Royapuram railway station

The Royapuram railway station is a train station at Royapuram. It is on the Chennai Beach–Arakkonam section of the Chennai Suburban Railway network in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is one of the oldest railway station currently functioning in India (the original structures of the two older stations, Bombay and Thane, are no longer operational). It is also the first railway station of South India.
The first train of South India started operating in June 1856 from Royapuram railway station. The station also remained the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway till 1922, when the headquarters was shifted to Egmore. Since the original structures of Bombay and Thane stations no longer exist, Royapuram station remains the oldest railway station in the entire subcontinent.
The Royapuram railway station ranks second in India in terms of space availability with 246,000 sq m, next to the Howrah station in Kolkata.