Central Railway zone

Central Railway

8-Central Railway
CR's headquarters Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Dates of operation	1951 (1951)–Present
Predecessor	Great Indian Peninsula Railway, Scindia State Railway, Dholpur Railway & others
Track gauge	Mixed
Electrification	Yes
Headquarters	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

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

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 Railways.^[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 Terminus, Mumbai One of the busiest Railway Stations in India. It is also a World Heritage Site

• Main/Long Routes of Central Railway
  • Mumbai CST – Kalyan – kasara - Manmad – Jalgaon – Bhusawal – Akola – Wardha – Nagpur
  • Mumbai CST – Kalyan –Ulhasnagar-Neral –Karjat - Lonavala – Pune
  • Pune – Daund – Solapur – Wadi - Tandur
  • Pune – Satara – Sangli – Miraj – Kolhapur
  • Miraj – Pandharpur – Kurduvadi – Osmanabad – Latur – Latur Road
  • Ballharshah - majri jn - Sevagram(formerly Wardha East Jn.) - Nagpur - Amla - Itarsi
• Shorter/Branch routes of Central Railway are

Utilization

High

• Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan-Karjat/Kasara sub-urban section
• Mumbai-Bhusawal-Nagpur
• Mumbai-Bhusawal-Khandwa
• Itarsi-Nagpur-Sevagram-Majri-Ballharshah
• Mumbai-Pune-Daund-Solapur-Wadi
• Daund-Manmad

Low

• Puntamba-Sai nagar Shirdi
• Pune-Miraj
• Miraj-Latur
• Majri Jn-Nanded

Connections

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

Western Railway zone

Mumbai WR railway division

• Vasai Road Jn (WR), Dadar, Mahim Jn
• Jalgaon Jn

Konkan Railway

• Roha

South Central Railway zone

Secunderabad railway division

• Ballarshah to
• Wadi Jn

Guntakal railway division

• Wadi Jn

Nanded railway division

• Pimpalkutti
• Akola Jn
• Latur Road
• Khandwa Jn
• Mamnad Jn

South Western Railway zone

Hubli railway division

• Hotgi Jn
• Miraj Jn

Western Central Railway zone

Bhopal division

• Itarsi Jn
• Khandwa Jn

South East Central Railway zone

Nagpur SEC railway division

• Nagpur Jn
• Chhindwara

Neral Matheran Line

Constructed in 1907, the narrow gauge Matheran line connects Neral on the Mumbai-Pune main line with the hill station of Matheran in the Western Ghats, east of Mumbai. Neral is linked to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by frequent suburban electric trains. Steam engines have now been replaced by diesel locomotives but it is still a pleasurable journey. The route is noted for its sharp curves.

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 CST, Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. The details of the network divisionwise are as follows^[4]

Central Railway Headquarters at CST.

Mumbai Division

• Mumbai CST - Dadar - Kurla - Thane
  • Mumbai CST – Wadala Road- Kurla (Harbour Line)
    • Wadala – Kings Circle – Mahim Jn(excl.)
  • Kurla – Trombay(Goods)
  • Kurla – Mankhurd – Vashi – Nerul – Belapur – Panvel
  • Thane-Panvel (Trans Harbour line)
    • Thane – Airoli – Sanpada (Trans Harbour Line)
    • Thane - Airoli – Nerul (Trans Harbour Line)
• Thane - Diva Jn - Kalyan
  • Diva Jn-Panvel-Roha
    • Panvel-Jasai-Uran
      • Jasai-JNPT
  • Diva Jn-Bhiwandi Road-Vasai Road
• Kalyan Jn-Kasara-Igatpuri (Inclusive)
• Kalyan Jn-Neral Jn-Karjat Jn-Lonavala (Inclusive)
  • Neral Jn – Matheran (Narrow Gauge)
  • Karjat Jn-Panvel
  • Karjat Jn-Khopoli

Bhusawal Division

Nagpur Division

Nagpur Railway Station at Nagpur.

• Badnera Jn(Exclude)- Pulgaon Jn – Wardha Jn – Butibori Jn-Nagpur Jn
  • Pulgaon Jn-Arvi (Narrow Gauge)
  • Butobori Jn – Umrer
• Sewagram - Majri Jn – Tadali Jn – Chandrapur-Ballarshah Jn(Include)
  • Wardha Jn - Chitoda Jn (on Sewagram - Ballarshah line)
    • Majri Jn – Wani Jn – pimpalkutti
  • wani Jn – rajur
  • Tadali Jn – Ghugus
  • Ballarshah Jn – Chanda Fort
• Nagpur-Amla Jn-Itarsi Jn(exclude)
  • Amla Junction-Chhindwara(exclude)
• nagpur- [sevagram]- [majri] jn [ballarsha]

Solapur Division

Daund Sub Div.

• Manmad(exclude)-Ahmednagar-Daund Jn
• Daund Jn – Solapur
• Miraj Jn(exclude) – Kurudwadi Jn- Pandharpur – Latur – Latur Road
• Solapur – Hotgi Jn – Gulburga – Wadi Jn (Include)

Pune Division

• Lonavala (exclude)-Pune Jn-Daund Jn(exclude)
• Pune Jn – Satara – Sangli – Miraj Jn – Kolhapur
• Daund Jn(exclude) – Baramati
• Lonand Jn – Phaltan ( to be completed in 2011)

^[5]

• Pune Jn - Rajgurunagar - Sangamner - Sinnar - Nashik Road (Project Scrapped)^[6]
• Karad - Chiplun (Proposed)^[7]

The number of stations category-wise under these five railway divisions under the Cental 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^[8]

Ongoing Projects

New line

• Ahmednagar – Parli Vaijnath line. (Work under progress)
• Kolhapur - Vaibhavwadi line. (Survey under progress)

Doubling

• Bhigvan-Mohol (Earth work started)
• Hotgi-Gulbarga (Earth work started)
• Roha-Panvel
• Daund-Manmad (Announced but not yet taken up)
• Pune-Miraj (Survey completed, but work yet to start)

Tripling

• Sewagram - Nagpur Jn.

Conversion

• Manmad - Daund (Electrification)(Work In Progress)
• Pune-Daund (Electrification)(Work In Progress)

See also

• Harbour line
• Mumbai suburban railway
• Project Unigauge

References

External links

• Bhusawal Division
• Central, Western and Harbour railway timetable
• CENTRAL Railway local Train Timetable
• Detailed Mumbai Local Train Time Table