Chennai Central (Tamil: சென்னை சென்ட்ரல்), erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai (Madras). It is the home of the Southern Railway and the most important rail hub in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Trains from here connect the city to New Delhi and prominent state capitals of India like Bhopal, Lucknow, Jaipur, Mumbai, Patna, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, and so forth. Chennai Central is also the main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. The building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect Henry Irwin.
Chennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railway zone of the...
more... Indian Railways.
The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length is about 950 m. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short trains like the Rajadhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Expresses and the Gudur Passenger.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until early 90's. The Brindavan Exp. used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Exp. (popularly known as Blue Mountain) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting Air-Braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi Express. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Expresses has a vivid green / cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The building to the west of the railway station is the Ripon building, which houses the Chennai Corporation. To the east of the station lies the Southern Railway Headquarters
Source--wikipedia