Anna Nagar railway station is one of the two, now defunct, railway stations of the extended southern arm of the

Chennai Central Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

–

Arakkonam Arakkonam () is a railway town and suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with a population of 78,395 per the census 2011. It is in the newly created Ranipet district, about from Ranipet ...

section of the

Chennai Suburban Railway Network The Chennai Suburban Railway is a commuter rail system in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, operated by the Southern Railways branch of Indian Railways. It is the second largest suburban rail network in terms of route length and the th ...

, the other being

Padi railway station Padi railway station is one of the two, now defunct, railway stations of the extended southern arm of the Chennai Central–Arakkonam section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network, the other one being Anna Nagar railway station. It served the ...

. It served the neighbourhood of

Anna Nagar Anna Nagar (formerly known as Naduvakkarai), is a neighbourhood in the metropolitan city of Chennai, India. Named after former chief minister of Tamil Nadu C. N. Annadurai, it is located in the north-western part of Chennai and forms a part of ...

, a suburb of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. The station is located on Thirumangalam road, a road that connects Anna Nagar West with

Villivakkam Villivakkam is a neighbourhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is served by the Villivakkam railway station on the Chennai Central–Arakkonam suburban section. Villivakkam is the largest state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in terms of ...

, near New Avadi Road, away from the commercial centre of the neighbourhood. The station is being maintained by the

Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is a manufacturer of ICF coach, rail coaches located in Perambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1955 and is owned and operated by the Indian Railways. It is located in Perambur, in the suburbs of ...

(ICF), the premier production unit of the Indian railways.

History

In 2003, a 3.09 km-long railway line, initially used by the

(ICF) at

Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo and ''ur (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British rule, this place was wid ...

for moving newly built coaches from shell to furnishing division of the factory, was strengthened at a cost of 72.9 million for operating passenger services. Two new stations, namely, Padi and Anna Nagar, were built and 13 existing bridges were renovated and the work was completed in five months. The railway station and the EMU services were inaugurated by the then Union Minister of State for Railways, A. K. Moorthy. Between 2003 and 2007, five suburban trains were being run from Anna Nagar to

Chennai Beach Chennai Beach (formerly known as Madras Beach) (station code: MSB) is a railway terminus of the Southern Railway network in Parry's Corner, Chennai, India. Built on reclaimed land, the station serves the suburban services of the Chennai Subu ...

via . In 2007, the service was discontinued due to construction of a rotary at the Padi junction replacing the level-crossing. Though the rotary was completed in 2009, services were not restored. However, in 2011, the railways planned to resume services in this section as a feeder service with six-car EMUs. The tracks and land on which the station is built were originally owned by the ICF. When the Southern Railway intended to operate trains to Padi and Anna Nagar stations, the ICF handed over the land to the Southern Railway. When the train services were withdrawn in 2007, the ICF reclaimed the land from the zonal railway. The tracks and the stations are now used by the ICF for moving spare parts to the manufacturing unit and back. The lines will be used to test semi-high speed coaches running up to 160 km per hour.

Patronage

The service, however, had a low patronage. The average daily counter collection at the station was about 450, with just about 50 passengers. The monthly revenue never exceeded 15,000. However, unlike the rest of the Chennai Suburban Railway network, there is only one line in this section. In addition, the traffic congestion resulting due to closure of a gate near the Padi railway station limits the operation to five pairs of EMU services between

and Anna Nagar. In a response to a public interest litigation filed in June 2013, the Railways announced that "the decision to discontinue operations at Anna Nagar station was made due to financial considerations. The per-day expense for operating train services between Villivakkam and Anna Nagar costs about 30,000, while the income was only a few hundreds."

References

{{Chennai topics Stations of Chennai Suburban Railway Defunct railway stations in India Railway stations in Chennai Railway stations opened in 2003 Memorials to C. N. Annadurai Railway stations closed in 2007

History

Patronage

See also

References