Chennai Central – Just a Railway station?

The Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, has got many different meanings on the formal and informal levels. The Central is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai. In Wikipedia it reads, “It is the home of the Southern Railway and the most important rail hub in South India.” Apart from this, the Central has got many different other meanings, it is a meeting point, it is a working place for approx 2000 people, it is a place, where people gets connected with other parts of the county and with other countries too, it is also a shopping place, e.g. a place where people can buy food, papers etc., it is a waiting place and over all it is the symbol of the city of Chennai as well.
Henry Lefebvre understands space in three ways – as perceived, conceived and lived. He calls the first spatial practices, which means the physical or material part of space. The spatial practice of the Central is the building in itself, tracks and platforms, shops and so on. The second one refers the abstract plans and mental processes or the ideas, which he calls representations of space. Here, according to the second way, the focus lays on the meaning of the Central. Generally the Central has the meaning of a railway station. Apart from this it is the symbolic landmark of the city of Chennai and for people in South India as well. On an individual level it can have the meaning of the working place too; therefore the Central gets an existential meaning. The third way of understanding space, according to Lefebvre is the dialectical relation of the first two. This dialectic is actually a trailectic, because it exists in relation with the other two. He calls this third term spaces of representations. However, on a practical level the third term is the interaction between the building and the conceived. The physical or material side gets a meaning and the meaning becomes through the building a connection into the real world, into the space and hence, spaces becomes representative.
Chennai’s Central has in Lefebvre’s outlook – like any space as well – those three ways of understanding space. Here, the particular space is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai. Those three ways of understanding the Central have been my glasses in order to write this paper.
However, for the purpose of writing this essay I went to the Central several times, there I observed the atmosphere, I was talking to people, I bought food and I also went to other shops, but most recently I spoke with the station manager several times. He gave me oral and written information about the Central, which helped me in writing this paper.

Historical development

The Madras Central was built in the Gothic Revival style in 1873; the original station was designed by George Hardinge. Originally the station was intended of just four platforms; today there are 15 platforms and 15 tracks. The Central was redesigned with the addition of the clock tower and other changes by Robert Fellowes Chisholm and completed in 1900. Parktown and later the Royapuram habour station were the first terminuses until the beach line was extended further south in 1907. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central. Chennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. The Southern Railway was formed on 14th April 1951 by merging the Railway systems administered by the erstwhile Madras and Southern Mahratta, South Indian and Mysore State Railways. Subsequently in 1966, with the formation of South Central Railway a portion of Southern Railway was transferred to South Central Railway. Again in 2003 South Western Railway was formed transferring two divisions from Southern Railway. Now, Southern Railway serves the entire states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry plus a small part of Andhra Pradesh.

Chennai’s population has increased fast and extremely over the last decades. This development also effected the Central. Today and in future the main issues of the Central is how to cope with the increasing passengers, the Station Manager said during the interviews.

Transportation

How many passengers are transported every day?
Over all the Central transports around 320.000 passengers daily. The earnings are 10.000.000 RS a day. Around 180.000 people are transported into long distances by Mail or Express services. This trains offer the passenger different possibilities to travel, different comforts related to different prices. The possibilities varies from First Class - AC, Second Class – AC, Third Class – AC, First Class without AC, Second Sleeper Class and to Unreserved passengers. This variation, according to Lefebvre’s concept and ideas of social space, also show the society here in India. People how can afford will travel for example First Class – Ac and hence, will get more comfort and also more space for themselves. An example of this hierarchy in space shows a symbol, a sign, where exclusive passengers of the “Upper Class” can check their reservations.

With the suburban servers the Central transports around 140.000 passengers into local areas with local trains. Those trains don’t serve any class system of transportation, apart from separate parts, couches for ladies.
Every year, at least for the next five years, the amount of passengers - according to the Station Manager - will increase about 20%. This is a serious issue for the Central, which already affected the transportation, for example in terms of running late. In order to solve this problem the Central can employ more trains at all and also more coaches per train, which is - spoken in numbers - maximum 24 coaches per train. Another possibility is increasing the services, which runs daily. One of the main problems is, that the tracks and platforms didn’t increase in the same way the amount of passengers did. However, there are already planned a few measures like an additional terminal and additional tracks, a metro-service, etc.

