WAITING TO SERVE – THE NEW AND IMPROVED MADURAI JUNCTION
Southern Railway has taken up Station Redevelopment as one of the key areas for enhancing the passenger experience. Nine stations in Southern Railway are likely to undergo transformational changes as part of Station redevelopment. Of these 9 stations, Madurai junction is also one of the stations where the redevelopment work is progressing at a steady pace.
Works executed so far
- Preliminary works such as Mapping and Topographical survey, soil investigation, Traffic survey, tree inventory, joint inventory of movable and immovable assets have been completed and validation in progress
- Shifting of materials and facilities completed to accommodate the redevelopment works
- Construction of offices for contractors in progress
- Project management Services have commenced work.
- Right of way, which is a legal right to enter and carry out the work, has been provided to the EPC contractor for carrying out the work
- A series of meetings are held with the stakeholders of the project
Madurai Junction
Madurai Junction is an NSG-2 category railhead serving the ‘Temple Town’ Madurai known for the famed Goddess Meenakshi Amman Temple. The station handles 96 trains per day and registers an average daily passenger footfall of 51,296.The station attracts scores of tourists from all over India and abroad.
Award of contract
Southern Railway had awarded the work of Redevelopment of Madurai Junction Railway Station on 22nd Sep, 2022 as EPC contract to M/s P &C Projects Private Limited, Chennai at a cost of Rs. 347.47 Crores, setting a time frame of 36 months for completion ofthe project. M/s TUV India Private Limited, Mumbai have been tasked with the work of Project Management services (PMS) at a cost of Rs.10.88 Crore. The PMS consultant is responsible for monitoring the project.
Roadmap to Redevelopment
Two terminals are proposed to be constructed, one each at the Eastern and Western side. Three Multi-level Parking structures will be built, two buildings on the eastern side and one on the west. A subway connecting Railway Plot and Periyar Bus Stand, a dedicated FOB for Parcel movement, and two Skywalks connecting the Parking facilities on the eastern side, are also planned.
East Terminal Building
The proposed East Terminal building is a G+2 structure with an area of 22,576 sq.m (excluding concourse area). The entrance façade of the station building would depict the vernacular architectural character of the region. The ground floor is planned to provide for clutter free movement with dedicated arrival and departure area equipped with world-class passenger facilities like toilets, cloak room, baby care, feeding room, help desk, commercial outlets and kiosk. The first floor will accommodate the passenger waiting lounges for the train clubbed with facilities like restaurants, retail commerce and toilets. The second floor of the East terminal building is proposed for commercial activity.
Air Concourse
The main feature of the first floor of East Terminal is the air concourse which would facilitate hassle-free movement of passengers to their respective platforms. For easy accessibility from concourse to respective platforms, two pairs of escalators, two lifts and four staircases to each platform will be provided. This air concourse is an integral part of the station and interlinks the two terminal buildings approximately 110 m apart thus ensuring seamless movement of passengers. The concourses will accommodate the passenger amenities, waiting area from where passengers would have better visibility of platforms.
West Terminal
The existing secondary West terminal buildingwill be renovated to include the facilities of a world class station. The two-storey building will be developed to include the departure / Arrival forecourt, various railway offices,ticketing counters and other passenger amenities.
Multi-level Parking facilities
In order to cater the existing and future demand for vehicular parking, 3 parking structures are envisaged in the redevelopment project, which are:
- East Side Multilevel CarParking Building-G+2 building9,430 sq.m
- East Side Multilevel Two-Wheeler Parking Building-G+3 building-2,822 sq.m
- West Side Multilevel Car Parking Building- G+1 building- 2,580 sq.m
Besides, in order to facilitate safe transfer of passengers to and from the Periyar Bus Terminal, a subway connecting the basement of the bus terminal and the railway premises is envisaged.The main objective is to segregate departure and arrival corridors and to facilitate smooth traffic flow through inter-modal connectivity. Approach roads are planned for better movement of passenger vehicles.
Madurai station redevelopment work, once completed will place it on the map of world class stations.