South Indian Railway - Lines Owned and Worked

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South Indian Railway - Lines Owned and Worked
- a sub section of the main South Indian Railway(SIR) page

South Indian Railway System 1937
South Indian Railway System 1937

History

The following summary is taken from the 1937 ‘History of Indian Railways’[1].

The ‘South Indian Railway’ was formed by the amalgamation on 1 July 1874 of the ‘Great Southern of India Railway’ and the ‘Carnatic Railway’, which on 1 Jan 1891 was purchased by the State and handed over, together with the ‘Villupuram-Guntakal State Railway’ for working as one undertaking, to a new company – the ‘South Indian Railway Company’.

The ‘Dharmavaram-Guntakal Section’ was made over from the SIR to the ‘Southern Mahratta Railway’ in 1893, which in 1908 became the ‘Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (M&SMR’ ).

On 1 Jan 1908 the ‘Jalarpet-Mangalore Section’ of the ‘Madras Railway’ including the ‘Tirupattur-Krishnagiri Railway’, with the ‘Morappur-Dharmapuri Section’ and the ‘Nilgiri Railway’ were transferred to the ‘South Indian Railway Company’ .
At the same time the ‘Katpadi-Dharmaram Section’ and the ‘Pakala-Gudur Section’ were handed over from the SIR to the M&SMR .
At the same date, 1908, the SIR were given “Running Powers “ over the ‘Madras-Bangalore Section’ of the M&SMR. [2]. This arrangement lasted until 1919 when Mysore State successfully sought the reversion of the ‘Mysore-Bangalore Railway’
Also the working of the ‘Shoranur-Cochin Indian State Railway was transferred to the SIR from the M&SMR

South Indian Railway System

The following is based on the “1937 History of Indian Railways”[3] , and also where extra information is available from the “1918 Administration Report on Railways” [4]

The SIR owned and operated an extensive network of railways of mixed gauge,. It was the description applied for the actual ‘SIR Proper’ lines which comprised both broad gauge (BG) and metre gauge(MG) lines plus a number of BG ane MG lines on behalf of other parties. In addition the SIR worked two narrow gauge(NG) lines on behalf of other parties:-

The ‘SIR System‘ comprised

  • Broad Gauge (BG) in 1918 was 450 miles(724km); and by 1937 was 664 miles(1069km)
  • Metre Gauge (MG) in 1918 was 1281 miles(2062km); and by 1937 was 1769 miles(2847km)
  • Narrow Gauge(NG) in 1918 was 99 miles(159km); and by 1937 was 99 miles(159km)

SIR Broad Gauge

The Broad Gauge BG) Mainline with branches was originally named the ‘Jalarpet-Mangalore Mainline ’, owned and worked by ‘Madras Railway’ up to 31 Dec 1907, then transferred on 1 Jan 1908 to the ‘South Indian Railway’(SIR)[4]. Later development was undertaken by SIR by the addition of Branch lines [1]
This formed the actual ‘SIR Broad Gauge’ BG); other BG railways were worked by SIR and were listed separately but classified as part of the ‘SIR System Broad Gauge’
See separate pages for detailed information

SIR System Broad Gauge

In addition to the actual ‘SIR Broad Gauge’ lines, listed above, the following BG lines were worked by SIR and finally classified as part of the ‘SIR Broad Gauge System’
See separate pages for detailed information

  • ‘Shoranur-Cochin Railway'. 65 miles(106km), opened 1902 from Shoraur to Ernakulam as a BG branch line. Funded by the Cochin Durbar and originally worked by the ‘Madras Railway’, from 1908 made over to the SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’. In 1938 the ‘Cochin Harbour Extension Railway', opened 1938, a 7 mile(11km) from Cochin to Cochin Harbour
  • ‘Suramangalam-Salem Railway’, 3.9 miles (6.3km), District Board owned, opened 1917 as a BG line and worked by SIR . This short line converted into mixed gauge by addition of a MG rail in 1931, the MG line being part of the ‘Salem-Vriddhachalam Railway’ See MG Branches below

SIR Metre Gauge

The following is generally based on the “1937 History of Railways”[5] and formed the actual ‘SIR Metre Gauge’ MG); other MG railways were worked by SIR ,these were individually listed but classified as the ‘SIR System Metre Gauge’
See separate pages for detailed information

SIR System Metre Gauge

In addition to the actual ‘SIR Metre Gauge’ lines, listed above, the following MG lines were worked by SIR and finally classified as part of the ‘SIR Metre Gauge System’
See separate pages for further information.

