The Metro Rail plans to have a museum that will showcase how this mass rapid system has developed and transformed the city’s landscape over the years.
This museum is likely to be located in the heritage structure Raja Sir Savalai Ramaswamy Mudaliar Choultry that is located close to the Chennai Central Metro Rail station.
Central Square
Officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said they required quite a bit of land for the construction of ‘Central Square’, opposite the Chennai Central station where various facilities for commuters are expected to come up. The heritage structure too was part of the land acquired for the ‘Central Square’.
“We want to retain the structure and hence, we plan to have the museum here. This will have a collection of photographs and other artefacts related to the Chennai Metro. We are also thinking of showcasing models of trains and tunnel boring machines,” an official said.
CMRL expects the Chennai Central Metro Rail station to have a huge inflow of passengers as it is a major junction sprawling over 70,000 sq. m.
Long wait
But it may take a few years for this museum to come up, sources said.
This underground station itself may be completed only by the end of December next year.
Delhi Metro Rail established a Metro Museum in 2010 that was inspired by the British Museum.
This museum is located in Patel Chowk station.
Apart from tunnel boring machines, trains and dioramas of stations, the museum also has various soil types collected from different sites.
The museum will have photos in addition to models of trains and tunnel boring machines
