In this article, we will see list of railway zones, its headquarters and divisions in India. Indian Railways which works under the Ministry of Railways is one of the largest rail network spread across more than 1,23,236 Kms. Railway has divided its operations into 18 railway zones which further divided into multiple divisions each with its own divisional headquarter. We will look into all 18 railway zones in below section.
List of Railway Zones, Its Headquarters and Divisions in India
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1. Central Railway
Headquarter : Mumbai
Divisions : Mumbai, Nagpur, Bhusawal, Pune and Sholapur
Description : It was formed on 5 November 1951 by grouping several government-owned railways, including the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the Scindia State Railway of the former princely state of Gwalior, Nizam State Railway, Wardha Coal State Railway and the Dholpur Railways.
2. Eastern Railway
Headquarter : Kolkata
Divisions : Howrah-I, Howrah-II, Sealdah, Malda, Asansol, Chitaranjan and Kolkata Metro.
Description : It was formed on14th April, 1952 by integration of the East Indian Railway consisting of Sealdah, Howrah, Asansol and Danapur Divisions and the entire Bengal Nagpur Railway. Later on, the portion of BNR stretching from Howrah to Visakhapatnam in the South.
3. East Central Railway
Headquarter : Hajipur
Divisions : Danapur, Mugalsarai, Dhanbad, Sonpur, Samastipur
Description : It was first setup on 8th September 1996 with headquarters at Hajipur, Bihar, East Central Railway became operational on 1st October 2002 by carving out areas from Eastern and North Eastern Railway zones currently consists of the divisions viz. Dhanbad, Danapur, Mughalsarai of Eastern Railway and Sonpur and Samastipur of North Eastern Railway.
4. East Coast Railway
Headquarter : Bhubaneshwar
Divisions : Khurda Road, Waltair, Sambhalpur
Description : It was first Inaugurated by former Prime Minister of India on 8 August 1996 and came into full operational state on 1st April, 2003.
5. Northern Railway
Headquarter : Baroda House, New Delhi
Divisions : Delhi-I, Delhi-II, Ambala, Moradabad, Lucknow, Ferozpur
Description : It was established in the year 1952 and was created by merging Jodhpur Railway, Bikaner Railway, Eastern Punjab Railway and three divisions of the East Indian Railway north-west of Mughalsarai (Uttar Pradesh).
6. North Central Railway
Headquarter : Allahabad
Divisions : Allahabad, Jhansi, Agra
Description : It came into existence on 1st April 2003 and currently extends over a large area of North Central India, covering the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.
7. North Eastern Railway
Headquarter : Gorakhpur
Divisions : Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, DLW
Description : It was formed on 14 April 1952 by combining two railway systems the Oudh and Tirhut Railway and Assam Railway and the Cawnpore–Achnera Provincial State Railway of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. More on wikipedia.
8. North Frontier Railway
Headquarter : Malegaon, Guwahati
Divisions : Katihar, Alipurduar, Rangiya, Lumding, Tinsukhia
Description : It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for rail operations in the entire Indian railways.
9. North Western Railway
Headquarter : Jaipur
Divisions : Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ajmer
Description : It is headquartered at Jaipur, with 59,075+ employees, 658+ stations and a route length of more than 5761 km across at least some parts of four states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.
10. Southern Railway
Headquarter : Chennai
Divisions : Chennai, Madurai, Palghat, Trichy, Trivendrum
Description : It came into existence on 14th April 1951 through the merger of the three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway.
11. South Central Railway
Headquarter : Secunderabad
Divisions : Secundarabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Vijayawada, Nanded
Description : It is spreaded over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
12. South Eastern Railway
Headquarter : Garden Reach, Kolkata
Divisions : Kharagpur, Adra, Chakradharpur, Ranchi, Shalimar
Description : It is spreaded across the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha.
13. South East Central Railway
Headquarter : Bilaspur
Divisions : Bilaspur, Nagpur, Raipur
Description : It is situated in the heartland of Central India & serving the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, with proud privilege.
14. South Western Railway
Headquarter : Hubli
Divisions : Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, RWF/YNK
Description : It was created by amalgamating the reorganized Hubli division from South Central Railway with Bangalore & Mysore divisions of Southern Railway. This Railway has become operational from 1st of April, 2003 with its head quarter at Hubli in the state of Karnataka. More on SWR Official website.
15. Western Railway
Headquarter : Churchgate
Divisions : BCT, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Ratlam, Rajkot, Bhavnagar
Description : It came into existence on 5th November, 1951 by the merger of its forerunner, the erstwhile Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BB&CI), with other State Railways viz, Saurashtra, Rajputana and Jaipur.
16. West Central Railway
Headquarter : Jabalpur
Divisions : Jabalpur, Bhopal and Kota
Description : The West Central Railway was formed on 4th July, 2002 by the Ministry of Railway, Govt of India.
17. Kolkata Metro
Headquarter : Kolkata
Description : The Kolkata Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. As of July 2020, it has two operational lines, a 27.22 km (16.91 mi) line from Noapara to Kavi Subhash and a 7.205 km (4.477 mi) line from Salt Lake Sector V to Phoolbagan, for a total of 34.425 km (21.391 mi).
18. South Coast Railway
Headquarter : Visakhapatnam
Divisions : Waltair, Vijayawada, Guntakal, Guntur
Description : The South Coast Railway Zone is a new Indian railway zone, headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.