Railways

Railways, India's leading transport organization, has been successfully satisfying the rail transport requirements of the country for more than 150 years. Spread over 63,140 routes, Indian Railways prides in being one of World's largest railway systems. Administered by the Railway Board of the Indian Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways operates 14,444 trains, and transports more than 1 million tonnes freight regularly.

Over 1.6 million people are employed under Indian Railways. Other than this, it serves 1 million passengers everyday. In spite of being a department of the Government of India, Indian Railways is attempting to adopt corporate management style in the near future.

Indian Railways: Zone Divisions

Indian railways has been divided into various zones for easy administration. The 17 zones of Indian Railways include:

• Northern Railway ( Headquarters - Delhi)
• Northeast Frontier Railway ( Headquarters - Guwahati)
• North Eastern Railway (Headquarters - Gorakhpur)
• Central Railway ( Headquarters - Mumbai)
• Eastern Railway ( Headquarters - Kolkata)
• Western Railway ( Headquarters - Mumbai )
• South Eastern Railway ( Headquarters - Kolkata)
• Southern Railway ( Headquarters - Chennai )
• South Western Railway ( Headquarters - Hubli)
• South Central Railway ( Headquarters - Secunderabad)
• North Western Railway ( Headquarters - Jaipur )
• North Central Railway ( Headquarters - Allahabad)
• East Coast Railway ( Headquarters - Bhubaneshwar)
• West Central Railway ( Headquarters - Jabalpur)
• East Central Railway ( Headquartes - Hajipur )
• South East Central Railway ( Headquarters - Bilaspur)
• Konkan Railway ( Headquarters - Navi Mumbai)

The aforementioned zones of Indian Railways is divided into 67 divisions. Each division has its divisional headquarter. Though not a part of any zone, India Railways also administers the Calcutta Metro.

Services Offered by Indian Railways

As far as the passenger services are concerned, an AC 3-tier coachIndian Railways runs approximately 9,000 passenger trains regularly across 28 states and 3 Union territories. However, States like Meghalaya, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are in no way connected. A standard passenger train is usually composed of 18 coaches. Apart from this, Indian Railways also operates rains with 24 coaches. Apart from passenger services, Indian Railways also offer production services. A WAP5 locomotive is associated with manufacturing of heavy engineering elements and rolling stock for the Sanghamitra Express running between Patna and Bangalore.

Indian Railways: Administration

• Laloo Prasad Yadav, Railway Minister of the India Government, administers the administrative affairs of the Indian Railways.
• Each of the zones under Indian Railways is governed by a General Manager.
• The zonal divisions are under the administration of the Divisional Railway Managers (DRM).