Several historical buildings, located within a short distance on Poonamallee High Road, vie with each other to grab the attention of passers-by. Among them, the red brick building, which houses the Chennai Central railway station, hogs the limelight.
To the south of Chennai Central, the Ripon Building, the seat of the Chennai Corporation, stands in grandeur. To the north, a building in the Dravidian-style classic architecture showcases two locomotives. It makes its presence felt by being the administrative headquarters of the Southern Railway, the first railway zone of the Indian Railways. When the foundation was laid on February 8, 1915, by Governor of Madras Lord Pentland, the building of Indo-Saracenic architecture had the distinction of being the first to be constructed with reinforced concrete and Porbandar stones which were used as stock bricks.
Three storeys and 18 departments
B. Guganesan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, says the three-storey building houses 18 departments. A special cover was released to commemorate the centenary celebrations on January 27 last year during ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
The architecture and masonry work are preserved through periodic maintenance. LED bulbs have been installed at the entrance foyer. The façade is lit up on important occasions such as Independence Day and Republic Day. A Heritage Photo Gallery displays rail memorabilia and the photographs of the Indian Railways’ glorious past. It has an exclusive section on Mahatma Gandhi’s rail journeys. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday at the working hours of the office. When the construction began, it took more than seven months to lay the foundation structure alone: it used 500 tonnes of steel bars embedded in 10,000 tonnes of granite concrete. The whole building cost ₹30.76 lakh, a fortune then.
Transported by sea and rail
Built of stock brick with Porbandar stones, the central towers rise 125 feet above the roadway. H.H. Wadia and Bros, pioneers in quarrying Porbandar stones, were instrumental in bringing the stones from Gujarat. The stones were transported for eight years by sea to Kerala; from there, they were brought to Madras (now Chennai) by rail. Master mason Pitambar Hira and skilled masons from Porbandar had camped in the city during the entire construction period from 1913 to 1922.
The building was meant for the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. It became the headquarters of Southern Railway on April 14, 1951, which was formed with the merger of Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, South Indian Railway and Mysore State Railway. Inaugurated on December 11, 1922 by Lady Willingdon, wife of Madras Governor Willingdon, the building was designed by N. Grayson and constructed by T. Samynada Pillai, a Bangalore-based building contractor.
