The Southern Mahratta Railway (SMR) was a railway company incorporated in 1882 in British India to construct and operate metre-gauge and broad-gauge lines across the southern Maratha country, encompassing parts of the present-day states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa and Andhra Pradesh. It was one of several guaranteed railway companies of the late nineteenth century and played a significant role in linking the Deccan plateau with the western coast and with the Madras Presidency.
| Name | Southern Mahratta Railway |
|---|---|
| Type | Railway company |
| Founded | 1882 |
| Country | British India |
| Region served | Southern Maratha country, Bombay and Madras Presidencies |
| Predominant gauge | Metre gauge (with broad-gauge sections) |
| Successor | Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (1908) |
Background
By the 1870s, the Government of India was keen to extend railway access into the cotton-growing tracts of the southern Deccan and to provide a feeder network connecting the trunk lines of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) and the Madras Railway. The proposed network was envisaged to traverse the districts of Belgaum, Dharwad, Bijapur, Bellary and the territories of the Nizam of Hyderabad, providing access to the ports on the Konkan and Malabar coasts.
Formation and operations
The Southern Mahratta Railway Company was registered in London in 1882 under the guaranteed system, in which the colonial government underwrote a fixed return on capital. Construction commenced in the early 1880s, with the company progressively opening lines from Poona (Pune) southwards through Miraj towards Hubli and Bangalore, with branches towards Bellary, Gadag, Bijapur, and a coastal extension to Marmagao (Mormugão) in Portuguese Goa, the latter giving the network direct access to a deep-water port.
The Marmagao line, opened in the late 1880s, was operated in conjunction with the West of India Portuguese Railway and was significant for the export of agricultural produce and minerals. Hubli developed as the principal workshop and headquarters town of the system, a status it would retain under successor administrations.
Amalgamation
In 1908 the Southern Mahratta Railway was amalgamated with the Madras Railway to form the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (M&SMR), creating one of the largest railway systems in southern India. The combined network extended from the Konkan coast to the Coromandel coast and remained in operation until the regrouping of Indian railways after independence.
Legacy
On 14 April 1951, the former Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway was merged with the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway to form the Southern Railway, one of the original zones of Indian Railways. Lines that originally formed the SMR network were later reorganised in 2003 into the newly created South Western Railway, with its headquarters at Hubballi (Hubli), the historic SMR headquarters town.
Related topics
- Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway
- Madras Railway
- Great Indian Peninsula Railway
- West of India Portuguese Railway
- Southern Railway zone
- South Western Railway zone
- Rail transport in India
- Hubballi
References
- Wikidata entity: Q19898442
- Indian Railways: history of zones and constituent railways.