The South Central Railway was formed as nineth railway zone on 2nd October, 1966 with amalgamation of Vijayawada and Hubbli Divisions of Southern Railway and Secunderabad and Sholapur Divisions of Central Railway. In 1977 Sholapur was given back to Central Railway and Guntakal Division was added to SCR from Southern Railway and Secunderabad Division was bifurcated by creating Hyderabad Division. In 2003 Hubbli Division was handedover to newly formed South Western Railway and two Divisions was formed namely Nanded and Guntur Division by bifurcating Hyderabad and Vijayawada Divisions.
The SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY MAZDOOR UNION WAS REGISTERED on 8-8-1966 as a logical outcome of the formation of the new Railway Zone from 2-10-1966. SCRMU got affiliated to All India Railwaymen'sFederation(AIRF). The first President wasCom.S.B.Giriand the first General Secretary was Com. A.V.K.Chaitanya. The Union was recognizedby the S.C.Railway Administration.
The Union instantly took up the issue of the reinstatement of 24 employees who were unjustifiably dismissed from service for their participation in the 1960 Strike and after long struggle got the victimized employees back to duty. The Union also conducted one day token Strike in 1968. Com. AVK Chaitanta and Com. KSN Murthy were jailed in that strike. Com. AVK Chaitanyawas suspended for 8 months for leading 1968 strike.
The historic 1974 strike led by Com. George Fernandez, President, AIRF was a great success on the SCR , which was spearheaded by Com. A.V.K. Chaitanya, General Secretary, SCRMU. Thousands of workers struck work from 8-5-1974. This can be visualized as a golden period in the history of SCRM. Train services were hit in a big way. Hundreds of employees were removed from service and hundreds of employees were given break in service. . But the comrades put up a brave face under the leadership of Com. AVK. Chaitanya,GS. Many leaders of SCRMU were arrested and sent to jail and removed from service. The Union succeeded in reinstating all employees and getting cancelled all punishments. Even wages were secured for the employees.
The SCRMU had several achievements to its credit.Union has been proactive in getting several projects for the SCR and thereby for the all round development. Some of them are detailed here under: