South Indian Railway Company

The South Indian Railway Company operated a number of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge lines^[1] in South India from 1874 to 1951.

South Indian Railway Company

South Indian Railway map in 1910
Overview
Headquarters	York Street, Westminster, London, UKGBI (R. O.) Trichinopoly, Madras Presidency, British Raj (Operations)
Reporting mark	SIR
Locale	Madras Presidency
Dates of operation	1 July 1874 (1874-07-01)–13 April 1951 (1951-04-13) (76 years, 9 months and 13 days)
Predecessor	Great Southern Railway of India Carnatic Railway
Successor	Southern Railway zone
Technical
Previous gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)

History

The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company was founded in 1869.^[2] The two companies merged in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company.^[3] The new firm was registered in London in 1890 with Trichinopoly as its headquarters. In 1891, the Pondicherry Railway Company (incorporated in 1845^[2]) merged with the South Indian Railway Company. The company moved its headquarters later to, Chennai Central. 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.

• 
  Opening of the South Indian Railway between Tuticorin and Madura by Madras Presidency. "Natives waiting to see the Prince in 1876"
• 
  An up-country railway station

Rolling stock

W class narrow gauge locomotive

By the end of 1877 the company owned 97 steam locomotives, 366 coaches and 1643 goods wagons.^[4] By 1936, the rolling stock had increased to 557 locomotives, 27 railcars, 1610 coaches and 9779 freight wagons.^[5]

Classification

It was labeled as a Class I railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.^[6][7]

Conversion to broad gauge

The railway lines were converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge in the 1990s^{[citation needed]}.

See also

• 1928 South Indian Railway Strike
• Southern Railway zone