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Indian Railways has divided its whole network into sixteen zones for administration. Check out major Railway zones of India.

Indian Railway Zones

Indian Railways has sprawled a huge network of rail tracks throughout the country. Whether it is a remote village or developed metropolitans, Indian Railway serve the rail users in each and every part of the country. This widespread network is classified into sixteen zones for administrative purposes. Each and every zonal railway further comprises several divisions. Calcutta Metro is exclusively operated by Indian Railways, yet it doesn't form the part of any zone. Konkan Railway is the recent addition to the listed railway zones of India that is controlled by the Railway Ministry and the Railway Board. The list embracing the names of seventeen railway zones, abbreviations, headquarters and date of establishment is given here.




S.No Name Abbr. Headquarters Date of Establishment
1. Northern Railway NR Delhi April 14, 1952
2. North Eastern Railway NER Gorakhpur 1952
3. Northeast Frontier Railway NFR Maligaon (Guwahati) 1958
4. Eastern Railway ER Kolkata April 14, 1952
5. South Eastern Railway SER Kolkata 1955
6. South Central Railway SCR Secunderabad Oct' 2, 1966
7. Southern Railway SR Chennai April 14, 1951
8. Central Railway CR Mumbai Nov' 5, 1951
9. Western Railway WR Mumbai Nov' 5, 1951
10. South Western Railway SWR Hubli April 1, 2003
11. North Western Railway NWR Jaipur Oct' 1, 2002
12. West Central Railway WCR Jabalpur April 1, 2003
13. North Central Railway NCR Allahabad April 1, 2003
14. South East Central Railway SECR Bilaspur, CG April 1, 2003
15. East Coast Railway ECoR Bhubaneswar April 1, 2003
16. East Central Railway ECR Hajipur Oct' 1, 2002
17. Konkan Railway KR Navi Mumbai Jan' 26, 1998

The major railway zones that have been covered here are as follows:

Central Indian Railway
The Central Railway (CR) is perhaps the oldest railway zone of Indian Railways. This is one amongst the largest of the sixteen zones bifurcated by Indian Railways.

Eastern Indian Railway
The Eastern Railway is one of the major zones of Indian Railways. Fairley Place in Kolkata being its headquarters, the Eastern zone is segregated into four divisions including Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol for better administration.

Northern Indian Railway
The Northern Railway (NR) is one amongst the nine older zones of Indian Railways. Delhi, the capital city of India, serves as the headquarters of Northern Railway.

Southern Indian Railway
Southern Railway (SR) is credited to be the first railway zone that sought establishment in liberated India. On April 14th 1951, Southern Railway was established by combining three state railways including Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, South Indian Railway and Mysore State Railway.

Western Indian Railway
The Western Railway (WR) is one amongst the most hustling rail networks in India. Along with headquarters of Central Railway, Mumbai enjoys the authority over this railway network too, being the headquarters sited at Churchgate (Mumbai).