar), where the trains arriving at the station are prepared for departure. However, the centre is soiled and grimy due to lack of maintenance. It is one of the 73 stations in Tamil Nadu to be named for upgradation under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme of Indian Railways. There are 14-bedded air-conditioned dormitories and 16 retiring rooms on
832-418: A ridge and furrow roof. The curve of the original roof design can still be seen on the interior brickwork. The station was partially re-opened on 19 March 1906. The old booking offices were demolished and the various rooms on the ground floor were rearranged. A new 58-by-22-foot (17.7 m × 6.7 m) booking hall was constructed, along with a separate ladies' waiting-room. The additional remedial work
896-595: A shortage of funding caused by a banking crisis . The scheme was revived with the London Central Railway , that proposed to link Charing Cross to Euston and St Pancras , but was again abandoned in 1874. The first underground railway to serve Charing Cross was the District Railway (now the District line ), which opened its station at Charing Cross on 30 May 1870. In 1884, bills were submitted to parliament by
960-538: Is CHX. It is one of twenty stations in Great Britain that are managed by Network Rail and is the 15th busiest station in the country . A number of key bus routes run in the area, and are designated "Trafalgar Square for Charing Cross". The station was planned as the London terminus of the South Eastern Railway (SER). They had wanted to extend the line from Bricklayers Arms towards Hungerford Bridge, but
1024-511: Is built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture with imposing domes and corridors. It has the 5th longest platform in the country and the 6th longest in the world. The station is one of the prominent landmarks of the city of Chennai. The recently opened northern entrance to this railway station is on the arterial Poonamallee High Road in Chennai city. History says that the station was actually
1088-430: Is served by two London Underground stations, both within walking distance of the mainline terminal and sited at each end: Charing Cross (to the north), and Embankment (to the south). Both stations have an Oyster Out of Station Interchange , which allows passengers to change lines while still being charged as a single journey. Numerous proposals for underground connections for the mainline station were considered in
1152-536: The Big Four grouping. The line was electrified in 1926 to cater for suburban services. The lighter load of multiple-unit electric trains was found to put far less strain on the bridge, and so traffic was redesigned so that local services ran on the older section, with mainline services using the 1887 extension. In 1926, the Royal Commission on Cross River Traffic proposed that Hungerford Bridge should be replaced by
1216-587: The Charing Cross and Euston Railway and the London Central Subway for sub-surface underground lines between Charing Cross and Euston and Charing Cross and King's Cross respectively and by the King's Cross, Charing Cross and Waterloo Subway for a deep-level railway linking the three terminals in its name. None of the three plans proceeded. The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (now the Bakerloo line ) constructed
1280-586: The River Thames. On 25 October 1913, two trains collided in thick fog at Waterloo junction, killing three people. On 31 July 1925, there was a minor side-on collision near platform 2. In May 1927, a trunk was deposited in Charing Cross station's cloakroom that contained the five severed body parts of Minnie Alice Bonati. She was later identified as having been murdered in Rochester Row by John Robinson, who
1344-538: The SECR went to Parliament asking for an act to strengthen the bridge in 1916, Burns suggested the station was in the wrong place and should be rebuilt on the south side of the Thames. The following year, an act was passed to reconstruct the bridge, with strict conditions about its appearance and a ban on enlarging the station building itself. Ownership of Charing Cross passed to the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923 following
SECTION 20
#17329244802921408-505: The Southern Railway, behind Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central railway station . The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts—platforms 1 to 6 fall under zone I and platforms 7 to 11 fall under zone II. In December 2012, Southern Railway awarded contract to a new agency with a 43-member team taking charge of upkeep of zone II. Contracts for cleaning Chennai Egmore station has been awarded for
1472-607: The Tambaram–Beach broad-gauge section became fully operational. With increasing passenger traffic, the entrance on the Gandhi-Irwin Road eventually became insufficient. In 2004, construction of a second entry to the station on the Poonamallee High Road side began at a cost of ₹ 11.53 crore (US$ 1.4 million). In June 2006, the second entrance was opened. Chennai Egmore station lies between two flyovers separated by
1536-403: The bill failed in 1930 after the select committee did not accept building a new Charing Cross on the south bank. The proposal was formally rejected in 1936 by the London & Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee, which revived the double-deck bridge option. The plans were all abandoned following the outbreak of World War II . Charing Cross sustained substantial damage in air-raids during
