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Southern Railway zone

Southern Railway (SR) is one of the eighteen 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 the 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 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations.

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 1951 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 headquarters in Chennai

Southern Railway zone covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and a small portion of Andhra Pradesh.[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, Shatabdi 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

A Erode WAP-7 locomotive of Southern Railway
A X class locomotive of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway

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]

A typical LHB coach of Indian Railways

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]

Chennai-Mysore Vande Bharat Express
Chennai Central, the busiest station of Southern railway

Defunct railway lines include Kundala Valley Railways,[26][27] Kochin Tramways,[28] Madras Tramways,[29] Tiruchendur Light Railway,[30] Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri famine light railways,[31][32] Kodaikanal Light Railway.[33][34]

Trains

Southern Railways operates 41 sets of express trains and 97 sets of superfast trains. The superfast trains include: Vande Bharat Express (8), 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 map

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.[35][36]

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge 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.[37][38] It is the only rack railway in India and operates on its own fleet of steam locomotives between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam.[39] In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Mountain Railways of India.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Southern Railway vital statistics" (PDF). Southern Railway. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  2. ^ Understanding Indian Railway Heritage (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Chennai: The track record". New Indian Express. 16 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  4. ^ "On Forgotten Road". The Times of India. 31 March 2013. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. 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 (Report). Indian Railways. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "Southern Railways, about us". Southern Railway. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Railways to show green signal to a train in Andaman and Nicobar". Indian Express. 6 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Southern Railways". Indiarailinfo. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Southern Railway punctuality and fiscal performance hit". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Southern Railway's financial and operational performance dips". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Southern Railway stations" (PDF) (pdf). Indian Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Coonoor loco shed opened for tourists". The Hindu. 29 September 2019. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Sheds and Workshops – Southern Railway". IRFCA. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Three ISO certificates for MEMU maintenance shed". The Hindu. 3 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  17. ^ "Memu rakes yet to reach Kerala". Deccan Chronicle. 18 May 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Ticket to the Past". The Hindu. 30 August 2018. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  19. ^ "Railway board plans to ease out 100 year old printing press". Times of India. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. 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 from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  21. ^ Ayyappan, V. (4 January 2021). "Leakage Found in ICF Coaches". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. 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 from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  23. ^ Southern Railway Route Map (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  24. ^ "Electrification of Shoranur-Nilambur rail line completed". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Rail electrification: inspection begins". The Hindu. 14 December 2006. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  26. ^ "Remains of Kundala Valley Railway, Munnar". IRFCA. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  27. ^ Correspondent, A. (22 June 2019). "Monorail may return to Munnar". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Cochin State Forest Tramway". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  29. ^ "Madras Tramways – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  30. ^ "Kulasekharapatnam Tissainvillai Light Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  31. ^ "Morappur-Dharmapuri-Hosur Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  32. ^ "Tirupattur-Krishnagiri Railway – FIBIwiki". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  33. ^ "South Indian Railway 1909". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  34. ^ "[IRFCA] Mysteries of a Defunct Ropeway". FIBIS. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  35. ^ Transport in Chennai (PDF) (Report). Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  36. ^ Project Brief of Chennai Metro Rail (PDF) (Report). Chennai Metro. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  37. ^ "Nilgiri Mountain railway". Indianrailway.gov.in. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  38. ^ a b "Mountain Railways of India". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 3 May 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
  39. ^ "he Nilgiri Mountain Railway as old as the hills". The Hindu. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

External links

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