Tirusulam

Tirusulam is a suburb of Chennai, India. For administrative purposes, it is a census town in Kancheepuram district. The Chennai International Airport is located opposite to Tirusulam at Meenambakkam . Chennai International Airport (IATA: MAA, ICAO: VOMM) is the primary airport serving the southern Indian metropolis of Chennai. The airport is the regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India for south India comprising the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Kerala and the union territories of Puducherry & Lakshadweep.[5]

As of 2012, the airport handled 13.5 million passengers annually and about 325 aircraft movements a day. The airport is expected to reach saturation by 2016–17, necessitating the construction of a second international airport.

There is also a railway station here (opposite the airport) with a convenient pedestrian subway that connects the station and the airport. The neighbourhood is served by Tirusulam railway station. There is a Metro Train Station under construction that will see trains connecting the Airport with Chennai and will also serve as the Tirusulam suburban Railway Station. It will be finished in 2015.

Tirusulam railway station

Tirusulam railway station is one of the railway stations of the Chennai Beach–Chengalpattu section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network. It serves the neighbourhood of Tirusulam, a suburb of Chennai where the city's airport is located. It is located at a distance of 21 km from Chennai Beach terminus and is situated on the GST Road across the airport, with an elevation of 20 m above sea level.

History

The station lies in the Chennai Beach–Tambaram section of the Chennai Suburban Railway Network, the first suburban section of the city. With the completion of track-lying work in March 1931, which began in 1928, the suburban services were started on 11 May 1931 between Beach and Tambaram, and was electrified on 15 November 1931, with the first MG EMU services running on 1.5 kV DC. The section was converted to 25 kV AC traction on 15 January 1967.

Layout

The station has two suburban platforms and another island platform for long-distance mainline trains. Since mainline trains do not halt at the station, the island platform remains unused. The platform is 280 m long and has been considered to be extended to 575 m as there are plans to halt long-distance trains at the station.