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

Moore Market was originally built to house the hawkers 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 States and union territories of India, Indian state of T ...

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 tota ...

, 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

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. The station caters to about 275 train services daily and is used by about 200,000 passengers every day.

References

External links

{{Chennai topics, left Stations of Chennai Suburban Railway Railway stations in Chennai

History

Rehabilitation

Traffic

See also

References

External links