1600-404: The city are measured. During the 19th century the station became the main London terminus for continental traffic via boat trains , and served several prestigious international services. It was badly damaged by a roof collapse in 1905 and extensively rebuilt, subsequently becoming an important meeting point for military and government traffic during World War I . By this time, Charing Cross station
1664-532: The clock and store the data for 30 days, with the footage transmitted and stored using an Internet Protocol system. The station serves not only to the south but also to the north ( Hyderabad ) and east ( Howrah ). Additionally, the Chennai–Mumbai Dadar Central Express (west) originates from the Egmore station. As the growth potential at Chennai Egmore station is limited due to space constraint,
1728-507: The country. Hyderabad Uttar Pradesh Charing Cross railway station Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross ) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster . It is the terminus of the Southeastern Main Lines to Dover via Ashford and Hastings via Tunbridge Wells . All trains are operated by Southeastern , which provides
1792-505: The decades after its opening. Almost as soon as work was complete on the station, the SER wanted to build a connection from Charing Cross to the railway terminals further north. Soon after Charing Cross station opened, the North Western and Charing Cross Railway Act was passed, a joint act between the SER and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) that proposed a shallow sub-surface line to Euston . The scheme collapsed in 1866 due to
1856-460: The design of the 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. Earlier, cars used to come inside the platform itself, which was found only in this station. In its report, the SIR commented on the construction of a new building for Egmore: For some time it had been felt that
1920-418: The design of the roof, even though the cause of the failure was attributed to a faulty weld in a tie rod. Though the SECR believed the roof had a lifespan of at least forty more years, they decided not to repair it but to replace it entirely. A travelling timber gantry had to be constructed to take the remainder of the station roof down safely. The replacement was a utilitarian post and girder structure supporting
1984-556: The difficulty with which he had purchased and developed the property. However, the South Indian Railway (SIR) Company, which was then operating train services to the south, persuaded him to sell the land, for which Andy claimed ₹ 1 lakh (US$ 1,200) as compensation. After acquiring the land, the SIR invited Henry Irwin, CIE (chief engineer), who did much of latter day Indo-Saracenic in Madras, and E. C. Bird, company architect, to design
Chennai Egmore railway station - Misplaced Pages Continue
2048-475: The dome. These are used for long-distance trains. Platforms 10 and 11 are newly constructed ones that are handling broad-gauge electric multiple units (EMUs or suburban electric trains). Some platforms have escalators. The platform is the 5th longest in the country and the 6th longest in the world. Chennai Egmore station is not a junction. This can be understood also from its name. It has one line towards Chennai Beach railway station (via Park Town and Fort), while
2112-522: The first floor of the station. Three new waiting halls were added to the prepaid AC hall and second call hall. In 2019–2020, platforms 5, 7, 8, and 9 were extended to accommodate locomotives. The station has two entrance, viz. the main southern entrance on the Gandhi–Irwin Road and the secondary northern entrance on the Poonamallee High Road. Both the entrances has MTC bus routes passing through them and have pre-paid taxi and autorickshaw counters. While
2176-477: The forecourt of the mainline station on 22 June 1907. Originally, Embankment tube station was called Charing Cross, while the present Charing Cross tube station was the separate Trafalgar Square (Bakerloo line) and Strand (Northern line) stations. The two northern stations were combined under the current name when connected by the development of the Jubilee line . New below ground passageways were constructed linking
2240-500: The line was used as wine cellars . The roof above the tracks is a single 164-foot (50 m) wide great arch, rising to 102 feet (31 m) at its highest point. The station was built by Lucas Brothers . Charing Cross station opened on 11 January 1864. The Charing Cross Railway was absorbed into the SER on 1 September, shortly after the station opened. The Charing Cross Hotel , designed by Edward Middleton Barry , and built by Lucas Brothers , opened on 15 May 1865 and gave
2304-516: The main terminus of all SER services instead of London Bridge, including boat trains to Continental Europe. Along with Victoria, it became the main departure point from London to abroad, and was called "the Gates of the World" by Percy Fitzgerald . Thomas Cook established a travel office on the corner of the station forecourt. The SER route became the shortest from London to Dover after a diversion at Sevenoaks
2368-414: The majority of commuter and regional services to south-east London and Kent . It is connected to Charing Cross Underground station and is near to Embankment Underground station and Embankment Pier . The station was originally opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1864. It takes its name from its proximity to the road junction Charing Cross , the notional "centre of London" from which distances from
2432-483: The night of 10/11 May, leading to the station's closure again. On 18 June 1944, a bomb took out a span of the bridge. Normal operation did not resume until 4 December. Following the war, the hotel received extensive repairs in 1951. This consisted of a whole new set of top floors, while the mansard roof of the upper floors of the hotel was rebuilt in a plain neo-Georgian white brick. The booking hall and ticket offices were modernised in 1974. Electronic ticket printing
