Indian railways which comprise the chief
mode of organized transportation system is the nation’s single largest
undertaking with a route length of over 63 thousand kilometers spread over 6853
railway stations. Making a small beginning in April 1853 when the first ever
railway train in India commenced its journey from Mumbai to thane, a stretch of
only 34 kilometers, Indian railways emerged to be Asia’s largest and the
world’s second largest railway system under a single management.
As on march 31, 2011 the Indian railway
had a vast network of 7083 stations spread over a route length of 64024
kilometers.
As on march 31, 2011 about 23 percent of
the route kilometer, 34 percent of running track kilometer and 34 percent of
total track kilometer is electrified, this is the second biggest electrified system
in the system, the first being commonwealth of Independent states.
The Indian railway system is now divided
into 17 zones. Each zone is headed by a general manager, who is responsible for
the railway board for all the zonal affairs such as operation and maintenance
of zonal railways and the financial matters pertaining there to.
S.No
|
Zone
|
Date of creation
|
Headquarters
|
1
|
Southern
|
14.04.1951
|
Chennai
|
2
|
Western
|
05.11.1951
|
Mumbai (church gate)
|
3
|
Cebtrak
|
05.11.1951
|
Mumbai (Victoria terminus)
|
4
|
Northern
|
04.04.1952
|
New
delhi
|
5
|
Eastern
|
01.08.1955
|
Kolkata
|
6
|
South Eastern
|
01.08.1955
|
Kolkata
|
7
|
North- Eastern
|
14.04.1955
|
Gorakhpur
|
8
|
South Central
|
02.10.1966
|
Secunderabad
|
9
|
North East Frontier
|
15.01.1958
|
Maligaon (Guwahati)
|
10
|
North- Central
|
06.07.2002
|
Allahabad
|
11
|
East- Central
|
06.07.2002
|
Hajipur
|
12
|
North- Western
|
10.10.1996
|
Jaipur
|
13
|
East- Coast
|
06.07.2002
|
Bhubaneswar
|
14
|
South- Western
|
01.11.1996
|
Hubli
|
15
|
West- Central
|
06.07.2002
|
Jabalpur
|
16
|
South- East central
|
06.07.2002
|
Bilaspur
|
17
|
Metro
rail
|
2010
|
kolkata
|
