Southern Railway (India)
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Southern Railway is the first Railway Zone to be created in independent India. It was created on April 14, 1951 by merging three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore state railway. The South Indian Railway was originally created in the British colonial times as Great Southern India Railway Co. founded in Britain in 1853 and registered in 1859. Its original headquarters was in Tiruchirappalli and was registered as a company in London only in 1890. [1]
Southern Railway has its headquarters in Chennai and has the following divisions: Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapalli. It covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and small portions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. More than 500 million passengers travel on the network every year. This section of Indian Railway is different from the rest of India as its revenue is derived from passengers and not freight. [2]
For better administrative control and improved development and operational reasons, Railway Board approved creation of new Railway Division with Salem as headquarters in 2005 to improve railway infrastructure, facilities (lacking since several decades) and introduce better train services thus satisfying the long felt needs to railway passengers in and around surrounding areas, thus providing better conveniences to the railway traveller. It is the youngest of all the six Southern Railway divisions, and carved out of Palakkad and Tiruchirapalli divisions. In Salem division, Coimbatore, Erode, Karur, Salem and Tiruppur are considered to be the five precious gems (most Profit/Revenue generating Railway stations).
A large section of this railway was in Meter Gauge, compared to most of Indian Railway being in Broad Gauge. The main improvements currently in this railway are to convert all tracks to Broad Gauge, improvement of stations, platform covering, better catering stalls, and an automated signal system to avoid accidents. The single Chennai Central station handles a million passengers every day. Five stations, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Palghat and Thiruvanathapuram are scheduled for upgradation in 2007.