2496-612: The original retaining side walls of the station which once supported it remain in near complete condition. The works were completed in November 1990. Most of the Embankment Place complex is office space, with a selection of restaurants on the ground floor. The station has six platforms. All trains call at Waterloo East and London Bridge . All services at London Charing Cross are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 , 376 , 377 , 465 , 466 and 707 EMUs . The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: The station
2560-402: The other is towards Tambaram railway station (via Mambalam ). As of 2013, the station handles about 35 main line trains and 118 suburban trains, and about 150,000 people daily. Its average daily earning is ₹ 17.06 lakh (US$ 20,000). The total revenue generated by the station during 2012–2013 was ₹ 287.3 crore (US$ 34 million), making it the second highest revenue-generating station of
2624-452: The platforms so that an interchange could be made. The Northern line's Strand station was temporarily closed from 1974 to enable new escalators to be installed and it reopened along with the opening of the Jubilee line on 1 May 1979. The Jubilee line platforms were closed on 20 November 1999, following the extension of the Jubilee line where it was diverted to Westminster and onwards south of
Chennai Egmore railway station - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-539: The public as they wanted to name it Egmore. When the station was opened there was no electricity connection and a generator was used. The station became the major metre-gauge terminal for Chennai after the formation of Southern Railway in 1951 and served as the gateway to the southern Tamil Nadu , chiefly due to its acting as a connecting point for passengers from the south to the Chennai Central for boarding north-, west- and east-bound trains. Irwin and Bird worked on
2752-406: 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. In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons—ballastless tracks or tracks on
2816-436: The roof emitted a loud noise, which was when someone noticed that one of the main tie rods had broken and was hanging down. Part of the roof began to sag and the western wall began to crack. It was another 12 minutes before the collapse occurred, which enabled trains and platforms to be evacuated and incoming trains to be held back. The roof, girders and debris fell across four passenger trains, blocking all tracks. The part of
2880-530: The sick and wounded towards Charing Cross and hence to hospitals around the country. Over the course of the war, 283 journeys departed from the station. On 26 December 1918, shortly after the war, the US President Woodrow Wilson met King George V at Charing Cross. Commercial cross-Channel services resumed to Ostend on 18 January 1919, Boulogne on 3 February and Calais on 8 January 1920, but by this time, Victoria had been expanded to accommodate
2944-429: The site of the former Hungerford Market adjacent to The Strand , and that the line should be directly connected to Waterloo , allowing a link with London and South Western Railway services. The Charing Cross Railway Company was formed in 1859 in order to build the extension, and the SER paid £300,000 (now £38,000,000) in capital to help build this. The line towards Charing Cross was expensive to build as it traversed
3008-603: The southern entrance has a bus shelter, the northern entrance has a two-storey parking lot and a bus terminus. The station is also connected to the Chennai Metro Rail Line 2, serving as an underground station. In April 2012, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands') in
3072-528: The station an ornate frontage in the French Renaissance style. It had 250 bedrooms spread over seven floors and extended along Villiers Street as well as the front of the Strand. The public rooms had balconies overlooking the main station concourse. It quickly became popular and was profitable, leading to a 90-bedroom annexe on the other side of Villiers Street opening in 1878. A bridge over the street connected
3136-455: The strict wartime immigration and customs checks, and Charing Cross ceased to be important as an international terminal. A 70-foot (21 m) length of the original roof structure, comprising the two end bays at the south of the station, and part of the western wall collapsed at 3:57 p.m. on 5 December 1905. A gang of men were employed at the time in repairing, glazing and painting the section of roof which fell. Shortly after 3:45 p.m,
3200-530: The terminus. This involved dividing the terminus into three sectors and deploying 18 police personnel for security. The main station has CCTV cameras installed. The suburban platforms are covered by the ₹ 40 crore (US$ 4.8 million) Integrated Security Surveillance System (ISSS) project implemented in 2012. The project, implemented jointly by the Southern Railways and HCL Infosystems , includes installation of CCTV cameras that would record visuals around
3264-402: The traffic to be handled in 'Madras' had outgrown the accommodation provided for it at the Egmore station and that something better was required. The old-fashioned, cramped station had done duty for many years as terminus for the South Indian Railway. Hence the move to construct a new station building for Madras. SIR also claimed during the inauguration of the new building that it had given Madras
SECTION 50
