Southern Railway zone

Southern Railway (abbreviated SR) is one of the 19 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.