Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 132,627 pages of information and 209,984 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
South Indian Railway
From Graces Guide
The South Indian Railway Company was a railway company which operated in South India from 1874 to 1951.
1853 The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company was founded in 1869.
1874 Formed by the merger of the Great Southern of India Railway and the Carnatic Railway
1890 The new firm was registered in London with Trichinopoly as its headquarters.
1891 The Pondicherry Railway (incorporation in 1845) merged with the South Indian Railway Company. The company moved its headquarters to Madurai and later, Chennai Central. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards.
1944 The South Indian Railway was nationalised.
On 1 April 1951, the South Indian Railway, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway and the Mysore State Railway were merged to form the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways.