Electric Multiple Unit (EMU)

Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.

Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities - mainly Bombay, Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,474 on 31 March 2010. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.

Passenger coaches numbered 43,518 on 31 March 2010. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,505 on 31 March 2010.

The Mumbai Suburban Railway  is a mass transit system serving the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It is part of the public transport system of Mumbai, is provided for by the state-run Indian Railways' two zonal Western Railways and Central Railways. The system carries more than 7.24 million commuters on a daily basis. It has the highest passenger densities of any urban railway system in the world. The trains plying on its routes are commonly referred to as local trains or simply as locals by the general populace.

Mumbai Suburban Railway old EMU (Indian Railway)  

The Mumbai Suburban Railway, as well as Indian Railways, are an offshoot of the first railway to be built by the British in India in April 1853, and was also the oldest railway system in Asia. The first train ran between Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane, a distance of 34 km, on 16 April 1853 at 3:35PM. Since 1991, it has faced rapid expansion. The Bombay Railway History Group has been striving to document railway heritage along this line.

Due to the geographical spread of the population and location of business areas, the rail network is the principal mode of mass transport in Mumbai. As Mumbai's population swelled, frequent overcrowding has become a serious issue, and numerous safety concerns have been raised over the years. A metro system and a monorail system are under construction in Mumbai to ease the travelling conditions in the Suburban network.

Anatomy:

The suburban trains consists of 9 and 12 coaches. To alleviate the problems of overcrowding, the 9 coach trains are being phased out replacing them with 12 coaches. 15 coach trains were introduced in 2010 however, these are few in number. Broadly the train contains the general compartments, ladies compartments, general first class and ladies first class. Men are not allowed to travel in the ladies compartment. 

New white and purple coloured rakes on the Western Line

The first class is more expensive, and thereby tends to be less crowded. The first class should not be boarded without a valid ticket, since the penalty is high if caught.

Each train contains special coaches to cater to different needs. These are normally referred to as 'Compartments'

• The General compartment: Also commonly called 'Gent's second class', as the majority population in these compartments is men. The compartment is open to women and children as well.

Interior of New EMUs of Mumbai

• The General First Class compartment: Again commonly known as 'Gent's first class' since majority population is men. Women and children can also board this compartment. The coach is designated by red and yellow slant stripes. The location of the same is designated by coloring the platform walls with similar stripes.

• The Ladies compartment: Commonly known as 'Ladies second class'. This compartment is reserved solely for females, however male children up to the age of 13 can travel in this compartment. Men are not allowed to travel, and may face a penalty. Some of the coaches of ladies compartments are open to general public between 11:15pm – 6:30am. These are indicated by a note near the doors of the compartments. The coach is designated by green and yellow slant stripes. The location of the same is designated by coloring the platform walls with similar stripes.

• The Ladies First Class compartment: Commonly known as 'Ladies first class'. This compartment is reserved solely for females, however male children up to the age of 13 can travel in this compartment. Men are not allowed to travel, and may face a penalty. Some of the coaches of ladies compartments are open to general public between 11:15pm – 6:30am. These are indicated by a note near the doors of the compartments. The coach is designated by red and yellow slant stripes. The location of the same is designated by coloring the platform walls with similar stripes. This compartment is adjacent to the ladies compartment on the western line.

• For Handicap and Cancer Patients: For the physically challenged and cancer patients, separate coaches are reserved in each train. On a platform, one can locate these by signs or by following a 'Beep- Beep- Beep' sound indicator for the visually impaired. These coaches are open to all the genders. One needs a valid certificate of disability(in case it is not apparent) to board the compartment. Failure to do so may result in a penalty.

• For Senior Citizens: A special coach is reserved for passengers above the age of 60. These coaches are open to all the genders.

• For goods and heavy luggage: Heavy goods and luggages can be transported via the suburban trains using the compartments specially designed and reserved for this purpose.

Locating the position of compartments can be difficult for newbies and tourists. You can ask the seasoned passengers or always approach the vendors on the food stalls on the platform.

Ticketing:

Tickets for the suburban trains can be purchased at every train station. Travelling without a valid ticket is an offence and if caught can result into penalty. The penalty is steeper for passengers travelling in first class without a valid ticket.

Tickets can be bought for single journey (one way) or a return journey. A return ticket is valid till the next day on weekdays and till Monday if purchased on a Friday. The ticket counters usually have long queues.

