Southern Railway will temporarily revise suburban train operations on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpattu corridor for 45 days as part of the ongoing redevelopment work at Chennai Egmore station. The changes will take place from 00:00 hrs on February 20 to 23:59 hrs on April 5, 2026, with a revised suburban timetable and platform arrangements at Egmore, as per the Southern Railway.
What exactly is changing at Chennai Egmore?
The railways mentioned that existing suburban services on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram, Arrakonam, and Chengalpattu sections will operate with revised train numbers and timings. The temporary EMU/MEMU schedule for the period has been released in an annexure. Importantly, the notice also states that there will be no separate Sunday schedule on the Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpattu section during these 45 days.
As per the Southern Railways, suburban trains that are usually managed at platforms 10 and 11 (suburban platforms) at Egmore will instead be handled at platforms 5 and 6 (express line platforms) during the work period. In terms of operation, EMU services from Chennai Beach towards Tambaram, Kanchipuram, Arakkonam, and Chengalpattu will be received or handled at platform 6, whereas return services from Arakkonam, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, and Tambaram towards Chennai Beach will be managed at platform 5 at Egmore.
How many services are being reduced?
Chennai Divisional Railway Manager Shailendra Singh mentioned that the reduction is intended to facilitate redevelopment on platforms 10 and 11 in the suburban section, as per The Hindu report. As per the new schedule, the number of suburban services on the corridor will come down to 160 up and down services as compared with 204 services at present.
The Hindu also reported the proposed distribution of services, out of the 82 services planned from Beach/Egmore towards Chengalpattu and Tambaram, 70 will operate from Chennai Beach, and 11 services will function from Egmore. In the opposite direction, a total of 67 services are planned from Tambaram and Chengalpattu to Chennai Beach, with 11 services stopping at Egmore.
Southern Railways’ press release also notes that because of Egmore redevelopment, the Sethu Express operations will continue to be adjusted. Train 22662 (Rameshwaram-Chennai Egmore) will short-terminate at Tambaram from February 19 to April 5, 2026 (arrival at Tambaram 06:35 hrs). Train 22661 (Chennai Egmore-Rameswaram) will originate from Tambaram from February 20 to April 6, 2026 (departure 18:25 hrs).