Southern Railway zone

Southern Railway (abbreviated SR) is one of the 18 zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. It maintains about 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations.

The origin of the Southern Railway can be traced back to the mid-19th century. In 1835, the first railway track in India was constructed in Madras and became operational in 1837. The Madras Railway was formally established later in 1845. The Southern Railway was created on 14 April 1950 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway and became the first railway zone of the Indian Railways.

History

The history of the Southern Railway can be traced back to the Madras Railway. In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made by the British.^[2] In 1835, the railway track was constructed between Little Mount and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837.^[3] The Madras Railway was established later in 1845 and the construction on the first main line between Madras and Arcot started in 1853, which became operational in 1856.^[4] In 1908, Madras Railway merged with Southern Mahratta Railway to form the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway.^[5][6]

In 1944, all the railway companies operating in British India were taken over by the Government.^[7] Post Independence, various re-grouping proposals were studied as there were 42 different railway systems. In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for Indian Railways into six zonal systems and the Southern Railway zone was created on 14 April 1950 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway.^[8]

Organisation

Southern Railway zone covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and a small portion of Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka.^[8] Andaman and Nicobar will form part of the zone once the proposed new railway line between Port Blair and Diglipur becomes operational.^[9]

The Southern Railway is headed by the General Manager, assisted by an Additional General Manager. Southern Railway is headquartered in Chennai and is divided into six divisions namely Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem and Thiruvananthapuram.^[8]

Operations and infrastructure

The zone operates both passenger and freight trains. Various classes of passenger trains including Vande Bharat Express, Amrit Bharat Express, Shatabdi Express, Antyodaya Express, Double Decker Express and Tejas Express are operated by Southern Railways.^[10] Freight operations include container traffic from the ports, coal bound to the thermal power stations, oil and petroleum products from refineries, cement and food grains. Most of the lines inside ports, thermal stations, manufacturing industries and owned by the respective companies and the zone provides a link connecting to its network along with the wagons and locomotives. The zone has a larger proportion of passenger traffic compared to freight.^[11][12] There are about 727 stations on the Southern railway network.^[13]

Locomotives

Southern Railway utilizes various classes of electric and diesel locomotives to haul the trains. Steam locomotives are used by the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.^[14] The zone has three electric locomotive sheds and four diesel locomotive sheds.^[15]

Maintenance and workshops

Southern Railway maintains wagon and locomotive workshops at Perambur, Chennai and Ponmalai, Tiruchirapalli, engineering workshop at Arakkonam, carriage maintenance workshops at Basin Bridge and Egmore and a signal and telecommunication workshop at Podanur, Coimbatore. It has three EMU car sheds in Chennai at Avadi, Tambaram, Velachery and MEMU sheds at Kollam^[16] and Palakkad.^[17] Southern Railway maintains trip sheds at Basin Bridge, Egmore, Tondiarpet and Jolarpettai.^[15] Southern Railway operated ticket printing presses at Royapuram, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli, but these have been phased out due to digitization.^[18][19]

Railway coaches and wagons

Southern Railways uses both ICF coaches and LHB coaches for its trains. ICF coaches manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai have been used predominantly for over sixty years since the formation of the zone in 1951.^[20] The ICF coaches are slowly being replaced by newer LHB rakes which provide better passenger comfort and safety.^[21][22]

Railway lines

Following are the list of railway lines operational.^[23][24]

Defunct railway lines include Kundala Valley Railways,^[30][31] Kochin Tramways,^[32] Madras Tramways,^[33] Tiruchendur Light Railway,^[34] Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri famine light railways,^[35][36] Kodaikanal Light Railway.^{[37] [38]}

Trains

Southern Railways operates 41 sets of express trains and 97 sets of superfast trains. The superfast trains include: Vande Bharat Express (10), Shatabdi Express (2), Garib Rath Express (2), Duronto Express (1), Jan Shatabdi Express (4), Sampark Kranti Express (1), Anuvrat Express (1), Humsafar Express (1), Tejas Express (1), Uday Express (1), Antyodaya Express (2) and Double Decker Express (1). Apart from this, it operates various Passenger trains, DEMU, EMU services, Chennai Suburban and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.^[10]

Stations

There are about 727 stations on the Southern railway network, including 486 non suburban stations, 74 suburban stations and 166 halt stations. The major and highest revenue earning stations are Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction, Tambaram, Madurai Junction, Thiruvananthapuram Central and Ernakulam Junction.^[13]

Chennai Suburban

Chennai Suburban Railway is the commuter rail system in the city of Chennai, operated by the Southern Railways. The system operates four lines with a track length of 1,174.21 km (729.62 mi), of which 509.71 km (316.72 mi) are dedicated dual tracks for EMUs.^[39][40] earlier Trams are also operated in Chennai by Madras Electric Tramways.