People

My personal experience of entering and being in the Central was each time differently. Many people are waiting in the halls; many of them are sleeping, some eating, some buying things, etc. There are people on their own, whole families, business people, and security personal and so on. The situation and the atmosphere changed fast with getting dark, with the sunset. It felt more tens and not so safe anymore. Outside I could see how people arrive, departure, and wait, maybe of a customer, as an auto driver or I could see how some homeless were sleeping or begging. The Central has got for different people different meanings, for all, it is a place, it is the Central, a Railway station, but the meaning is each time differently. Some will see the Central as a place where they get transported, others as a working place, etc.
The Central seems to be a living organism, which breathes and is alive, some parts of the organism are wealthy, and some are poor and this entire organism seems to changes and move all the time.

Station Manager

In order to understand the Central better I asked the Station Manager different questions. I asked him what he likes most on working at the Central and how many people are working there at all. According to the Manager around 2000 people work in different departments, for example in the department of security, traffic, commercial, and health, electrical, engineering and in the department of medical support. Further, he described the main issues he has to face every day; he told me that he connects working with the idea of service. Practically helping passengers, for example to find lost things, getting aid, if needed or providing accommodation and comfort are the tasks he is responsible for. Another issue I asked him was the security and safety situation at the Central, because I recognized this is a place with much security personal. However, at the Central employs two security companies, the Railway protection force and the Tamil government police as well. They work 24 hours a day and their task is to make sure that everything is secure and safe. The security services are responsible for the station itself and in the trains as well. Furthermore, at the entry are magnet detectors for the purpose to control people, who coming in and going out. In order to enter the station one must have a valid ticket, the Manager told me. Therefore homeless people can’t enter and are forced to leave the Central (both inside and outside the area). Last but not least at the Central is a Camera-watching-system, which observes the entire station and claims security.

Security personal

Another day I was speaking with two security ladies and was asking them a few questions as well. According to them they are working in 24 hours shifts and their task is to prevent harm and provide security. In order to do this they have to solve many problems. Issues might be catching thieves, murder, kidnapper, rapist etc. Generally more problems turn up during the night and also the issues are worst. I asked them for their nicest and their worst experience as well. Worse experiences are catching kidnapper, murder, rapist, especially catching people who abuse children and to deal with other really bad issues. On the positive side they really like working there, because of the variety of people, for example the tourists there, coming in contact with different nationalities and hence, different languages, this all makes it really interesting, they pointed out.

Dead man – homeless people

Train stations have got a magnetic ability for crime and poor people. Probably all over the world homeless, drug addicted, criminal and poor people are attracted by stations. One of the reasons might be that they assume the possibility of making money or just feeling a bit more secure there. However, once as I left the Central I watched a situation which made me thinking about all this. I walked out of the Central, just on the way to an auto, as I saw a man lying on a stretcher, two policemen beside and another man, who tapped harsh on the breast of the lying one. I thought this is quite harsh, but then I recognized that all over his body were flies. Just as I finished this thought one laid a cloth above the face of the man, and hence, obviously the dead man. Apart from family members I haven’t seen any dead people before; therefore this was irritating to me. I was questioning and wondering why this man was there, was he poor? - I assumed yes, where is his family and so on.

Conclusion

Chennai Central – Just a Railway station? No, there are three way of understanding space, of understanding the Central, according to Lefebvre. The Central has got the practical dimension of space. It is a railway station and therefore, the Central connects people, transports people from one place to another. The Central also gives meaning; it is conceived in the sense, that people are giving meaning through their particular thoughts and feelings towards the Central. This is maybe the symbol or symbolic landmark of the city of Chennai. However, this ways of understanding the Central have a connection to each other and therefore creates the third dimension of space, which is the lived one. In sum, the Chennai Central is not just a railway station, it is much more, for some people a working place, for some the place, where they meet their loved once again, for some the place, which connects them with other parts of the county or even connects them with another countries and for some, it is the place where they die.