Central Railway zone


The Central Railway is one of the 17 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters are located at Mumbai. It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Mumbai to Thane on.

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.
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, 'Glenogle'-a Grade II-B heritage bungalow, is located on Bhausaheb Hire Marg, adjacent to the Maharashtra Chief minister's official residence 'Varsha' in Malabar Hill, Mumbai.

Routes

Main Lines in the Central Railway zone

  • Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line
  • Mumbai–Chennai line
  • Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line
  • New Delhi–Chennai line
  • Pune–Miraj–Londa line
  • Mumbai-Diva-Panvel-Roha line
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.
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.

Branch lines of the Central Railway zone

  • Vasai Road–Panvel line
  • Harbour line
  • Trans-Harbour line
  • Port line
  • Central line
  • Panvel-Karjat branch line
  • Panvel-JNPT branch line
  • Karjat-Khopoli branch line
  • 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
  • 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
  • Amla-Chhindwara branch line

    Connections

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

Western Railway Zone

Mumbai WR division
Secunderabad railway division
Nagpur SEC railway division
Hubballi railway division
Bhopal division
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

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

Mumbai Division

  • Mumbai CSMT-Dadar-Kurla-Ghatkopar-Thane
  • * Mumbai CSMT-Wadala Road-Kurla
  • ** Wadala Road-Bandra-Goregaon
  • * Kurla-Trombay
  • * Kurla-Vashi-Nerul-Panvel
  • * Thane-Vashi-Panvel
  • ** Thane-Turbhe-Vashi
  • ** Thane-Turbhe-Nerul
  • Thane-Diva Jn-Kalyan-Kasara
  • * Diva Jn-Panvel-Roha
  • ** Panvel-Jasai-Uran
  • *** Jasai-JNPT
  • * Diva Jn-Vasai Road
  • Kalyan Jn-Kasara-Igatpuri
  • Kalyan Jn-Karjat Jn-Lonavala
  • * Neral Jn-Matheran
  • * Karjat Jn-Panvel
  • * Karjat Jn-Khopoli
Malshej Kriti Samiti is following for Kalyan-Ahmednagar railway project. Kalyan-Murbad section which is first phase of this project is already under survey stage.

Pune Division

  • Lonavala-Pune Jn-Daund Jn
  • Pune Jn-Satara-Karad-Sangli-Miraj Jn-Kolhapur
  • Daund Jn -Baramati
  • Phaltan - Baramati
  • Pune Jn-Rajgurunagar-Sangamner-Sinnar-Nashik Road
  • Karad-Chiplun

    Nagpur Division

  • Badnera Jn -Pulgaon Jn-Wardha Jn-Butibori Jn-Nagpur Jn
  • * Pulgaon Jn-Arvi
  • * Butobori Jn-Umrer
  • Sewagram-Majri Jn-Tadali Jn-Chandrapur-Balharshah Jn
  • * Wardha Jn-Chitoda Jn
  • ** Majri Jn-Wani Jn-pimpalkutti
  • * Wani Jn-Rajur
  • * Tadali Jn-Ghugus
  • * Balharshah Jn-Chanda Fort
  • Nagpur-Amla Jn-Itarsi Jn
  • * Amla Junction-Chhindwara

    Solapur Division

  • Manmad -Ahmednagar-Daund Jn
  • Daund Jn-Solapur
  • Miraj Jn -Pandharpur-Kurudwadi Jn-Barshi-Latur-Latur Road
  • SolapurJn-Hotgi Jn-Gulbarga-Wadi Jn

    Bhusawal Division

  • Manmad-Indore
  • Bhusawal-Badnera-Nagpur
  • Bhusawal-Khandwa-Itarsi
  • Jalgaon-Nandurbar-Udhna
  • Chalisgaon-Dhule
  • Khamgaon - Jalamb
  • Pachora-Jamner
  • Manmad-Aurangabad
  • Manmad-Daund
  • Mandmad-Nasik-Igatpuri
  • Akola-Nanded
The number of stations category-wise under these five railway divisions under the Central Railway Zones are as follows :
A-1 : 7, A : 20, B : 10, C : 80, D : 45, E : 221, F : 93, Total : 476