Automatic Ticket Vending Machine

To save time, a Coupon Booklet can be purchased and the coupons can be punched for the designated fare at the Coupon Validating Machines(CVMs) at every station. The ticket fares matrix is pasted above the CVM. There are also Smart Cards available that can be topped up (recharged with some amount) and one can use it to print tickets for themselves from an Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVMs). A Season Ticket can be purchased if one is commuting regularly. One can choose the validity of these tickets from 1 month, 3 months to a year. Season Tickets are the most cost effective and time efficient option for regular commuters.

CVMs will be phased out from Central and Western railway stations in March 2013 in order to popularize ATVMs. The move was prompted by fears that fraudulent coupons can be pushed into circulation as the CVM network is not linked to the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) operated unreserved ticketing system that accounts for all the transactions done through booking windows and ATVMs.[5]

Tourists can avail the option of 'Tourist ticket'. Under the tourist ticket scheme, passengers can travel unlimited times during its validity between any stations on all lines Mumbai Suburban Railway. Tickets are available for first and second class. Effective 1 August 2012, the fares for first class tickets are 210 (US$3.8) (1 day), 365 (US$6.61) (3 days) and 430 (US$7.78) (5 days). These tickets are issued maximum 3 days in advance, excluding the first day of validity. No refund is admissible on unused/partially used tourist tickets. But tourist tickets booked in advance can be cancelled before the day of validity on which charges of Rs 10 for second class and Rs 20 for first class per passenger will be deducted.

Fares:

Distance (km)	Fare (I-class)	Fare (II-class)
up to 10	40 (US$0.72)	4 (US$0.07)
11 - 25	70 (US$1.27)	7 (US$0.13)
26 - 50	110 (US$1.99)	11 (US$0.2)
51 - 75	150 (US$2.72)	15 (US$0.27)

Goods wagons or freight cars

The number of freight car or goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 219,931 on 31 March 2010. The number is far shorter than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950-51 and it increased to 892 tonnes in 2009-10.

Goods Wagons

However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.

A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (UIC) hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain. Trains may haul bulk material, intermodal containers, general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars.

When considered in terms of ton-miles (tonne-kilometers) hauled per unit of consumed energy, rail transport is more efficient than other means of transportation. Additional economies are often realized with bulk commodities (e.g., coal), especially when hauled over long distances. However, rail freight is often subject to transshipment costs, which may exceed that of operating the train itself, a factor that practices such as containerization aim to minimize. Bulk shipments are less affected by transshipment costs, with distances as short as 30 kilometers (18.6 mi) sufficient to make rail transport economically viable. However, shipment by rail is not as flexible as by highway, which has resulted in much freight being hauled by truck, even over long distances.

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine. Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons pulled behind.

Two steam engines at water refilling station at Agra station

 Steam locomotives were first developed in Britain and dominated railway transportation until the middle of the 20th century. From the early 1900s they were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives.

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel.

A WDM-3A diesel locomotive of Indian Railways, used to haul both passenger and freight.

 Several types of diesel locomotive have been developed, the principal distinction being in the means by which the prime mover's mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels (drivers).

Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device (such as a chemical battery or fuel cell).

Indian locomotive class WAP-5 hauling the Bhopal Shatabdi Express to New Delhi

Electrically propelled locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas turbines, are classed as diesel-electric or gas turbine-electric locomotives because the electric generator/motor combination only serves as a power transmission system. Electricity is used to eliminate smoke and take advantage of the high efficiency of electric motors; however, the cost of railway electrification means that usually only heavily used lines can be electrified.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. Locomotives are also called locos or engines. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, mixed or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3F would be a 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
As of 31 March 2010, Indian Railways had 5,022 diesel locomotives (increased from 17 on 31 March 1951), 3,825 electric locomotives (increased from 72 on 31 March 1951) and 42 steam locomotives (decreased from 8,120 on 31 March 1951) (see Railway Budget 2012-13 Explantory Memorandum).

Other subsidiaries

There also exist independent organizations under the control of the Railway Board for electrification, modernization, research and design and training of officers, each of which is headed by an officer of the rank of General Manager. A number of Public Sector Undertakings, which perform railway-related functions ranging from consultancy to ticketing, are also under the administrative control of the Ministry of railways.
There are eleven public undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, viz.

• Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL)
• Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
• Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)
• Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)
• Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited
• Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC)
• Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL)
• Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC)
• Railtel Corporation of India Limited (Rail Tel)
• Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES)
• Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), that has constructed and operates Delhi Metro network, is an independent organisation not connected to the Indian Railways. Similar metro rail corporations in other ciities (except Calcutta) are not connected to the Indian Railways.

Production units

Indian Railways manufactures much of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components at its six manufacturing plants, called Production Units, which are managed directly by the Ministry. Popular rolling stock builders such as CLW and DLW for electric and diesel locomotives; ICF and RCF for passenger coaches are Production Units of Indian Railways. Over the years, Indian Railways has not only achieved self-sufficiency in production of rolling stock in the country but also exported rolling stock to other countries. Each of these six production units is headed by a General Manager, who also reports directly to the Railway Board. The six Production Units are:-

Sl. No	Name	Abbr.	Year Established	Location	Main products
1.	Golden Rock Locomotive Workshops	GOC	1928	Trichy	Diesel-electric Locomotives
2.	Chittaranjan Locomotive Works	CLW	1947	Chittaranjan, Asansol	Electric Locomotives
3.	Diesel Locomotive Works	DLW	1961	Varanasi	Diesel Locomotives
4.	Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works	DMW	1981	Patiala	Diesel-electric Locomotives
5.	Integral Coach Factory	ICF	1952	Chennai	Passenger coaches
6.	Rail Coach Factory	RCF	1986	Kapurthala	Passenger coaches
7.	Rail Wheel Factory	RWF	1984	Bangalore	Railway wheels and axles
8.	Rail Wheel Factory	RWF	2011	Chhapra	Railway wheels and axles

Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB)

Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB) was formed in 1998 in the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) with the objective of  To frame policy guidelines, rules and regulations for smooth and efficient functioning of Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) all over India. to monitor the activities of RRBs and streamline its functioning. to monitor the expenditure of RRBs and devise measures for cost control. to evaluate the performance of RRBs and advise them as required. The Railway Recruitment Control Board consists of following officers of Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) in their ex-officio capacity.

S.No. Name Designation Ex-officio position in RRCB 1. Shri. A.K.Goyal Member Staff Chairman 2. Shri. P. K. Sharma Adviser (Staff) Member 3. Shri. A.K.Maitra Adviser (Vigilance) Member 4. Shri. R.C.Jat Executive Director, Establishment (RRB) Secretary

Postal Address : Railway Recruitment Control Board Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) Room No.457, Rail Bhavan, Raisina Road, New Delhi - 110 001 Telephone/fax: 011-23387529 E-mail: edrrb@rb.railnet.gov.in

Recruitment and training

Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralized training institutes.

Western Railway zone

The Western Railway is one of the 17 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Surat - Mumbai, Surat - Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad - Vadodara and Palanpur - Ahmedabad.

Mumbai Central Station

 The railway system is divided into six operating divisions: Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Ratlam and Mumbai.Ratlam has emerged as the growing division for western railways.

Present

Western Railway headquarters in Mumbai's Churchgate station and serves the entire state of Gujarat, some portions of Western Madhya Pradesh, and coastal Maharashtra.

Bandra Terminus Station

The Western coast of India served by Western Railway has a number of ports, most important among them being Kandla, Hajira, Surat, Okha, Porbandar, Bhavnagar in Gujarat state and Mumbai in Maharashtra. Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) ply between Churchgate and Virar (64 km) and is projected to extend the service till Dahanu Road, while Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMUs) service the section beyond Virar till Dahanu Road (60 km). EMUs are of 9 car, 12 car or 15 car rakes and are differentiated as slow and fast locals. Slow trains halt at all stations, while fast ones halt at important stations only and are preferable over longer distances. The first electric train on this section was introduced in 1928 between Churchgate and Borivali.
The gauge-wise kilometrage of Western Railways at present, is as under:

Gauge	Length
Broad Gauge	4,305 km
Metre Gauge	4,838 km
Narrow Gauge	877 km
Total	10,020 km

West Central Railway zone

The West Central Railway, one of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways, came into existence on April 1, 2003. It is headquartered at Jabalpur.

Jabalpur Railway Station

History

On April 1, 2003, the West Central Railway was reconstituted from the Jabalpur and Bhopal divisions of the Central Railway (CR) and the reorganized Kota division of the Western Railway (WR).

Kota Junction

 The new West Central Railway serves eastern&central Madhya Pradesh,northern Chhattisgarh, southern Uttar Pradesh , and northwestern Rajasthan state.

Southern Railway zone

Southern Railway has its headquarters in Chennai Central and has the following six divisions: Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Palakkad, and Thiruvananthapuram. It covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and small portions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. More than 500 million passengers travel on the network every year. This zone of the Indian Railways is different from the other zones of India as its revenue is derived from passengers and not from freight.

Chennai Central Station

 Chennai Central, Madurai Junction, Tiruchirappalli Junction, Coimbatore Junction and Thiruvananthapuram Central are the most important stations and also the most profitable stations under Southern Railway Division. The most profitable route comprises Chennai Central - Arakkonam - Katpadi Junction (Vellore) -Jolarpet Junction - Salem Junction - Erode Junction - Coimbatore Junction- Thrissur - Ernakulam Junction - Trivandrum Central, Chennai Egmore - Viluppuram - Tiruchirappalli - Dindigul- Madurai Junction - Tirunelveli - Nagercoil - Trivandrum Central, Mangalore Central - Calicut - Shornur Junction.

Coimbatore Junction

South Western Railway zone

The South Western Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hubli and comprises Bangalore, Mysore divisions of the erstwhile Southern Railway and the reorganized Hubli division of the erstwhile South Central Railway which includes Hospet and Bellary.

Hubli Railway Station

 The division came into existence on April 1, 2003. Important trains operated by this zone are : Karnataka Express (Bangalore–New Delhi), Rani Chennamma Express (Bangalore–Kolhapur), Gol Gumbaz Express (Bangalore–Solapur), Basava Express (Bangalore–Gulbarga–Bagalkot), Jan Shatabdi Express (Bangalore–Hubli), Siddaganga Intercity Express (Bangalore–Dharwad), Udyan Express (Bangalore–Mumbai), Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express (Bangalore–New Delhi), Hampi Express (Bangalore–Hubli), Bangalore –Chennai Mail, Lalbagh Express (Bangalore–Chennai), Shatabdi Express (Bangalore–Chennai), Tippu Express (Bangalore–Mysore), Rajya Rani Express (Mysore–Bangalore) and the Vasco Da Gama–Hazrat Nizammudin Delhi Goa Express.

Mysore Railway Station

Area Covered:
South Western Railway covers most of the railway lines in the state of Karnataka.Belgaum–Bagalkote-Raichur, Belgaum-Dharwad, Belgaum-Sawantwadi, Bagalkote–Kudachi, Kottur–Harihar, Kadur–Chikmagalur–Sakleshpur, Munirabad–Mehboobnagar, Tumkur–Chitradurga–Davangere, Shimoga–Harihar and Tumkur–Rayadurg lines are commissioned.

South Eastern Railway zone

The South Eastern Railway (SER) is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Garden Reach, Kolkata. It comprises four divisions:

1. Adra Railway Division
2. Chakradharpur Railway Division
3. Kharagpur Railway Division
4. Ranchi Railway Division

Ranchi Railway Division

The Bengal Nagpur Railway

The Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Company was incorporated in 1887 to take over from the Nagpur Chattisgarh Railway and to convert the line to Broad Gauge. The work was completed in 1888. The extension of the main line from Nagpur to Asansol was completed by 1891. A 161 mile long branch line (258 km) which connected Bilaspur to Umaria coal mine was built and linked to the existing line from Umaria to Katni (1891). By the turn of the twentieth century work on the Calcutta-Bombay and Calcutta-Madras lines were completed.

South East Central Railway zone

The South East Central Railway is one of the seventeen railway zones in India.

Nagpur Railway Station

It is headquartered at Bilaspur and comprises Nagpur division, reorganized Bilaspur division of South Eastern Railway and new Raipur division. This zone was the part of South Eastern Railway.

Bilaspur Rajdhani Express arrives at Bilaspur Station

 This zone was inaugurated on 20 September 1998 and dedicated to nation on 5 April 2003.

South Central Railway zone

The South Central Railway  is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Secunderabad and has the following divisions:

1. Secunderabad
2. Hyderabad
3. Guntakal (including Bellary-Guntakal (MG))
4. Vijayawada
5. Guntur
6. Nanded

It covers the geographical area consists of Andhra Pradesh ,Karnataka,Maharashtra and a very small section in Madhya Pradesh.

Infrastructure

Since its inception, SC Railway laid 342.805 Rkm of new lines, converted 2676.19 Rkm from MG to BG and carried out a doubling of track on 1272.453 Rkm, constructed many major river bridges including the engineering marvels II Godavari Bridge and III Godavari Bridges at Rajahmundry.
Towards customer satisfaction, it had established the Computerized Passenger Reservation Systems at 85 Stations/locations and offer reservations for any train from any station in the Country. For gaining efficiency in freight operations, SCR established Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) in its jurisdiction and has already introduced Rack Management Systems at 23 Stations and Terminal Management System at 31 stations.

The Vijayawada Junction is the busiest station of SCR

 Its Passenger and Freight performance has met with stupendous leaps forward. The freight loading which was only 9.00 million tons in the year of its inception, 1966, has seen a quantum jump and touched 44.79 Million tons in the financial year 2003–2004. Passenger transport too has met with tremendous growth, touching 195.65 million in 2003–2004 as against 50 millions in the year of inception and the gross earning from Rs. 58.00 Cr. to 3683.00 Cr in the fiscal year 2003–2004.

List of Trains route Secundrabad:

Rajkot Express at Pune Junction

• Amaravati Express
• Andhra Pradesh Express
• Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express
• Devagiri Express
• East Coast Express (India)
• Falaknuma Express
• Godavari Express
• Goutami Express
• Guntur Railway Division
• Hussainsagar Express
• Hyderabad Mumbai Express
• Janmabhoomi Express
• Rajdhani Express – Secunderabad
• Rajkot Secunderabad Express
• Sabari Express
• Secundrabad Express
• Simhapuri Express
• Trains of South Central Railway (India)

Northern Railway zone

The Northern Railways is one of the 16 zones and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Delhi at New Delhi Railway Station.

New Delhi Railway Station

 Northern Railways is one of nine old zones of Indian Railways and also the biggest in terms of network having 6807 kilometre route. It covers the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and the Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.
The railway zone was created on 14 April 1952 by merging Jodhpur Railway, Bikaner Railway, Eastern Punjab Railway and three divisions of the East Indian Railway north-west of Mughalsarai (Uttar Pradesh). It includes the first passenger railway line in North India, which opened from Allahabad and Kanpur on March 3, 1859. The Zonal Headquarters Office of Northern Railways is at Baroda House, New Delhi, and divisional headquarters are located at Ambala (Haryana), Delhi, Firozpur (Punjab), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh).

Notable trains

Luxury trains

Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Palace on Wheels, Mahaparinirvana Express

Rajdhani Express

 Shatabdi Express

Bhopal Delhi Shatabdi Express

  Palace on Wheels

Palace on Wheels

 For more information about Palace on wheels visit: http://www.palaceonwheels.net/

Passenger trains

Himsagar Express, New Delhi–Jabalpur Express, Prayagraj Express, Kashi Vishwanath Express,Bareilly–New Delhi Intercity Express, Shan-e-Punjab Superfast Exp, New Delhi–Amritsar Superfast Exp., Jammu Mail.

Northeast Frontier Railway zone

The Northeast Frontier Railway abbreviated as N F Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. Headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam it is responsible for rail operations in the entire Northeast and parts of West Bengal and Bihar. It is divided into 5 divisions:

• Alipurdaur Railway Division
• Katihar Railway Division
• Lumding Railway Division
• Rangiya Railway Division
• Tinsukia Railway Division

Each of these divisions is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager, a Senior Administrative Grade officer of the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India.

Guwahati Railway Station

The departmental setup at headquarter level and divisional setup in the field assists the General Manager in running the railways. Various departments namely engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal & telecom, operations, commercial, safety, accounts, security, personal and medical are headed by a Senior Administrative Grade / Higher Administrative Grade officer, provide technical and operational support to the divisions in train operations.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) ascends 6,850 feet (2,090 m) from New Jalpaiguri (Siliguri); the climb begins at Sukna, continues uninterruptedly to Ghum (7,407 ft/2,258 m) and descends the final 5 miles (8.0 km) to Darjeeling.

