Royapuram unlikely to be converted into Chennai’s third terminal

Chennai:

The announcement by Union Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to
convert Royapuram station into third terminal station is unlikely to
materialize as Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority on Thursday
said it has not revised its stance.

A CMDA official said that they have already conveyed their
decision not to delist Royapuram  station, built in 1856, from the
heritage list.

The Railways plans to raze the station to build a passenger terminal
besides two rail lines to connect stations in south Tamil Nadu with
the rest of the country.

“The stand not to delist it from the Grade-1 heritage structure has
not been revised,” the CMDA official said.

Interestingly, railway sources have also stated that Royapuram is not
feasible to be converted into a terminus as a total of 1200 metres of
space is required. “In this case, after 500 metres there are two
flyovers besides the refusal by CMDA to tear down the heritage
structure,” the railway source said.

“It is highly unlikely the proposal could even materialize, he said.

Sources in Southern railway reveal that immediately after the refusal
by the heritage committee to tear down the station as well as platform
number one, officials have been looking at alternate sites to convert
it into terminus.

It is believed Southern Railway is looking at the feasibility of
converting Tondiarpet as the third terminus. “it is at the initial
stage and discussions are going on,” the source added