Southern Railway

Southern Railway (abbreviated as SR) is one of the nineteen zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. The origin of Southern Railway can be traced back to the Madras Railway formed in 1845. Southern Railway was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway. Southern railway maintains about of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations. History The history of Southern Railway can be traced back to Madras Railway. In 1832, the proposal to construct a first railway line in India at Madras was made by the British. In 1835, the railway track was constructed between Little Mount and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837. 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. In 1908, Madras Railway merged with Southern Mahratta Railway to form the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. In 1944, all the railway companies operating in British India were taken over by the Government. Post Independence, various re-grouping proposal were studied as India had 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 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway.