Road
South India has an extensive road network with 20,573 km (12,783 mi) of National Highways and 46,813 km (29,088 mi) of State Highways. Bus services are provided by state run transport corporations namely Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Puducherry Road Transport Corporation.
Contents
Rail
The Great Southern India Railway Co. was founded in Britain in 1853 and registered in 1859. Construction of track in Madras Presidency began in 1859 and the 80-mile link from Trichinopoly to Negapatam was opened in 1861. The Carnatic Railway founded in 1864, opened a Madras-Arakkonam-Conjeevaram line in 1865. The Great Southern India Railway Company was subsequently merged with the Carnatic Railway Company in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company. In 1880, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway established by the British, built a railway network radiating inward from Madras. In 1879, the Madras Railway constructed a railway line from Royapuram to Bangalore and the Maharaja of Mysore established Mysore State Railway to carryout extension from Bangalore to Mysore. Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway was founded on 1 January 1908 by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway.
On 14 April 1951, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway were merged to form the Southern Railway to form the first zone of Indian Railways. The South Central zone was created on 2 October 1966 as the ninth zone of Indian Railways and the South Western zone was created on 1 April 2003. Most of the region is covered by the three zones with small portions of coasts covered by East Coast Railway and Konkan Railway. Metro rail is operated by Namma Metro in Bangalore, Chennai Metro in Chennai and Hyderabad Metro in Hyderabad. Chennai MRTS provides suburban rail services in Chennai and was the first elevated railway line in India. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Air
In 1915, Tata Sons started a regular airmail service between Karachi and Madras marking the beginning of air transportation in the southern part of India. In March 1930, a discussion initiated by pilot G. Vlasto led to the founding of Madras Flying Club which became a pioneer in pilot training South India. Air India's first flight was operated between Bombay and Madras via Belgaum in 1954.
There are 9 international airports, 2 customs airports, 15 domestic airports and 11 air bases in South India. Chennai International Airport serves as the regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India for the southern region of India comprising the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep. Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi are amongst the top 10 busiest airports in the country.
The Southern Air Command of Indian Air Force is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram and the Training Command is headquartered at Bangalore. The Indian Air Force operates nine air bases in Southern India and two in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Indian Navy operates airbases at Kochi, Arakkonam, Uchipuli, Vizag, Campbell Bay and Diglipur.
^ Restricted international airport
Water
The region is covered by water on three sides and has a long coastline. A total of 89 ports are situated along the coast: Tamil Nadu (15), Karnataka (10), Kerala (17), Andhra Pradesh (12), Lakshadweep (10), Pondicherry (2) and Andaman & Nicobar (23). Major ports include Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore, Tuticorin, Ennore and Kochi.
The Kerala backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets, a labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 km of waterways. In the midst of this landscape, there are a number of towns and cities, which serve as the starting and end points of transportation services and backwater cruises.
The Eastern Naval Command and Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy are headquartered at Visakhapatnam and Kochi respectively. Indian Navy has its major operational bases in Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kochi and Karwar in the region.