The South Indian Railway Company operated a number of gauge lines in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

from 1874 to 1951.

History

The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company was founded in 1869. The two companies merged in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company. The new firm was registered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1890 with

Trichinopoly Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

as its headquarters. In 1891, the Pondicherry Railway Company (incorporated in 1845) merged with the South Indian Railway Company. The company moved its headquarters later to,

Chennai Central Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards. The South Indian Railway Company was nationalized in 1944. On 1 April 1951, the South Indian Railway Company, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company and the Mysore Railway Company were merged to form the Southern Railway zone of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

. File: Opening of the South Indian Railway between Tuticorin and Madura Madras Presidency Natives waiting to see the Prince an engraving, 1876.jpg, Opening of the

South Indian Railway The South Indian Railway Company operated a number of gauge lines in South India from 1874 to 1951. History The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company w ...

between

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and ...

and

Madura Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

. "Natives waiting to see the Prince in 1876" File: Railway Station South India.jpg, An up-country railway station

Rolling stock

By the end of 1877 the company owned 97 steam locomotives, 366 coaches and 1643 goods wagons. By 1936, the rolling stock had increased to 557 locomotives, 27 railcars, 1610 coaches and 9779 freight wagons.

Classification

It was labeled as a Class I railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.

Conversion to broad gauge

The railway lines were converted to

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

in the 1990s.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Indian Railway Company Transport in Madurai Transport in Chennai Rail transport in Tiruchirappalli Defunct railway companies of India Southern Railway zone Rail transport in Tamil Nadu Railway companies established in 1874 Railway companies disestablished in 1951 1874 establishments in British India 1951 disestablishments in India Indian companies established in 1874