Darjeeling to Ghoom Heritage Narrow Gauge Train

After independence, India's partition resulted in the isolation of the Northeast region. Consequently, the DHR was merged into Assam Railways, it was closed for the construction of the Assam-Bengal link line and one of its extension lines to Kishanganj was converted to metre gauge. DHR's other extension line to Kalimpong got washed away due to floods. On re-opening, the DHR was merged with North Eastern Railway in 1952 and later into Northeast Frontier Railway in 1958.
The DHR achieved worldwide fame for many reasons such as:

• A gateway to the Himalayas
• The tiny 4-wheeled steam locomotives of the 19th century
• The curves, loops, "Z"s and steep grades crisscrossing the road

An interest in DHR all along has ensured that it continues to operate notwithstanding very heavy losses. The steam locomotive is an icon of this Railway. Tindharia workshop has kept 13 locomotives surviving, some of which are over 100 years old and the youngest is about 70 years old.
Timeline of DHR:

• January 20, 1948: Purchased by the Government of India
• January 26, 1948: Transferred to Assam Rail Link
• January 26, 1950: Transferred to Assam Railway
• January 14, 1952: Transferred to North Eastern Railway
• January 15, 1958: Transferred to Northeast Frontier Railway

North Western Railway zone

The North Western Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur. It comprises four divisions: Jodhpur and reorganized Bikaner division of the erstwhile Northern Railway and reorganized Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of the erstwhile Western Railway. This zone came into existence on October 1, 2002.

Jaipur Railway Station

 This railway comprises a total of 578 stations covering a total of 5449.29 route km out of which 2575.03 are broad gauge and 2874.23 are metre gauge.

Jodhpur Railway Station

 The operating diesel sheds of NWR are ABR (Abu Road)which holds WDM2's and Bhagat Ki Kothi (BGKT) Jodhpur which holds WDM2 WDG's WDP4's WDM3A's which are broad gauge locomotives ,and Phulera at Jaipur which use to hold YDM4's which are meter gauge locomotives .NWR even holds international rail service Thar express Jodhpur to Munabao

North Eastern Railway zone

The North Eastern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur and comprises Lucknow and Varanasi divisions as well as reorganized Izzatnagar division.
The North Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 by combining two Railway systems the Oudh and Tirhut Railway and Assam Railway. It was bifurcated into two Railway Zones on 15 January, 1958, the North Eastern Railway and the Northeast Frontier Railway.

Lucknow Railway Station

 The present N. E. Railway (NER), after re-organisation of Railway Zones in 2002, comprises three Divisions - Varanasi, Lucknow & Izatnagar. NER has 3,402.46 route km with 486 stations. NER primarily serves the areas of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand & western districts of Bihar.
This Railway passes through/connects to many important tourist and cultural centres like Varanasi, Sarnath, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kushinagar, Lumbani, Ayodhaya, Nainital, Ranikhet, Kausani and Dudhwa.

North Central Railway zone

The North Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India.The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central followed by Mughal Sarai. It is headquartered at Allahabad and comprises three divisions: reorganized Allahabad division of the erstwhile Northern Railway, Jhansi division of the erstwhile Central Railway, and new Agra division.

Allahabad Railway Station

History

The North Central Railway, in its present form, came into existence on 1 April 2003. The North Central Railway present network extends over a large area of North Central India, covering the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

Kanpur Central

Area Covered

Geographically, the NCR is the heart of Railway network and extends from (exclusive) in the North to Mughalsarai (exclusive) in the east and Bina (exclusive) in the South. This has a total of 3062 route-km, predominantly double line electrified section. This route from Ghaziabad to Mughalsarai is a part of golden quadrilateral. NCR consists of 202 main line stations & 221 branch line stations. This Zone forms a corridor for trains almost directions viz. East to North and North to East a total of 29 pairs of Mail/Express Trains daily West/South to North and North to South/ West total 37 pairs of M/Exp. Trains daily East to Southwest & Southwest to East a total of 25 pairs of Mail/Express Trains daily East to West & West to East a total of 12 pairs of Mail/Express Trains Daily.

Eastern Railway zone

The Eastern Railway (ER) is one of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairlie Place, Kolkata, and comprises four divisions: Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol. These are the financial departments and each has an assistant divisional financial manager (ADFM), divisional railway manager (DRM), and senior divisional railway manager (Sr.DFM). The name of the division denotes the name of the city where the divisional headquarters is located.

Howrah station

 It has three major workshops: Jamalpur, Liluah, and Kanchrapara. The Jamalpur Workshop is for wagon repair, periodic overhaul (POH) of diesel locomotives, manufacturing of cranes and tower-wagons; the Liluah workshop is for POH of coaching & freight vehicles and the Kanchrapara workshop is for POH of electric locomotives, EMU Locals and coaches.

Sealdah Main railway station

History

The East Indian Railway (EIR) Company was incorporated in 1845 to connect East India with Delhi. The first train ran here between Howrah and Hooghly on 15 August 1854. The train left Howrah Station at 08:30 a.m. and reached Hooghly in 91 minutes. The management of the East Indian Railway was taken over by the British Indian government on 1 January 1925.
The Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 by amalgamating three lower divisions of the East Indian Railway: Howrah, Asansol and Danapur, the entire Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) and the Sealdah division of the erstwhile Bengal Assam Railway (which was already added to the East Indian Railway on 15 August 1947). On 1 August 1955, the portions of BNR stretching from Howrah to Visakhapatnam in the South, Howrah to Nagpur in the Central area and up to Katni in the North Central Region were separated from Eastern Railway and became the South Eastern Railway. Three more divisions: Dhanbad, Mughalsarai and Malda were formed later. Till 30 September 2002 ER consisted seven divisions. On 1 October 2002 a new zone, the East Central Railway was carved out by separating the Eastern Railway's Danapur, Dhanbad and Mughalsarai divisions from it. Presently, it comprises four divisions.

Important Trains From Eastern Railway

• Howrah – New Delhi Rajdhani Express(Via Gaya & Patna)
• Sealdah – New Delhi Rajdhani Express(Via Gaya)
• Howrah – Kalka Mail, From Howrah.Jn To Kalka(Via Delhi)
• Howrah – New Delhi Poorva Express
• Howrah – Mumbai Mail, From Howrah.Jn to Mumbai C.S.T(M)(Via Allahabad)
• Howrah – Guwahati Sarai Ghat Express, From Howrah.Jn To Guwahati
• Asansol – Ahmadabad Pasasnath Exp
• Maldah – Delhi Farakka Express, From Malda Town To Delhi
• Bhagalpur – Lokmanya Tilak Super Fast Express, From Bhagalpur To Lokmanya Tilak Tr(Mumbai)
• Bhagalpur – Yesvantpur Express
• Jamalpur - Howrah Express

East Coast Railway zone

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) is one of the sixteen railway zones of Indian Railways came into existence from 1 April 2003.

East Coast Railway

 Earlier the East coast Railway was under the South Eastern Railway, Headquartered at the city of Kolkata, West Bengal and now it is been divided to form a new railway zone of the Indian Railways.
The geographical jurisdiction of this railway zone extends over three states encompressing almost all parts of Orissa along with parts of Srikakulam, Vizainagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of North Eastern Andhra Pradesh, and Bastar and Dantewada districts of Chhatisgarh State.
Bhubaneswar in Orissa is the zonal headquarters. There are Sambalpur, Khurda Road and Waltair divisions in East Coast Railway.

Central Railway zone

CR's headquarters Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

The Central Railway is one of the largest of the 17 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus). It includes the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Bombay to Thane on April 16, 1853.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Station

 The central railway covers a large part of the state of Maharashtra and parts of North-Eastern Karnataka and Southern Madhya Pradesh.
The railway zone was formed on November 5, 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 and the Dholpur Railways.

The Central Railway zone formerly included northern Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states 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.

Major Routes of Central Railway

• Main/Long Routes of Central Railway
  • Mumbai CST – Dadar – Kurla – Thane – Diva – Kalyan – Manmad – Jalgaon – Bhusawal – Akola – Wardha – Nagpur
  • Mumbai CST – Kalyan – Neral – Lonavala – Pune
  • Pune – Daund – Solapur – Wadi
  • Pune – Satara – Sangli – Miraj – Kolhapur
  • Miraj – Pandharpur – Kurduvadi – Osmanabad – Latur – Latur Road

• Shorter/Branch routes of Central Railway are
  • Mumbai CST-Vadala-King Circle
  • Mumbai CST-Vadala-Kurla-Vashi-Panvel
  • Thane-Vashi
  • Daund-Manmad
  • Nagpur-Amla-Itarsi
  • Bhusawal-Khandwa
  • Wardha-Ballarshah
  • Diva-Panvel-Roha
  • Panvel-Karjat
  • Diva-Bhiwandi Road-Vasai Road
  • Badnera-Amaravati
  • Daund-Baramati
  • Puntamba-Shirdi
  • Chalisgaon-Dhule
  • Pachora-Jamner
  • Pulgaon-Arvi
  • Murtijapur-Yavatml
  • Murtijapur-Achalapur
  • Jalamb-Khamgaon

