Royapuram railway station

Royapuram railway station is a railway station at Royapuram, on the Chennai Beach–Arakkonam section of the Chennai Suburban Railway network in Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest railway station currently operational in India (the original structures of the two older stations, Bombay and Thane, are no longer operational) and the first railway station of South India. The first train of South India started operating in June 1856 from Royapuram railway station. The station also remained the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway till 1922, when the headquarters was shifted to Egmore. Since the original structures of Bombay and Thane stations no longer exist, Royapuram station remains the oldest railway station in the entire subcontinent.Owing to lack of maintenance, Royapuram railway station building was degraded to a dilapidated condition over the decades. One end of the station, which was formerly used as a military platform, became a playground with most of the area covered with overgrown scrub vegetation. The other end of the station is being used for the transport of goods trains and the platform adjacent the main building is utilised for passenger trains. In 2005, the building was refurbished at an estimated cost of 3.5 million and was re-opened to the public on 2 October 2005 by the then union minister of state for railways, Velu. It is the oldest surviving railway station structures of the Indian Railways, as well as the Indian subcontinent.