#17329244802923328-526: The two parts of the hotel together. In 1887, Hungerford Bridge was widened to 48 feet 9 inches (14.86 m) in order to provide three more tracks into the station. On 1 January 1899, the SER merged with the London, Chatham & Dover Railway to form the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR), which took over operations at Charing Cross. Contemporary with the Charing Cross Hotel
3392-423: The war. On 8 October 1940, a train was hit during a daylight raid on Whitehall. On the evening of 16/17 April 1941, the hotel was damaged by fire and explosives, four trains caught fire and there were several fires on the bridge. A 28 long hundredweight (3,100 lb; 1,400 kg) parachute mine landed next to platform 4. The station was closed to repair the damage and defuse the mine. A further raid took place on
3456-676: The western wall that fell had crashed through the wall and roof of the neighbouring Royal Avenue Theatre (now the Playhouse Theatre ) in Northumberland Avenue , which was being reconstructed at the time. Six people died (two workmen on the roof, a W.H. Smith bookstall vendor and three workmen on the Royal Avenue Theatre site). At the Board Of Trade Inquiry into the accident, expert witnesses expressed doubts about
3520-579: Was a replica of the Eleanor Cross in Red Mansfield stone, also designed by Edward Middleton Barry , that was erected in the station forecourt. It was based on the original Whitehall Cross built in 1291, that had been demolished in 1647 by order of Parliament. Distances in London are officially measured from the original site of the cross, now the statue of Charles I facing Whitehall , and not from this replica. The cross deteriorated over time until it
3584-514: Was built in 1868, and by 1913 it was possible to travel from Charing Cross to Paris in six and a half hours. Owing to its international connections, Charing Cross played an important part in World War I as the main departure point for both the military and government towards the Western Front . All civilian and public boat services were suspended on 3 August 1914. Return journeys from Dover carried
3648-599: Was built in 1906–1908 as the terminus of the South Indian Railway Company . The building built in Indo Saracenic style is one of the prominent landmarks of Chennai. The main entrance to the station is situated on Gandhi-Irwin Road and the rear entrance on Poonamallee High Road . The station was apparently constructed from 8679 on land purchased from Pulney Andy , a noted scientist and medical doctor. The building
3712-429: Was completed in 1913. By the late-19th century, Charing Cross was seen as being inconveniently placed. In 1889, the newly formed London County Council 's John Burns proposed that the station and its approach should be demolished, with a road bridge put in place. The idea gained support within the council as it would allow the Strand to be widened and put a road crossing over the Thames that could bypass Whitehall. When
3776-532: Was convicted of the Charing Cross Trunk Murder , for which he was later executed. On 19 September 1928, a train formed of two 3SUB electric multiple units and a trailer set ran into the buffers. Sixty-eight people were injured, 45 of whom were treated at the Charing Cross Hospital . The Maggie Hambling statue A Conversation with Oscar Wilde is directly opposite the station. It
3840-620: Was erected in 1998 and designed for people to sit on the monument and have a virtual conversation with Oscar Wilde . Charing Cross is referenced in numerous Sherlock Holmes stories. In The Adventure of the Abbey Grange , Holmes and Watson catch a train from the station towards the fictional Abbey Grange in Kent, while in The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez , they travel to Chatham from
3904-484: Was first trialled at the station in 1983. In 1986, redevelopment began over most of the area above the platforms. The new buildings were named Embankment Place, a postmodern office and shopping complex designed by Terry Farrell and Partners . This development led to the replacement of almost the whole of the 1906 roof. The rear two spans of this structure – immediately adjacent to the existing concourse roof – were retained as part of an enlarged waiting area. In addition
SECTION 60
#17329244802923968-598: Was in such a vulnerable condition that it was placed on English Heritage 's "Heritage At Risk Register" in 2008. A ten-month project to repair and restore the cross was completed in August 2010. This work included recreating and attaching almost 100 missing ornamental features including heraldic shields, an angel, pinnacles, crockets and finials; securing weak or fractured masonry with stainless steel pins and rods and re-attaching decorative items which had previously been removed after becoming loose. After opening, Charing Cross became
4032-453: Was seen as out of date by some politicians and proposals were made to replace Hungerford Bridge with a road bridge or road/rail combination, with the station moving to the south bank of the River Thames in the case of a road-only replacement. The station was bombed several times during World War II , and was rebuilt afterwards, re-opening in 1951. In the late 1980s, the station complex was redesigned by Terry Farrell and rebuilt to accommodate
4096-454: Was suitable to carry foot traffic. A trial run over the new line took place on 1 December 1863. The station was designed by Sir John Hawkshaw , and featured a single span wrought iron roof, 510 feet (155 m) long and 164 feet (50 m) wide, arching over the six platforms on its relatively cramped site. It was built on a brick arched viaduct, the level of the rails above the ground varying up to 30 feet (9 m). The space underneath
#291708