  Notable Trains

  • 2261/2262 Duronto Express – Mumbai to Howrah Super Fast Non-stop Express & run in LHB Coaches (Managed by South Eastern Railway (S.E), 4 days)
  • 12221/12222 Duronto Express – Pune to Howrah Super Fast Non-stop Express & run in LHB Coaches (Managed by South Eastern Railway (S.E), 2 days)
  • 2123/2124 Deccan Queen – Pune to Mumbai, pride of the Central Railway
  • 12115/12116 Mumbai-pune-solapur,SuperFast
  • 11021/11022 Mumbai-pune-solapur Mumbai Solapur Intercity.
  • 12169/12170 Pune-Solapur superfast Pune solapur Intercity
  • 11051/11051 solapur-kolhapur Superfast.
  • 2105/2106 Vidarbha Express – Mumbai to Gondia
  • 2111/2112 Amravati Superfast Express – Mumbai to Amravati
  • 2859/2860 Gitanjali Express – Mumbai to Howrah(Although Engine belongs to [South Eastern Railway] & coaches belong to East Coast Railway)
  • 9311/9312 Indore-Pune Express - Indore to Pune via Baroda, Ratlam, Ujjain (Although coaches belong to Western Railway, gets engiene of Kaylan form Kaylan) (3 days)
  • 1017/1018 Chalukya Express – Mumbai to Yeshwantpur
  • 2137/2138 Punjab Mail – Mumbai to Ferozpur
  • 2701/2702 Hussainsagar Express – Mumbai to Hyderabad
  • 2534/2533 Pushpak Express – Mumbai to Lucknow
  • 2129/2130 Azad Hind Express – Pune to Howrah(gets engiene of bhusaval shed from manmad)
  • 1013/1014 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express to Coimbatore
  • Bhimganga Express From Pune to Daund
  • 11003/11004 Rajya Rani Express – Dadar to Sawantwadi
  • 1019/1020 Konark Express – Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar
  • 1039/1040 Maharastra Express – Kolhapur to Gondia
  • 8029/8030 Shalimar-Kurla(T)Express – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Shalimar(Although & coaches belong to South Eastern Railway (S.E) And Engine belongs to Eastern Railway (E.R))
  • 2101/2102 Jnaneshwari Super Deluxe Express – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Howrah (Although Engine belongs to South Eastern Railway (S.E), but Coaches belongs to Central Railway (C.R))
  • 2289/2290 Mumbai to Nagpur Duranto Exp.
  • 1011/1012 Mahalaxmi Express – Mumbai to Kolhapur
  • 1055/1056 Godan Express – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Gorakhpur
  
  

Railway zones

Indian Railways is divided into several zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952 to sixteen in 2003 then to seventeen in 2010. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each of the seventeen zones is headed by a General Manager (GM) who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM). The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial and safety branches report to the respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control individual stations and the train movement through the track territory under their stations' administration.

Sl. No	Name	Abbr.	Date Established	Route KMs	Headquarters	Divisions
1.	Central	CR	1951-11-05	3905	Mumbai	Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur
2.	East Central	ECR	2002-10-01	3628	Hajipur	Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur
3.	East Coast	ECoR	2003-04-01	2572	Bhubaneswar	Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam
4.	Eastern	ER	1952-04	2414	Kolkata	Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda
5.	North Central	NCR	2003-04-01	3151	Allahabad	Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi
6.	North Eastern	NER	1952	3667	Gorakhpur	Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi
7.	North Western	NWR	2002-10-01	5459	Jaipur	Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur
8.	Northeast Frontier	NFR	1958-01-15	3907	Guwahati	Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangia, Lumding, Tinsukia
9.	Northern	NR	1952-04-14	6968	Delhi	Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad
10.	South Central	SCR	1966-10-02	5803	Secunderabad	Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur, Nanded, Vijayawada
11.	South East Central	SECR	2003-04-01	2447	Bilaspur	Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur
12.	South Eastern	SER	1955	2631	Kolkata	Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi
13.	South Western	SWR	2003-04-01	3177	Hubli	Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore
14.	Southern	SR	1951-04-14	5098	Chennai	Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem, Thiruvananthapuram
15.	West Central	WCR	2003-04-01	2965	Jabalpur	Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota
16.	Western	WR	1951-11-05	6182	Mumbai	Mumbai Central, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Vadodara
17.	Kolkata Metro	KNR	2010	--	Kolkata	Kolkata