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Egmore Railway Station

எழும்பூர்
(adapted from an article in today's Deccan Chronicle)

Egmore Station came into being in 1908 as just an unimportant, wayside station. The station subsequently witnessed addition of more services. Southern Railways was formed in 1951 and then on the station grew in importance.

During late fifties and through the 60s, one could witness cars and taxis going on to the platforms of Egmore Station, stop 3 or 4 feet away from the compartment - for the passengers to get into or alight from the train and get into the car !!

Major renovation works were done in 1930s and then 1980s. First electrified line was in 1931. It was upto Tambaram only but later extended to Villupuram.

One important train from Egmore was the Boat Mail to Dhanushkodi. The service was a link from Madras to Colombo those days. Passengers alighted at Dhanushkodi, took a ferry service to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. This popular train was discontinued when Dhanushkodi was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964.

The gauge conversion from Villupuram to Tiruchi via the Main line was completed in stages. Now trains regularly run in the converted track via Cuddalore, Chidambaram ...

I and three others hope to travel this gauge-converted route shortly - more on this later.

Rajappa
6:55 PM
11-04-2011

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