Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Royapuram (RPM) and Basin Bridge (for Madras) until the late 1970s.

To meet the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad-gauge lines from Chennai to Kanyakumari and Palakkad with the completion of gauge conversion, the steam shed site was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed.

[3] But in 2006, the Southern Railway planned to lease a portion of the terminus to the corporate sector for developing cement and fertilizer depots.

[4] The foundation stone for the electric loco shed, which will be the Southern Railway's third one after Arakkonam and Erode, was laid on 25 January 2007.

A service building for maintenance of various equipment of locomotives was planned, which will have testing and overhauling facilities.