Vandalur railway station
Vandalur Railway station is 2 stops from the Tambaram Railway station and 8 stops from the Chengalpattu junction. It has Perungalathur and Urapakkam Railway stations to its north and south respectively. The station is 1.5 kilometers away from the Vandalur zoo and the Crescent college.
The nearest bus stop is at a walkable distance from the entrance/exit of the station. But, there are no zebra crossing or traffic signals to reach the bus stop on the opposite side.
Parking.
Bike parking is available on the west side of the station. If you are coming from the Oragadam-Walajabad road, take the service road without riding on the Vandalur bridge and turn right at the end of the service road to reach the parking and the railway station.
If you are coming from the sides of Perungalathur or Vandalur zoo, climb the bridge and turn west on top of the bridge. After getting down on the bridge, take a U-turn to the service road on the left to reach the parking lot at the railway station.
Entry and exit points.
The railway station has 2 entry/exit points. One is at the station's west side, where you can enter after parking your vehicles. The ticket counter is also on this side of the station.
The other entrance is the main entrance gate, which is directly connected to the National Highways and is located right before the face of the Vandalur bridge, which connects to the Oragadam road. Few bikes are usually parked inside the compound, even though this place is not a parking space and remains unguarded.
We can directly walk into the 3rd platform, from this main entrance. The trains that go towards Chengalpattu Junction pass through this platform. To reach the 2nd and the 1st platforms, we can make use of the foot-over bridge. These two platforms are built together.
Ticket counter.
To reach the ticket counter from the main entrance, go across the foot-over bridge to the other side of the station.
There are 2 counters to provide the tickets. Timing charts for the suburban trains that go towards Chengalpattu and Chennai Beach are displayed on the wall of the ticket counter.
Train routes.
To catch the train that goes towards Chennai Beach, reach the 1st or 2nd platform (both are connected) through the walking bridge. The train may halt at any of these two platforms.
No worries if you are on the wrong platform when the train arrives since both platforms are built as a single block. We can easily catch the train on either of the platforms.
The trains that go towards Chengalpattu always halt at the 3rd platform. Very rarely they may go through the 1st platform, but it will be announced on the loudspeakers in advance.
Amenities.
The Pay and Use restroom is at the end of the first platform. It is gender separated for Men and Women without a dedicated block for the other genders. Nevertheless, the restroom remains shut in most of the instances I’ve witnessed.
There aren’t any shops available inside the railway station. Kindly plan accordingly, if you want to buy some snacks for the travel duration. The one or two water taps in the station aren’t functional either.
The main entrance of the station is wheelchair accessible. There are no steps between this entrance and the 3rd platform, which are connected by a ramp. Though, there are no wheelchair-accessible options to reach other platforms or the ticket counter.
There are plenty of sitting benches that are fixed to the floor for the comfort of the passengers waiting for the train.They are available at all the platforms of the station. Roofs are provided above these benches for most parts of the station, while some of them get shade from the trees in the third platform.
Wall paintings.
The compound walls behind the sitting benches of the first platform are painted beautifully with the theme of the animals present at the nearby Vandalur zoo. There are also some plants and trees adjacent to the walls inside the main gate, which adds to the beauty of this station.
