The first train service in southern India and the third in India was operated by
Madras Railway from
Royapuram / Veyasarapady to Wallajah Road (Arcot) in 1856. Madras Railway extended its trunk route to Beypur / Kadalundi (near Calicut) in 1861. Madras Railway connected Bangalore Cantonment to
Jolarpettai on the newly constructed Beypur line in 1864.
Bangalore Mail started running the same year.
KSR Bengaluru was linked to Bangalore Cantonment in 1882. The -wide
broad gauge Bangarpet-Marikuppam line came up in 1894. The -wide
narrow-gauge line between Bowringpet (later Bangarapet) and Kolar was opened in 1913 by Mysore State Railway. The narrow-gauge Yesvantpur–Yelahanka–Devanahalli–Chikkaballapura–Kolar line was opened in 1915 and was linked to Bengaluru in 1918. In 1925
Jolarpettai -
KSR Bengaluru was made double line. With the completion of the gauge conversion to broad gauge of the Chikballapura-Kolar section in November 2013, the entire Bengaluru–Kolar section was ready for direct broad gauge trains. Gauge conversion of the Bangarpet–Kolar line was completed in 1997 and a
Railbus service was operating since then, till 11 September 2016 when Railbus got replaced by an eight-bogie diesel–electric multiple unit (DEMU). The Chennai–Tiruvallur sector was electrified in 1979–80, the Tiruvallur–Arakkonam–Chitteri sector in 1982–83, the Chitteri–Walajah Road (excl) sector in 1983–84, the Walajah Road–Katpadi sector in 1984–85, the Katpadi–Jolarpet sector in 1985–86, the Jolarpettai–Mulanur sector in 1990–91, the Mulanur–Bangarpet–Bengaluru sector in 1991–92. In the early 1950s legislation was passed authorizing the central government to take over independent railway systems that were there. On 14 April 1951 the
Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the
South Indian Railway Company and Mysore State Railway were merged to form
Southern Railway. Subsequently,
Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway was also merged into Southern Railway. On 2 October 1966, the Secunderabad, Solapur, Hubballi and Vijayawada Divisions, covering the former territories of Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway and certain portions of Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway were separated from Southern Railway to form the
South Central Railway. In 1977, Guntakal division of Southern Railway was transferred to South Central Railway and the Solapur division transferred to Central Railway. Amongst the seven new zones created in 2003 was
South Western Railway, which was carved out of Southern Railway and South Central railway.
Chennai suburban services EMU trains are operated between
Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central railway station and
Arakkonam Junction via
West Line. It covers the distance of with 27 halts in a scheduled time of 1 hour 50 mins. As of 2005, 200,000 passengers daily used the EMU services in this sector. ==Speed limit==