Zones and divisions of Indian Railways

The Indian Railways is divided into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of 70 divisions.^[1]

Each of the divisions, is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) who reports to the General Manager (GM) of the zone. A DRM can be appointed from any services of Indian Railway, Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), IRAS ,IES , IRPS etc.for the tenure of 3 years but it can be exceeded on the recommendation of Railway Board. Divisional officers heading all departments viz. engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, safety, medical, security branches report to the Divisional Railway Manager. The DRM is assisted by one or two Additional Divisional Railway Managers (ADRM) in the working of the division.

Indian Railway Zones

List of zones and its divisions

The 17 zones and the 70 divisions are listed below:^[2]

Sl. No	Name of the Railway zone	Abbr.	Route length (in Km)	Zone Headquarters	Railway Divisions
1.	Northern Railway	NR	6968	Delhi	Delhi,[3] Ambala,[4] Firozpur,[5] Lucknow NR,[6] Moradabad[7]
2.	North Eastern Railway	NER	3667	Gorakhpur	Izzatnagar,[8] Lucknow NER,[9] Varanasi[10]
3.	Northeast Frontier Railway	NFR	3907	Guwahati	Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangiya, Lumding, Tinsukia[11]
4.	Eastern Railway	ER	2414	Kolkata	Howrah,[12] Sealdah,[13] Asansol,[14] Malda [15]
5.	South Eastern Railway	SER	2631	Kolkata	Adra,[16] Chakradharpur,[17] Kharagpur,[18] Ranchi[19]
6.	South Central Railway	SCR	5803	Secunderabad	Secunderabad,[20] Hyderabad,[21] Vijayawada,[22]Guntakal,[23] Guntur,[24] Nanded[25]
7.	Southern Railway	SR	5098	Chennai	Chennai,[26] Tiruchirappalli,[27] Madurai,[28] Palakkad,[29] Salem,[30] Thiruvananthapuram[31]
8.	Central Railway	CR	3905	Mumbai	Mumbai,[32] Bhusawal,[33] Pune,[34] Solapur,[35] Nagpur[36]
9.	Western Railway	WR	6182	Mumbai	Mumbai WR,[37] Ratlam,[38] Ahmedabad, Rajkot,[39] Bhavnagar,[40] Vadodara[41]
10.	South Western Railway	SWR	3177	Hubballi	Hubballi,[42] Bengaluru,[43] Mysuru,[44]
11.	North Western Railway	NWR	5459	Jaipur	Jaipur,[45] Ajmer,[46] Bikaner,[47] Jodhpur [48]
12.	West Central Railway	WCR	2965	Jabalpur	Jabalpur,[49] Bhopal,[50] Kota[51]
13.	North Central Railway	NCR	3151	Allahabad	Allahabad,[52] Agra,[53] Jhansi [54]
14.	South East Central Railway	SECR	2447	Bilaspur	Bilaspur,[55] Raipur,[56] Nagpur SEC[57]
15.	East Coast Railway	ECoR	2572	Bhubaneswar	Khurda Road,[58] Sambalpur,[59] Waltair[60]
16.	East Central Railway	ECR	3628	Hajipur	Danapur,[61] Dhanbad,[62] Mughalsarai,[63] Samastipur,[64] Sonpur[65]
17.	Konkan Railway[66]	KR	741	CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai	Karwar,[67] Ratnagiri [68]

Organisation

A typical division has an average track length of about 1000 km and staff strength of about 15000. All the departments and services of the Indian Railways are represented in a Division.^{[69][70][71][72]}

Sl. No	Name of Department	Headed by	Abbre.	Role and function
1.	Engineering Department	Senior Divisional Engineer	Sr.DEN	Maintenance of all fixed assets of the Division, i.e. Track, Bridges, Buildings, Roads, Water supply etc.
2.	Mechanical Engineering & Power (Transportation) Department	Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer	Sr.DME	Maintenance of all rolling stock of the@ Division (except electric locos and EMU/MEMUs), i.e. locomotives, passenger and freight cars; and technical super etc.
3.	Electrical Engineering Department	Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer	Sr.DEE	Maintenance of all electric locomotives, EMUs/MEMUs and fixed electrical assets of the Division, i.e. Overhead equipment, lighting and power for railway establishments etc.
4.	Signal & Telecommunication Engineering Department	Senior Divisional Signal & Telecommunication Engineer	Sr.DSTE	Management of the Signalling and Telecommunication (S&T) infrastructure of the division for Safe Train operations;
5.	Operating and Traffic (Transportation) Department	Senior Divisional Operations Manager	Sr.DOM	Train operations
6.	Commercial Department	Senior Divisional Commercial Manager	Sr.DCM	Passenger ticketing, ticket checking, booking of freight rakes and collecting fares
7.	Medical Department	Chief Medical Superintendent	CMS	Providing medical facilities to railway employees and their families
8.	Safety Department	Senior Divisional Safety Officer	Sr.DSO	Ensuring safety of train operations
9.	Stores Department	Senior Divisional Controller of Stores	Sr. DCOS	Ensuring material for maintenance of trains (material for all departments except the Engineering Department)
10.	Accounts Department	Senior Divisional Finance Manager	Sr. DFM	Financial management of the division
11.	Personnel Department	Senior Divisional Personnel Officer	Sr. DPO	HR functions
12.	Security Department	Senior Divisional Security Commissioner	Sr. DSC	Security of railway material, passenger and passenger belongings

Control Room

Every division has a Control Room for train operations, from where all the trains in the division are controlled and monitored.

Accident Relief Trains

Every division has Accident Relief Trains (ARTs), Accident Relief Medical Vans (ARMVs) and Breakdown Cranes for assisting in disaster management. These are under the supervision of the SrDME of the Division, who is also the head of Disaster Management of the Division.

Locomotive Sheds

The Diesel Locomotive Sheds and Electric Locomotive Sheds on the division maintain diesel and electric locomotives respectively. Their administrative control is with the DRM.

Coaching Depots and Sick Lines

Every division has some coaching depots to maintain its passenger cars and sick lines to maintain freight cars which are found unfit at the freight examination points.

See also

• Indian Railway organisational structure

References

1. "Zones and their Divisions in Indian Railways" (PDF). Indian Railways. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
2. http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/stat_econ/Stat_0910/Year%20Book%202009-10-Sml_size_English.pdf
3. "Delhi Railway Division". Railway Board. Northern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
4. "Ambala Railway Division". Railway Board. Northern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
5. "Firozpur Railway Division". Railway Board. Northern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
6. "Lucknow Railway Division". Railway Board. Northern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
7. "Moradabad Railway Division". Railway Board. Northern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
8. "Izzatnagar Railway Division". Railway Board. North Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
9. "Lucknow Railway Division". Railway Board. North Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
10. "Varanasi Railway Division". Railway Board. North Eastern Railway zone. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
11. "Northeast Frontier Railway Division". Railway Board. North Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
12. "Howrah Railway Division". Railway Board. Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
13. "Sealdah Railway Division". Railway Board. Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
14. "Asansol Railway Division". Railway Board. Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
15. "Malda Railway Division". Railway Board. Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
16. "Adra Railway Division". Railway Board. South Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
17. "Chakradharpur Railway Division". Railway Board. South Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
18. "Adra Railway Division". Railway Board. South Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
19. "Adra Railway Division". Railway Board. South Eastern Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
20. "Secunderabad Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
21. "Hyderabad Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
22. "Vijayawada Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
23. "Guntakal Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
24. "Guntur Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
25. "Nanded Railway Division". Railway Board. South Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
26. "Chennai Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
27. "Tiruchirappalli Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
28. "Madurai Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
29. "Palakkad Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
30. "Salem Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
31. "Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division". Railway Board. Southern Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
32. "Mumbai Railway Division". Railway Board. Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
33. "Bhusawal Railway Division". Railway Board. Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
34. "Pune Railway Division". Railway Board. Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
35. "Solapur Railway Division". Railway Board. Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
36. "Nagpur Railway Division". Railway Board. Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
37. "Mumbai WR Railway Division". Railway Board. Western Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
38. "Ratlam Railway Division". Railway Board. Western Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
39. "Rajkot Railway Division". Railway Board. Western Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
40. "Bhavnagar Railway Division". Railway Board. Western Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
41. "Vadodara Railway Division". Railway Board. Western Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
42. "Hubballi Railway Division". Railway Board. South Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
43. "Bangalore Railway Division". Railway Board. South Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
44. "Mysore Railway Division". Railway Board. South Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
45. "Jaipur Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
46. "Ajmer Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
47. "Bikaner Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
48. "Jodhpur Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
49. "Jabalpur Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
50. "Bhopal Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
51. "Kota Railway Division". Railway Board. North Western Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
52. "Allahabad Railway Division". Railway Board. North Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
53. "Agra Railway Division". Railway Board. North Central Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
54. "Jhansi Railway Division". Railway Board. North Central Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
55. "Bilaspur Railway Division". Railway Board. South East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
56. "Raipur Railway Division". Railway Board. South East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
57. "Nagpur SEC Railway Division". Railway Board. South East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
58. "Khurda Road Railway Division". Railway Board. East Coast Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
59. "Sambalpur Railway Division". Railway Board. East Coast Railway zone. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
60. "Waltair Railway Division". Railway Board. East Coast Railway zone. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
61. "Danapur Railway Division". Railway Board. East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
62. "Dhanbad Railway Division". Railway Board. East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
63. "Mughalsari Railway Division". Railway Board. East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
64. "Samastipur Railway Division". Railway Board. East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
65. "Sonpur Railway Division". Railway Board. East Central Railway zone. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
66. http://www.konkanrailway.com/pages/viewpage/introduction
67. "Karwar a division of Konkan Railway".
68. "Ratnagiri a division of Konkan Railway".
69. "Rooting for the railways". The Hindu. Mar 31, 2004. Retrieved 2011-12-03.
70. "Railway Officer". Khabar Express. n.d. Retrieved 2011-12-03.
71. "Introduction to Organisation of Indian Railways". Retrieved 2011-12-03.
72. G. Raghuram (February 2007), "'Turnaround' of Indian Railways: A Critical Appraisal of Strategies and Processes" (PDF), Working Paper No.2007-02-03 (PDF), Ahmedabad, India: Indian Institute of Management

External links

• Zones & Divisions of Indian Railways