Central Railway zone

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox rail The Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its headquarters are located at Mumbai.<ref name="zones_and_divisions">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Mumbai to Thane on Template:Start date and age.

History

The railway zone was formed on 5 November 1951 by grouping several government-owned railways, including the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the Scindia State Railway of the former princely state of Gwalior, Nizam State Railway, Wardha Coal State Railway and the Dholpur State Railway.<ref name=r1>Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways, New Delhi: National Book Trust, p.42</ref><ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Central Railway zone formerly included large parts of Madhya Pradesh and part of southern Uttar Pradesh, which made it the largest railway zone in India in terms of area, track mileage and staff. These areas became the new West Central Railway zone in April 2003.

The Central Railway General Manager's official residence (erstwhile GIPR agent's residence), 'Glenogle'-a Grade II-B heritage bungalow, is located on Bhausaheb Hire Marg (Mount Pleasant Road), adjacent to the Maharashtra Chief minister's official residence 'Varsha' in Malabar Hill, Mumbai.

Routes

File:Victoria Terminus, Mumbai.jpg

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai One of the busiest Railway Stations in India. It is also a World Heritage Site

Main Lines in the Central Railway zone

One of the oldest and important railway project of central railway zone was Kalyan-Ahmednagar railway project, which was in planning stage since British regime. It was referred to as 3rd ghat project. A survey was carried out in 1973, 2000, 2006, 2014 etc, and the project was in the Railways Board pink book in 2010, but the project stalled. The alignment length of this project was 184 km, and it could have been the shortest route for Marathwada, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The major challenge for this project is 18.96 km long tunnel in the Malshej Ghat section.<ref name="auto2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Malshej Kruti Samiti is pursuing for Kalyan-Ahmednagar railway project. The Kalyan-Murbad section, which is the first phase of this project, is already under survey stage.<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite news</ref>

Branch lines of the Central Railway zone

Vasai Road–Panvel line
Harbour line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)
Trans-Harbour line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)
Port line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)
Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)
Panvel-Karjat branch line
Panvel-JNPT branch line
Karjat-Khopoli branch line (part of Mumbai Suburban railway)
Daund-Manmad branch line
Chalisgaon-Dhule branch line
Manmad-Secunderabad branch line
Daund-Baramati branch line
Puntamba-Shirdi branch line
Ahmadnagar-Beed-Parli Vaijnath branch line (operational upto Amalner Bhandyache as of May 2025)
Lonand-Phaltan branch line
Miraj-Kolhapur branch line
Miraj-Kurduwadi branch line
Kurduwadi-Latur Road branch line
Jalamb-Khamgaon branch line
Badnera-Narkhed branch line
Badnera-Amravati branch line
Wardha-Yavatmal-Nanded branch line (operational only upto Kalamb as of June 2025)
Amla-Chhindwara branch line (excluding Chhindwara Jn.)

Connections

Central railway zone connects to other Zones of Indian railways as at:

Western Railway Zone

Mumbai WR division

Konkan Railway Zone

Roha

South Central Railway zone

Secunderabad railway division

Guntakal Railway Division

Wadi Jn

Nanded railway division

Pimpal Khuti
Akola Jn
Khandwa Jn
Ankai Jn (Manmad-Secunderabad)

South East Central Railway zone

Nagpur SEC railway division

South Western Railway zone

Hubballi railway division

Hotgi Jn - For Pune-Solapur-Vijayapura-Gadag line.
Miraj Jn - For Miraj-Londa-Bangalore line

Western Central Railway zone

Bhopal division

Matheran Hill Railway

Constructed in 1907, the narrow-gauge Matheran Hill Railway connects Neral on the Mumbai CSMT-Chennai main line with the hill station of Matheran in the Western Ghats, east of Mumbai. Neral is linked to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus by frequent suburban trains. Steam engines have now been replaced by diesel locomotives. The route is noted for its sharp curves.

Divisions

Organisation

The central railway covers a large part of the state of Maharashtra and small part of Southern Madhya Pradesh and North-Eastern Karnataka. It is organized into five divisions: Mumbai, Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. The details of the network by division are as follows<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Central Railway Headquarters.

Central Railway Headquarters at CSMT.