For those of you, modern Chennaiites, who could not locate this landmark of the erstwhile "Matharas Pattanam", here's your clue - substitute Gandhi Irwin Road for Redoubt Road and there you behold the historic Chennai Egmore Railway Station in all its glory.

The Egmore Railway Station, that displays a fine blend of Indo-Saracenic and Dravidian architectural elements, was built by Mr.Swaminada Pillai, based on the design of Mr.Henry Irwin. The construction of the 300 feet long and 71 feet wide structure began in 1905 and was completed in 1908.

The land where the station stands today, belonged to a gentleman with the intriguing name " Dr.Palney Andy" (could it be an anglicized version of the well known name "Palaniandi"?), who reluctantly parted with his property, which he had held with pride for over 30 years. The house, which brought back fond memories of his late wife, also spelt luck to its inmates as "not a case of illness or death occurred among the dwellers on this estate" for about 30 years. The doctor was in possession of the property.

As the prized possession exchanged hands after some persuasion, there commenced a new era in building one of the most beautiful railway stations that the city would identify with for several decades into the future. The South Indian Railway Company managers conceived and built a station building that reflected the railways mission to provide the very best in terms of architecture and its forethought in catering to growing traffic requirements.

Every brick of this ornate structure speaks volumes about the meticulous care taken to maintain quality care in construction. While stones were sourced from Tirukoilur, 200 kms from Chennai, timber of best quality, the well-seasoned Burma teak, was used.

And now, hold your breath as we reveal to you the cost of construction of this massive two-storied station building. The total cost of construction, as per agreement, worked out to a mere Rs.2, 59,543, at the rate of Rs. 14.50 per square foot of plinth area. The land rate then wasRs.5,200peracre.

The station was opened for traffic on the afternoon of June 11,1908.

Originally a meter gauge terminal, the Egmore station catered for over 9 decades to meter gauge traffic -covering the interior and southern districts of the State up to Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi. The Indo-Ceylon connection was opened on 24th February 1914 and originally the train, 'Boat Mail' itself was to be carried on ferry without transshipment of passengers at Dhanushkodi, thus providing through service to Ceylon from Chennai Egmore. However, later this plan was changed and passengers were transshipped onto steamers at Dhanushkodi.

The Egmore station has the privilege of preserving cherished memories of the visits of luminaries like Mahatma Gandhiji and Swami Vivekananda.

Initially, the station had three platforms - one for arrival on north side, one for departure on south side and one Central Platform for both arrival and departure. It was also one of the rarest stations to have a road running alongside the length of the platform to provide access to horse drawn carts and cars.

Today, this heritage landmark stands on the threshold of a new century. The stupendous growth in passenger traffic over the decades has transformed the station into a busy terminal that handles over one-lakh passengers on a single day. The station receives and dispatches 118 pairs of suburban and 25 pairs of mail/express trains everyday.

Manifold improvements have been made on infrastructural and passenger amenity fronts at this terminal. The modernization plan was carefully tailored to keep pace with the demands of perennially growing traffic while taking care to preserve its heritage and classic ambience.

Even as thousands of passengers pass through the landmark that is hailed as the "Gateway of South India", it is with immense pride and pleasure that we railway men salute this towering symbol of eternity!

Centuries to come, this graceful edifice will continue to serve the travelling public!

The Centenary celebrations of the historic Chennai Egmore railway station were held on 11.6.2008. The glittering function was presided over by Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Hon'ble Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare. Shri R. Velu, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Railways, Shri Parithi Ellamvazhuthi, Hon'ble Minister for Information & Publicity, Govt, of Tamil Nadu and Shri K.N. Nehru, Hon'ble Minister for Transport, Govt, of Tamil Nadu participated in the function. The Department of Posts & Telegraph released a Commemorative Stamp on the occasion.