Setting up Chennai’s fourth railway terminal at Perambur station not feasible, say activists

The plan to construct Chennai’s fourth railway terminal at the Perambur railway station is yet to be finalised, said sources in the Southern Railway.

The plan to construct Chennai’s fourth railway terminal at the Perambur railway station is yet to be finalised, said sources in the Southern Railway.

This comes in the wake of a circular addressed to the Chennai Divisional Railway Manager by the Southern Railway Chief Engineer (Construction Wing), which was circulated on social media platforms, stating that the city’s fourth railway terminal was proposed to be constructed at a cost of ₹428 crore, at the location of General Stores Depot near the Perambur loco railway station. The circular also wanted the Chennai Division to find an alternative location for the depot.

A senior official of the Southern Railway, however, said though a land survey has been completed and an estimate prepared for the construction of the terminal, its location is yet to be finalised. The official said the proposal was still in the nascent stage as the Railway Board had only directed to explore the option near Perambur, considering the railway lands between Perambur and Villivakkam railway stations were readily available and could be utilised without any land acquisition for operating 26-coach trains.

Land acquisition is a prolonged process and could delay such important projects, the official added.

Even as railway officials are deliberating on the location of the fourth terminal, social and transport activists point out that setting up the terminal in Perambur could cause disarray in the operation of suburban train services towards Avadi, Tiruvallur, and Arakkonam. Also, with two terminals of Dr. MGR Chennai Central and Egmore already located closeby, the fourth terminal could be constructed in the same manner as the third terminal being built at Tambaram, which is on the southern periphery of Chennai, they said.

Transport activist T. Sadagopan, pointing out that suburban train services on the west section was already affected due to clashes in the operation of express trains with suburban trains during peak hours, the construction of a fourth terminal at Perambur would only cause more operational difficulties to suburban services. He suggested that the fourth terminal could be constructed at Avadi railway station as the Annanur depot, which is already operational, could be converted into a railway yard. A multi-modal transport facility, akin to that in Tambaram station, is already available there.

Moreover, the Perambur High Road, which is the main access road to the Perambur railway station, is narrow near the railway station, and the project would add to the traffic woes of motorists and passengers.