The Chennai Suburban Terminal, or Moore Market Complex (station code: MASS), is a railway terminus cum commercial building complex for the
Chennai Suburban Railway
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 third ...
system, situated in
Park Town in
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 ...
, India. The name Moore Market comes from a market that used to exist at the site before being demolished to make way for the expansion of the
MGR Central station.
History
![The Moore Market](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/The_Moore_Market.jpg)
Moore Market was originally built to house the
hawker
Hawker or Hawkers may refer to:
Places
* Hawker, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Hawker, South Australia, a town
* Division of Hawker, an Electoral Division in South Australia
* Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarct ...
s in the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
area of
Madras
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 ...
. Its foundation stone was laid by Sir George Moore, president of the
Madras Corporation
The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 September ...
in 1898. The building was designed in the
Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
style by R. E. Ellis and was constructed by A. Subramania Aiyar. The market, which consisted of a series of shops around a central quadrangle was finally completed in 1900, and had sections for meat, flowers and food items, but was particularly popular for curios including antiques, art, books and pets. Over the years, it gradually took the status of a flea market where one could buy rare and second hand items for a bargain.
The
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
, needing land to expand the congested
M.G.R Chennai Central station, tried unsuccessfully to take over the market. On 30 May 1985, the market building was destroyed due to a fire whose cause remains a mystery. The structure was later razed to make way for the new
Chennai Suburban Railway
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 third ...
terminus and reservation centre. This multistoreyed building also houses the offices of various departments of the railways. The demolition of the market and
People's Park is considered to mark the beginning of heritage activism in the city.
Rehabilitation
The government later built a new commercial complex named Lily Pond Complex to rehabilitate the traders of Moore Market, further west of the original site. Built in 1986 at a cost of 66 million, the shopping complex lies mostly vacant due to poor patronage.
Majority of the traders continue to live on the streets to this day, hawking used mechanical and electronic goods.
Traffic
The station has five platforms, viz., platform numbers 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, which are technically continuous with platforms in the M.G.R Chennai Central main railway station. With the laying of two additional lines in September 2016, there are now six lines running between the station and the
Basin Bridge railway station
Basin Bridge Junction is a station on the Chennai Suburban Railway and serves the locality of Basin Bridge, the confluence on the Otteri Nullah and Buckingham Canal, in Chennai, India. The station is located at the southern end of the 'diamo ...
. The station caters to about 275 train services daily and is used by about 200,000 passengers every day.
See also
*
Chennai Central railway station
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 ...
*
Chennai Suburban Railway
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 third ...
*
Railway stations in Chennai
Chennai, the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, and the headquarters of the Southern Railway zone, is a major rail transport hub in the country. It has over 40 railway stations which are part of an extensive suburban railway ne ...
References
External links
{{Chennai topics, left
Stations of Chennai Suburban Railway
Railway stations in Chennai