  • ‘Nilgiri Mountain Railway', MG, 17 miles(27km), opened 1899 from Mettupalaiyam to Coonoor. Initially worked by ‘Madras Railway Co’, then from 1908 worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’. The line was extended to Ootacamund a further 12 miles(19km), was constructed by the Government and opened 1908[6].
  • ‘Karaikkal-Peralam Railway', MG, 15 miles(24km), opened 1898 which connected the French enclave of Karaikkal with the rest of British India at Peralam . Financed by French Govt, constructed by Great Southern of India Railway and became part of the ‘SIR System’[7].
  • ‘Podanur-Pollachi Railway', MG, 25 miles(40km), opened 1905. Coimbatore District Board owned, worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’ [8].
  • ‘Pondicherry Railway', MG, 17 miles(27km), opened 1879. Connecting the French enclave of Pondicherry to the ‘SIR Mainline’ at Villupuram, worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’[9].
  • ‘Tinnevelly-Tiruchendur Railway’, MG, 38 miles(61km), opened 1923 constructed by the SIR on behalf of the Tinnevelly District Board connecting Tiruchendur to the SIR at Tinnevelly, worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’[10].
  • ‘Travancore Railway’, MG, originally named the ‘Tinnevelly-Quilon Railway', comprised two sections worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’ [11]:-
    • 'Travancore Railway - British Section' , 50 miles(80km) ,opened 1902-03 from Tinnevelly to frontier of Travancore State.
    • 'Travancore Railway - Indian State Section' , 58 miles(93km), opened 1904 from the frontier of Travancore State to Quilon
    • ‘Quilon-Trivandrum Extension Railway’, 40 miles(64km), opened 1918 from Quilon to Chakai and further extended in 1931 to Trivandrum Central.

SIR System Narrow Gauge lines worked by SIR

The following Narrow Gauge (NG) were worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR NG System’
See separate pages for further information.

  • ‘Morappur-Hosur Railway’, 2ft 6in/762mm NG, 73 miles(118km), opened 1906 from Morappur to Dharmapuri ; extended from Dharmapuri to Hosur in 1913. Worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’[12]
  • ‘Tirupattur-Krishnagiri Railway' 2ft 6in/762mm NG, 25 miles(40km), opened 1905 as a famine protection line; worked by ‘Madras Railway’(MR) until 31 December 1907; then working passed to SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’[13]
  • ‘Golden Rock- Sircarpalayam Tramway’ 2ft/610mm NG Tramway, 2¾ miles(4.4km) for carrying materials to the water pumping staion. Worked by SIR as part of the ‘SIR System’[14]

District Board Lines worked by SIR

The following metre gauge MG) lines were worked by SIR under arrangements with and finally incorporated into the ‘SIR MG System ‘and included in the above.
See separate pages for further information.

Further Information

See South Indian Railway Main Page, and each separate Individual Page

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 US Archive .org pdf download of ‘History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress’, 31 March 1937 by ‘The Government of India - Railway Department’ page 192-194, pdf 233-237; Retrieved 8 Oct 2020
  2. ↑ “Administration Report for Railways, 1918” page 136(pdf 145); Retrieved 21 Feb 2021
  3. ↑ US Archive .org pdf download of ‘History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress’, 31 March 1937 by ‘The Government of India - Railway Department’ pages 192-213, pdf 233-256; Retrieved 8 Oct 2020
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 “Administration Report for Railways, 1918” pages 138-152 (pdf 145-160); Retrieved 21 Feb 2021
  5. ↑ US Archive .org pdf download of ‘History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress’, 31 March 1937 by ‘The Government of India - Railway Department’ pages 196-197, pdf 239-240; Retrieved 2 Oct 2020
  6. ↑ ibid page 203 pdf 246
  7. ↑ ibid page 204 pdf 247
  8. ↑ ibid page 206 pdf 249
  9. ↑ ibid page 206 pdf 249
  10. ↑ ibid page 208 pdf 251
  11. ↑ ibid page 208 and 211 pdf 251 and 254
  12. ↑ ibid page 211 pdf 254
  13. ↑ ibid page 212 pdf 255
  14. ↑ ibid page 213 pdf 256
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