Introduction
In 1944, all railway companies were taken over by the Government. In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for re-organizing Indian Railways into six regional zones. As of 2024, there are 17 operational zones of Indian Railways.
Operational Railway Zones
| Number | Railway Zone | Code | Headquarters | Established | Route Length (km) | Stations | Divisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Kolkata Metro | KM | Kolkata | 1984 | 59.8 | 40 | - | 1 | Northern Railway | NR | Delhi | 1952 | 7,363 | 1,013 | Ambala, Delhi, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad |
| 2 | North Eastern Railway | NER | Gorakhpur | 1952 | 3,470.5 | 537 | Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi | 3 | Northeast Frontier Railway | NFR | Guwahati | 1958 | 4,348 | 547 | Alipurduar, Katihar, Lumding, Rangiya, Tinsukia |
| 4 | Eastern Railway | ER | Kolkata | 1952 | 2,823.2 | 587 | Asansol, Howrah, Malda, Sealdah |
| 5 | South Eastern Railway | SER | Kolkata | 1955 | 2,758.6 | 363 | Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi |
| 6 | South Central Railway | SCR | Secunderabad | 1966 | 6,560.5 | 156 | Guntur, Guntakal, Hyderabad, Nanded, Secunderabad, Vijayawada |
| 7 | Southern Railway | SR | Chennai | 1951 | 5,093 | 727 | Chennai, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli |
| 8 | Central Railway | CR | Mumbai CSMT | 1951 | 4,203.3 | 486 | Bhusawal, Mumbai CR, Nagpur, Pune, Solapur |
| 9 | Western Railway | WR | Mumbai Churchgate | 1951 | 6,156.6 | 1046 | Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Mumbai WR, Rajkot, Ratlam, Vadodara |
| 10 | South Western Railway | SWR | Hubballi | 2003 | 3,661.8 | 381 | Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mysuru |
| 11 | North Western Railway | NWR | Jaipur | 2002 | 5,705.6 | 578 | Ajmer, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur |
| 12 | West Central Railway | WCR | Jabalpur | 2003 | 3,060 | 247 | Bhopal, Jabalpur, Kota |
| 13 | North Central Railway | NCR | Prayagraj | 2003 | 3,522.6 | 411 | Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj |
| 14 | South East Central Railway | SECR | Bilaspur | 1998 | 2,396.6 | 358 | Bilaspur, Nagpur, Raipur |
| 15 | East Coast Railway | ECoR | Bhubaneswar | 2003 | 3,017.2 | 133 | Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Waltair |
| 16 | East Central Railway | ECR | Hajipur | 1996 | 4,238 | 340 | Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur |