[2][3] The history of division dates long back to 1853, when the Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters at England and first line was constructed between Negapatnam and Trichinopoly in 1859.

It is the second largest division of the zone having a route length of about 1,026.55 km (637.87 mi),[5] spread over 13 districts of Tamil Nadu.

[14] Commercial Controller 2464469 The division spans to Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, Nagappattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, Viluppuram, Tiruvarur, and Perambalur districts of Tamil Nadu state and Union Territory of Puducherry including Karaikal.

[24][25] The division operates about 30 Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centers[26] which includes six post offices at Villianur, Tiruvettipuram, Peravurani, Muthupet, Srirangam, and Ponmalai under the 1,000 PRS scheme, as a part of improving passenger amenities.

At the headquarters station, plasma screen electronic display boards, electronic train arrival/departure boards were installed along with a renovated linen room and Integrated Security System to enhance security.

[28] The division has provided team tracks for a number of Industrial establishments[7] adjoining the railway lines utilising the nearby railway stations for their logistics and transports such as Central Workshop (Golden Rock), Cement and gypsum factories (Trichy, Perambalur and Ariyalur),[29][30][31] Lignite industries (Neyveli),[32] Sugar factories (Viluppuram and Vridhachalam),[33] FCI and Civil supplies (Cauvery delta districts)[34][35] also BHEL (Tiruverumbur),[36] and ports (Cuddalore and Karaikal).

On the main line and branch lines that traverses through delta districts has a lot of greenery in the form of agriculture and towns of religious importance like Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Kumbakonam, Mayiladuthurai, Sirkazhi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore,[41] Nagore, Velankanni, Tirunallar.

The jurisdictional limit starts from Viluppuram in the north to Kuzhithurai railway station in the south and Karaikal in the east to Palani in the west.