Introduction
Indian Railway System is maintained and controlled by the Government of India under the Ministry of Railways. Railway system was first established in India, in 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 Indian Railway System was Nationalized, becoming one of the best Networks in India.
History
1. In April, 2018 Indian Railways celebrated 165 years of its first passenger Train services.
2. In the 1830s the first step to Indian Railway System is started.
3. In 16 April, 1853 India's first passenger Rail services were started with a speed of 34km from Bombay’s BoriBunder station to Thane with 400 passengers.
4. The line between Bombay to Thane was built through a link between the Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) in 1849 and India was ruled by East India Company, at that time.
5. India launched railways in Eastern India in 1854 and in South India in 1856.
6. The Calcutta-Delhi line was inaugurated in 1864 and the Allahabad-Jabalpur line in 1867.
Rly Zones
Indian Railways has its operations divided into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of 18 zones. Each of the divisions is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), who reports to the General Manager (GM) of the zone. The DRM is assisted by 1 or 2 Additional Divisional Railway Managers (ADRM) in the working of the division. The Divisional Officers of all departments report to the Divisional Railway Manager. The departments include: engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, safety, medical, security.
A Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) can be appointed from any of the eight organized services of Indian Railways: Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE) and Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS) for the tenure of 3 years, and be exceeded on the recommendation of Railway Board.
1. Indian Railway System is divided into 18 zones.
2. These 18 zones further divided into 68 Divisions.
3. In the beginning only 5 zones were present, in 1951 six to eight new zones were introduced by Indian Railways.
4. In 2003 the number was increased by a total of 16 railway zones.
| S.No | Railway Zone | Zone Headquartes | Railway Divisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Northern Railway | Delhi | Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow NR, Moradabad |
| 2. | Northeast Frontier Railway | Guwahati | Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangiya, Lumding, Tinsukia |
| 3. | Eastern Railway | Kolkata | Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda |
| 4. | South Eastern Railway | Kolkata | Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi |
| 5. | South Central Railway | Secunderabad | Secunderabad, Hyderabad Vijayawada, GuntakalGuntur, Nanded |
| 6. | Southern Railway | Chennai | Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem, Thiruvananthapuram |
| 7. | Central Railway | Mumbai | Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur |
| 8. | Western Railway | Mumbai | Mumbai WR, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Vadodara |
| 9. | South Western Railway | Hubballi | Hubballi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, |
| 10. | North Western Railway | Jaipur | Jaipur, Ajmer,Bikaner, Jodhpur |
| 11. | West Central Railway | Jabalpur | Jabalpur, Bhopal Kota |
| 12. | North Central Railway | Allahabad | Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi |
| 13. | South East Central Railway | Bilaspur | Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur SEC |
| 14. | East Coast Railway | Bhubaneswar | Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Waltair |
| 15. | East Central Railway | Hajipur | Danapur, DhanbadMughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur |
| 16. | South Coast Railway | Visakhapatnam | Waltair (Visakhapatnam), Vijayawada, Guntakal, Guntur |
| 17. | Kolkata Metro Railway | Kolkata | Kolkata |
| 18. | North Eastern Railway | Gorakhpur | Izzatnagar, Lucknow NER, Varanasi |