The present headquarter of Southern Railway is in Chennai and has the following divisions: Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapalli. It covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and small portions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The difference between this section of Southern Railway and the rest of India is that this section derives its revenues from passengers and not from freight as in everywhere.
It is the youngest of all the six Southern Railway divisions, and carved out of Palakkad and Tiruchirapalli divisions. Compared to most of Indian Railway being in Broad Gauge, a large section of this railway was in Meter Gauge. Converting all tracks to Broad Gauge, improvement of stations, platform covering, better catering stalls, and an automated signal system to avoid accidents are on the list of main improvements currently in this railway. The single Chennai Central station handles a million passengers every day. Five stations, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Palghat and Thiruvanathapuram are scheduled for upgrading in 2007.
Southern Railway (SR) is a more a passenger-oriented railway, unlike the other zones that carry more freight. The uniqueness of Southern Railway is that it carries 1-1.1 million passengers every day, which is 10 per cent of the traffic on Indian Railway. Last year the Indian Railways moved over 700 million tonnes of freight, but SR doesn't have any colliery, steel plant, etc. Of the 700 million tonnes, 400 million tonnes is coal, iron, manganese ore, etc.
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