Villupuram-Katpadi Railway Section

The Villupuram-Katpadi Railway Section is the branch line of the South Indian Railway(SIR) metre gauge(MG) line from Villupuram on the SIR ‘Madras-Tuticorin Mainline’ to Katpadi, a line length of 99 miles(158km .

History

The 'Villupuram-Guntakal State Railway' was constructed as a metre gauge(MG) State Railway. The line from Villupuram was opened in stages from Nov 1890, reaching Katpadi in Mar 1891 and Guntakal in Aug 1892, a line length of 342 miles(550km). The line was worked by South Indian Railway(SIR) as a branch from Villupuram on the SIR ‘Madras-Tuticorin Mainline’

On 1 Jan 1908 the Government re-allocated a number of lines. The newly formed 'Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway'(M&SMR) was given the lines north of Katpadi which had been worked by the SIR. As a consequence the ‘Villupuram-Guntakal State Railway’ ceased to exist and the line divided:-

• The section from Villupuram to Katpadi retained by SIR and became the Villupuram-Katpadi Railway Section of the SIR metre gauge(MG) system. Later to become the'Katpadi Branch Line', a branch from the SIR ‘Madras-Tuticorin Mainline’
• The section from Katpadi to Guntakal was transferred to M&SMR to become their ‘Kalpadi-Dharmavaram Branch’ and part of their ‘Guntakal-Mysore Frontier Branch’

Further Information

See Villupuram-Guntakal State Railway

and South Indian Railway