Anna Nagar railway station 3.09

Anna Nagar railway station is one of the two, now defunct, railway stations of the extended southern arm of the Chennai Central–Arakkonam section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network, the other being Padi railway station. It served the neighbourhood of Anna Nagar, a suburb of Chennai. The station is located on Thirumangalam road, a road that connects Anna Nagar West with Villivakkam, near New Avadi Road, away from the commercial centre of the neighbourhood.HistoryIn 2003, a 3.09 km-long railway line, initially used by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur for moving newly built coaches from shell to furnishing division of the factory, was strengthened at a cost of 72.9 million for operating passenger services. Two new stations, namely, Padi and Anna Nagar, were built and 13 existing bridges were renovated and the work was completed in five months. The railway station and the EMU services were inaugurated by the then Union Minister of State for Railways, A. K. Moorthy. Between 2003 and 2007, five suburban trains were being run from Anna Nagar to Chennai Beach via Villivakkam. In 2007, the service was discontinued due to construction of a rotary at the Padi junction replacing the level-crossing. Though the rotary was completed in 2009, services were not restored. However, in 2011, the railways planned to resume services in this section as a feeder service with six-car EMUs.PatronageThe service, however, had a low patronage. The average daily counter collection at the station is about 450, with just about 50 passengers. The monthly revenue never exceeded 15,000 so far.