Ongoing projects

New lines

  • Solapur Jn -Tuljapur- Osmanabad.
  • Nanded - Yavatmal - Wardha.
  • Ashti-Parli Vaijnath line. Ahmednagar-Ashti 67 km completed.
  • Phaltan - Baramati
  • Kolhapur-Vaibhavwadi line
  • Aurangabad-Shani shingnapur-Ahmednagar line
  • Khamgaon-Jalna
  • Latur-Latur Road-Ahmedpur-Nanded
  • Latur Road-Jalkot-Mukhed-Biloli-Bodhan
  • Latur-Ausa-Nilanga-Omerga-Aland-Gulbarga

    Doubling

  • Bhigvan-Gulbarga
  • Pune-Miraj-Londa-Hubli
  • Panvel-Karjat
  • Karjat-Khopoli

    Tripling

  • Kalyan-Kasara
  • Kalyan-Karjat
  • Sewagram Jn-Balharshah Jn

    Quadrupling

  • Nagpur-Wardha
  • Manmad-Igatpuri

    Hexupling

  • Mumbai CSMT-Kalyan

    Trains

Some of the major trains operated by Central Railway zone are as follows:
NumberTrain NameStarting StationTerminating Station
22221/22222Mumbai CSMT–Hazrat Nizamuddin CR Rajdhani ExpressMumbai CSMTHazrat Nizamuddin.
12123/12124Deccan QueenMumbai CSMTPune Jn.
12137/12138Punjab MailMumbai CSMTFirozpur Cantt.
12859/12860Gitanjali ExpressMumbai CSMTHowrah Jn.
12071/12072Mumbai CSMT-Jalna Jan Shatabdi ExpressMumbai CSMTJalna.
12321/12322Howrah–Mumbai CSMT Mail Mumbai CSMTHowrah Jn.
12809/12810Howrah–Mumbai CSMT Mail Mumbai CSMTHowrah Jn.
11035/11036Sharavati ExpressDadarMysuru Jn.
11085/11086Lokmanya Tilak Terminus - Madgaon AC Double Decker ExpressKurla LTTMadgaon Jn.
12289/12290Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus - Nagpur Duronto ExpressMumbai CSMTNagpur.
22107/221078Latur ExpressMumbai CSMTLatur.
11301/11302Udyan ExpressMumbai CSMTKSR Bengaluru City
12025/12026Pune - Secunderabad Shatabdi ExpressPuneSecunderabad Jn.
12051/12052Mumbai CSMT–Madgaon Jan Shatabdi ExpressCSMTMadgaon Jn.
12113/12114Pune–Nagpur Garib Rath ExpressPuneNagpur Jn.
12115/12116Siddheshwar ExpressMumbai CSMTSolapur
22119/22120Mumbai CSMT - Madgaon Tejas ExpressMumbai CSMTMadgaon
12105/12106Vidarbha ExpressMumbai CSMTGondia Jn.
11039/11040Maharashtra ExpressKolhapur SCSMTGondia Jn.
12109/12110Panchvati ExpressMumbai CSMTManmad
11061/11062Pawan ExpressLokmanya Tilak TerminusJaynagar.
11023/11024Sahyadri ExpressMumbai CSMTKolhapur SCSMT
11027/11028Mumbai Chennai MailMumbai CSMTChennai Central
12261/12262Mumbai CSMT–Howrah Duronto ExpressMumbai CSMTHowrah
11019/11020Konark ExpressMumbai CSMTBhubaneswar New
22159/22160Mumbai CSMT–Chennai ExpressMumbai CSMTPulatachi Thalaivar MG Ramchandran Chennai Central
11021/11022Dadar- Tirunelveli Chalukya ExpressDadar Central Tirunelveli Junction
11005/11006Dadar–Puducherry Chalukya ExpressDadar Central Puducherry Junction