Southern Railway operates Diesel/Electric locos, coaches and wagons on the broad gauge and Meter gauge. These assets are being maintained in good fettle by the Mechanical branch to provide safe and reliable transportation of passengers and Goods. In order to maintain these locomotives, coaches and wagons, Southern Railway has Three major workshops Loco Works , Perambur, Chennai. Carriage & Wagon works, Perambur Chennai Central workshops, Goldenrock, Tiruchirappalli Four Diesel Sheds Tondayarpet Diesel Shed, Chennai Division Goldenrock Diesel Shed, Tiruchirappalli Division Erode Diesel shed, Salem Division Ernakumal Diesel Shed, Trivandrum Division Apart from the above, 8 Nos. of special “X” class steam locos hauling Nilgiri Mountain Trains between MTP and ONR are being maintained at ONR steam loco shed. These locos are provided with rack and pinion arrangement for overcoming the steep gradient (1 in 12.6) involved in climbing the picturesque Nilgiri Mountain Railway. 6 sets of Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) are being operated in TPJ Division. 16 BG coaching maintenance depots Basin Bridge Gopalswami Nagar, Chennai Egmore Salem Erode Coimbatore Mettupalayam Shoranur Mangalore Trivandrum Ernakulam Kollam Nagercoil Madurai Rameswaram Tuticorin BG Complex, Trichirappalli. 13 Wagon maintenance depots. Tondiarpet, Chennai Jolarpettai, Chennai Chennai Harbour Arakkonam Royapuram Pattibiram Military Siding Erode, Salem Kankanadi, Palghat Ernakulam Goods Yard Milavattan, Madurai Irumpanam, Trivandrum Trichy Goods Yard Vridhachalam/Uthangal Mangalam The following are the major activities of Mechanical Department. Periodical Over Hauling (POH), Intermediate Over Hauling (IOH) of Coaches, Wagons, Diesel Locomotives, Steam locomotives and Other Rolling stocks in the workshops. Primary Maintenance of Passenger rakes, Goods rakes and other specified departmental Trains in the divisions. Manufacture of Wagons, Rehabilitation of coaches, Elastic Rail clips, Bio-Diesel in the shops. Schedule maintenance of Diesel Locomotives, & Steam locomotives in the Diesel Sheds, Imparting Training to the staff at 10 Basic Training Centre (BTC) situated all over Southern Railway. Heritage and ISO certification process. | 
