My recommended watch order is a version of the "simplified chronological order" which is the term other people use for an order like this.
Unlike past posts where I've given my watch order for this franchise I want to really break down and explain my logic more.
A Certain Scientific Railgun (Season 1)
A Certain Magical Index (Season 1)
A Certain Scientific Railgun S
A Certain Magical Index II
A Certain Scientific Railgun T
A Certain Magical Index III
I have chosen not to include A Certain Scientific Accelerator because I kind of don't recommend it at all. It's not horrible, a true franchise completionist will probably be able to get something out of it. But it doesn't appeal to me much. It's chronological placement is between Index I and II but it aired between Index III and Railgun T.
I also didn't give the movie a placement simply because it's not really canon at all. I do like the movie a fair bit, but I wouldn't prioritize when to watch it. Index season 1 has everything you really need to know for it.
In the spirit of this watch order not being strictly chronological, I won't make my arguments in their chronological order either. I'll start with why each season of Railgun should be watched before it's numerically corresponding season of Index.
Railgun Season 1 simply is a better entry point to this world. I do recommend skipping episode 2 on your first watch since it's both filler is gives an unfortunate first impression of a certain character. But other then that season 1 of Railgun is a fantastic fun little SciFi show that only ever seems under whelming in the context of the major heights achieved by it's sequels.
One YouTube video I watched defending the Broadcast order as ideal insinuated that Railgun leaves some things unexplained because it assumes you already watched Index. But especially as far as their respective season 1s go I really don't see what they're talking about. Railgun is far better at organically explaining how the Esper stuff and Academy City's technology works, and the Magic stuff isn't relevant to Railgun. Sometimes I think we Nerds assume anything that can be read as a reference to something you've already seen in the release order can only work that way when the truth is they can often work either way.
Railgun also simply is the better show by a significant margin, so much so that I can imagine the existence of people who'd like Railgun but not Index while I can't imagine the opposite. The way less Fanservice (by my definition Railgun has no Fanservice but I know some might disagree) the better pacing, the usually more intelligent fight scenes, the fact that it could almost pass as a Shoujo, all give it a broader appeal.
So while there are reasons the order I listed above is best if you do watch both, if you aren't able to get into Index don't worry, nothing in the Railgun sequels absolutely depends on having seen any of Index, it can all stand on it's own.
But the reason why Railgun S should be watched before Index II even beyond all those above reasons is mainly episodes 6 and 7 (or episodes 30 and 31 of Index as a whole as some sites might number them). This two parter is Kuroko focused and it will hit harder if you have the increased knowledge of her perspective on the Sisters Arc that Railgun S provides.
The particular reason why it's better to watch Railgun T before Index III isn't even much because of either show's main cast. Episodes 4-6 of Index III is The Battle Royal arc which in the release order (and even more so for Index onlies) introduces a lot of new characters a good deal of whom die in this same arc. Now the Anime should have given this arc more then 3 episodes to begin with but even if it had I'd still say it works best with the prior investment in Item, Member and School that Railgun T provides. (Scavenger isn't in Battle Royal however so you could see you've seen everything relevant by the end of episode 20 of T).
Now some will tell you you the later part of Railgun T requires having seen Accelerator first because of Scavenger but here's the thing, I had seen Accelerator first as it aired and I'd forgotten about Scavenger by the time their Railgun T episodes aired. Railgun T on it's own makes a perfectly fine introduction to them and for me is entirely what endeared me to them, it refers to them having had a bad experience with Accelerator but it's not difficult to guess what that entailed, we don't need to have seen it just like we never needed to see the Kessel Run.
Now as I said if you do watch both there are benefits to watching at least some of Index before the second and third seasons of Railgun.
The reason Index season 1 should be watched before Railgun S is The Sisters Arc. This arc is to a large extent the same story told from different POVs. But it is Touma's POV that presumes the audience will be as uninformed as Touma is, while the S version does have some dramatic irony going on, not so much it can't be followed at all on it's own, but enough that it adds to the experience to have already seen the other version.
The reason to watch Index II before Railgun T is mainly again episodes 6 and 7 since they explain one key aspect of what's going on with Kuroko during the Daihasei Festival. In fact if you are someone who generally hates Index and is a Railgun fan only these are the only two episodes of Index I'd remotely suggest a Railgun fan can't simply ignore.
There are also a few things that reference the events of Index's Daihasei Festival arc while the reverse never happens.
Thing is the Railgun T Daihasei Festival also via one character references a Railgun story still not animated at all, so there is no avoiding an Anime only feeling like they missed something.
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