Central Railway zone

Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways.[1] Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Mumbai to Thane on 16 April 1853 (1853-04-16).

Central Railway
8-Central Railway
CR's headquarters Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus
Overview
HeadquartersChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai
Reporting markCR
Dates of operation1951 (1951)–Present
Predecessor
Technical
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad-gauge
ElectrificationYes (100%, all lines of Central Railway are electrified)

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.[2][3]

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

Main/Long Routes of Central Railway

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 unfortunately the project was not started. The alignment length of this project was 184 km and it could have been shortest route for Marathwada, Andhra and Telangana. The major challenge for this project is 18.96 km long tunnel in Malshej Ghat section.[4] 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.[5]

Branch/Short routes of Central Railway
    • Mumbai CSMT-Wadala Road-Bandra-Goregaon
    • Thane-Vashi-Panvel
    • Daund-Manmad
    • Bhusawal-Khandwa
    • Amravati-Narkher
    • Vasai Road-Diva-Panvel
    • Panvel-Karjat
    • Badnera-Amravati
    • Daund-Baramati
    • Puntamba-Shirdi
    • Chalisgaon-Dhule
    • Pachora-Jamner (NG)
    • Pulgaon-Arvi (NG)
    • Murtijapur-Yavatmal (NG)
    • Murtijapur-Achalapur (NG)
    • Jalamb-Khamgaon
    • Majri-Pimpalkutti
    • Neral-Matheran
    • Amla-Chhindwara

High
  • Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan-Karjat/Kasara sub-urban section
  • Mumbai-Bhusawal-Akola-Nagpur
  • Mumbai-Bhusawal-Khandwa
  • Itarsi-Nagpur-Sevagram-Majri-Balharshah
  • Mumbai-Pune-Daund-Solapur-Kalaburgi-Wadi
  • Mumbai-Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Bengaluru-Chennai
  • Daund-Ahmednagar-Manmad

Low
  • Puntamba-Sai nagar Shirdi
  • Miraj-Kurduwadi
  • Latur-Kurduwadi

Connections

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

Western Railway Zone

Bandra, Goregaon, Dadar, Vasai Road

Konkan Railway Zone
Secunderabad railway division
Guntakal Railway Division
Nanded railway division
  • Pimpalkutti
  • Akola Jn
  • Khandwa Jn
  • Ankai Jn (MMR-AWB-PBN-NED route)
Nagpur SEC railway division
Hubballi railway division
Bhopal division

Matheran Hill Railway

Constructed in 1907, the narrow-gauge Matheran Hill Railway connects Neral on the Mumbai-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[6]

Central Railway Headquarters.
Central Railway Headquarters at CSMT.

Mumbai Division
Main article: Mumbai CR railway division
  • Mumbai CSMT-Dadar-Kurla-Thane
  • Thane-Diva Jn-Kalyan
    • Diva Jn-Panvel-Roha
      • Panvel-Jasai-Uran
        • Jasai-JNPT
    • Diva Jn-Vasai Road
  • Kalyan Jn-Kasara-Igatpuri (Inclusive)
  • Kalyan Jn-Karjat Jn-Lonavala (Inclusive)
    • Neral Jn-Matheran (narrow-gauge)
    • 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.[5]

Pune Division
Main article: Pune Railway Division

Nagpur Division
Main article: Nagpur CR railway division
Nagpur Railway Station.
Nagpur Railway Station

Solapur Division
Main article: Solapur Railway Division
Solapur railway station

Bhusawal Division
Main article: Bhusawal Railway Division
  • Manmad-Indore (project scrapped)
  • Bhusawal-Badnera-Nagpur (exclude)
  • Bhusawal-Khandwa-Itarsi (exclude)
  • Jalgaon-Nandurbar-Udhna (exclude)
  • Chalisgaon-Dhule
  • Khamgaon - Jalamb
  • Pachora-Jamner
  • Manmad-Aurangabad (exclude)
  • Manmad-Daund (exclude)
  • Mandmad-Nasik-Igatpuri (exclude)
  • Akola-Nanded (exclude)

The number of stations category-wise under these five railway divisions under the Central Railway Zones are as follows (as of 2008) : A-1 : 7, A : 20, B : 10, C : 80, D : 45, E : 221, F : 93, Total : 476[9]

Ongoing Projects

New lines
  • Solapur Jn -Tuljapur- Osmanabad. (New Rail Line survey completed but work yet to start)
  • Nanded - Yavatmal - Wardha. (Work under process)
  • Ashti-Parli Vaijnath line (work under progress). Ahmednagar-Ashti 67 km completed. (Project :- Ahmedanagar- Beed - Parli)
  • Phaltan - Baramati (approved, but work yet to start)
  • Kolhapur-Vaibhavwadi line (survey under progress)
  • Aurangabad-Shani shingnapur-Ahmednagar line (survey completed, but work yet to start)
  • Khamgaon-Jalna (survey completed, but work yet to start)
  • Latur-Latur Road-Ahmedpur-Nanded (survey completed, but work yet to start)
  • Latur Road-Jalkot-Mukhed-Biloli-Bodhan (announced but not yet taken up)
  • Latur-Ausa-Nilanga-Omerga-Aland-Gulbarga (survey under progress)

Doubling
  • Bhigvan-Gulbarga (Doubling completed)
  • Pune-Miraj-Londa-Hubli (Doubling in progress)
  • Pune-Miraj-Kolhapur (Doubling in progress)
  • Panvel-Karjat
  • Karjat-Khopoli

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

Quadrupling
  • Nagpur-Wardha
  • Jalgaon-Bhusawal
  • Manmad-Igatpuri [10]

Hexupling
  • Mumbai CSMT-Kalyan

Trains
CR MEMU Rakes built by BEML, Bangalore
CR MEMU Rakes parked alongside Suranjan Das Road

Some of the major trains operated by Central Railway zone are as follows:

NumberTrain NameStarting StationTerminating Station
22221/22222Mumbai CSMT–Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani ExpressMumbai CSMTHazrat Nizamuddin.
12123/12124Deccan QueenMumbai CSMTPune Jn.
12137/12138Punjab MailMumbai CSMTFirozpur Cantt.
12859/12860Gitanjali ExpressMumbai CSMTHowrah Jn.
12321/12322Howrah Mail via Prayagraj ChheokiMumbai CSMTHowrah Jn.
12809/12810Howrah–Mumbai Mail via NagpurMumbai 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.
12051/12052CSMT 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

Loco Sheds

See also

References
  1. "Ministry of Railways (Railway Board)".
  2. Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways, New Delhi: National Book Trust, p.42
  3. "Central Railways-Construction > Projects". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008.
  4. "कल्याण-नगर रेल्वे हा विकासाचा मार्ग" [Kalyan-Nagar Railway is the path of development] (in Marathi). Maharashtra Times.
  5. "संजीवनी देणारा माळशेज घाट रेल्वे मार्ग" [Revitalizing Malshej Ghat railway line] (in Marathi). Loksatta.
  6. "Central Railways". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008.
  7. "Work on Nashik-Pune rail route begins". IBN Live. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  8. "Maharashtra Government to share cost for Pune-Nashik, Karad-Chiplun rail links". The Economic Times.
  9. "CATEGORISATION OF STATIONS" (PDF). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  10. "MAHARAIL - Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (MRIDC)".

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