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a railway in Nilgiris district connecting Mettupalayam and Udagamandalam. It was built during the British Raj in 1908 and is currently operated by the Southern Railways.^[41][42] It is the only rack railway in India and operates on its own fleet of steam locomotives between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam.^[43] In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Mountain Railways of India.^[42]

See also

• Zones and divisions of Indian Railways
• All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA)

References

1. ^ "Southern Railway vital statistics". Southern Railway. Archived 20 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
2. ^ Understanding Indian Railway Heritage. Indian Railways. p. 6. Archived 26 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
3. ^ "Chennai: The track record". New Indian Express. 16 April 2018. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
4. ^ "On Forgotten Road". The Times of India. 31 March 2013. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
5. ^ "Third oldest railway station in country set to turn 156". Indian Railways. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
6. ^ The Cambridge Economic History of India. Vol. 2. Orient Longmans Private Limited. 2005. p. 755. ISBN 978-8-1250-2731-7.
7. ^ Evolution of Indian Railways-Historical Background. Indian Railways. Archived 1 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
8. ^ "Southern Railways, about us". Southern Railway. Archived 16 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
9. ^ "Railways to show green signal to a train in Andaman and Nicobar". Indian Express. 6 February 2017. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
10. ^ "Southern Railways". Indiarailinfo. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
11. ^ "Southern Railway punctuality and fiscal performance hit". The Times of India. Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
12. ^ "Southern Railway's financial and operational performance dips". The Times of India. Archived 28 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
13. ^ "Southern Railway stations" (pdf). Indian Railways. Archived 23 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
14. ^ "Coonoor loco shed opened for tourists". The Hindu. 29 September 2019. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
15. ^ "Sheds and Workshops – Southern Railway". IRFCA. Archived 4 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
16. ^ "Three ISO certificates for MEMU maintenance shed". The Hindu. 3 September 2019. Archived 27 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
17. ^ "Memu rakes yet to reach Kerala". Deccan Chronicle. 18 May 2018. Archived 27 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
18. ^ "Ticket to the Past". The Hindu. 30 August 2018. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
19. ^ "Railway board plans to ease out 100 year old printing press". Times of India. 5 November 2017. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
20. ^ "Is It Time for Indian Railways to Tear Up Ageing Tracks and Old Machinery?". Zee Media Corporation. 14 January 2022. Archived 6 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
21. ^ Ayyappan, V. (4 January 2021). "Leakage Found in ICF Coaches". The Times of India. Archived 6 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
22. ^ Debroy, Bibek (9 February 2018). "A 70-Year-Old Vs a 30-Year-Old: LHB Coaches Perform Better than ICF Ones". Business Standard. Archived 29 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
23. ^ Southern Railway Route Map. Indian Railways. Archived 12 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
24. ^ "Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2020". Archived 2022-04-07 at the Wayback Machine.
25. ^ "Southern Railway increases maximum permissible speed on around 2037 route KMS in the Financial Year 2022-23". Rail Analysis India. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
26. ^ "Electrification of Shoranur-Nilambur rail line completed". The Hindu. Archived 5 April 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
27. ^ "Rail electrification: inspection begins". The Hindu. 14 December 2006. Archived 18 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
28. ^ "Southern Railway targets on speed enhancement works to increase trains speed on vital sections in the current Financial Year 2023-24". Rail Analysis India. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
29. ^ "Insights on speed enhancement achieved by Southern Railway and works in progress in Tamil Nadu". Rail Analysis India. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
30. ^ "Remains of Kundala Valley Railway, Munnar". IRFCA. Archived 11 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
31. ^ "Monorail may return to Munnar". The Hindu. 22 June 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived 8 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
32. ^ "Cochin State Forest Tramway". FIBIS. Archived 29 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
33. ^ "Madras Tramways – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived 12 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
34. ^ "Kulasekharapatnam Tissainvillai Light Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived 26 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
35. ^ "Morappur-Dharmapuri-Hosur Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived 1 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
36. ^ "Tirupattur-Krishnagiri Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived 29 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
37. ^ "South Indian Railway 1909". FIBIS. Archived 11 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
38. ^ "[IRFCA] Mysteries of a Defunct Ropeway". FIBIS. Archived 7 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
39. ^ Transport in Chennai. Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. p. 4. Archived 28 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
40. ^ Project Brief of Chennai Metro Rail. Chennai Metro. Archived 12 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
41. ^ "Nilgiri Mountain railway". Indianrailway.gov.in. Archived 6 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
42. ^ "Mountain Railways of India". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived 3 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
43. ^ "he Nilgiri Mountain Railway as old as the hills". The Hindu. 27 July 2019. Archived 30 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

External links

• Southern Railways System Map
• Southern Railway official website