Central Railway zone

Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. 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 April 16, 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 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 (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.

Main/Long Routes of Central Railway

 * Mumbai CSMT-Kalyan-Igatpuri-Nashik road-Manmad-Jalgaon-Bhusawal
 * Bhusawal-Akola-Badnera-Wardha-Nagpur
 * Mumbai CSMT-Kalyan-Karjat-Lonavala-Pune
 * CSMT-Kurla-Panvel
 * Manmad-Aurangabad-Jalna-Parbhani-Nanded (South Central Railway line)
 * Pune-Daund-Solapur-Wadi-Tandur
 * Pune-Satara-Sangli-Miraj-Kolhapur
 * Miraj-Pandharpur-Kurduvadi-Barshi-Osmanabad-Latur-Latur Road
 * Ballarshah-Majri-Sevagram (formerly Wardha East Jn.)-Nagpur-Amla-Itarsi

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 the shortest route for Marathwada, Andhra and Telangana. The major challenge for this project is 18.96 km long tunnel in Malshej Ghat section. 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.

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

 * Roha

Secunderabad railway division

 * Balharshah
 * Latur Road

Guntakal Railway Division

 * Wadi Jn

Nanded railway division

 * Pimpalkutti
 * Akola Jn
 * Khandwa Jn
 * Ankai Jn (MMR-AWB-J-PBN-NED route)

Nagpur SEC railway division

 * Nagpur Jn
 * Chhindwara Jn

Hubballi railway division

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

Bhopal division

 * Itarsi Jn
 * Khandwa Jn

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

 * Mumbai CR railway division
 * Solapur railway division
 * Bhusawal railway division
 * Pune railway division
 * Nagpur CR railway division

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

Mumbai Division

 * Mumbai CSMT-Dadar-Kurla-Thane
 * Mumbai CSMT-Wadala Road-Kurla (Harbour Line)
 * Wadala Road-Bandra-Goregaon (Inclusive)
 * Kurla-Trombay (Goods)
 * Kurla-Vashi-Nerul-Panvel (Harbour Line)
 * Thane-Vashi-Panvel (Trans-Harbour line)
 * Thane-Turbhe-Vashi (Trans-Harbour Line)
 * Thane-Turbhe-Nerul (Trans-Harbour Line)
 * 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.

Pune Division

 * Lonavala-Pune Jn-Daund Jn
 * Pune Jn-Satara-Sangli-Miraj Jn-Kolhapur
 * Daund Jn -Baramati
 * Phaltan - Baramati ( to be completed by 2022)
 * Pune Jn-Rajgurunagar-Sangamner-Sinnar-Nashik Road (Project Scrapped)
 * Karad-Chiplun (scrapped)

Nagpur Division
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 * 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-Balharshah Jn (include)
 * Wardha Jn-Chitoda Jn (on Sewagram-Balharshah line)
 * Majri Jn-Wani Jn-pimpalkutti
 * Wani Jn-Rajur
 * Tadali Jn-Ghugus
 * Balharshah Jn-Chanda Fort
 * Nagpur-Amla Jn-Itarsi Jn (exclude)
 * Amla Junction-Chhindwara(exclude)

Solapur Division



 * Manmad (exclude)-Ahmednagar-Daund Jn
 * Daund Jn-Solapur
 * Miraj Jn (exclude)-Pandharpur-Kurudwadi Jn-Barshi-Latur-Latur Road (excluding)
 * SolapurJn-Hotgi Jn-Gulbarga-Wadi Jn (Include)

Bhusawal 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

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)
 * Panvel-Karjat
 * Karjat-Khopoli

Tripling

 * Kalyan-Kasara
 * Kalyan-Karjat
 * Sewagram Jn-Balharshah Jn

Quadrupling

 * Nagpur-Wardha
 * Jalgaon-Bhusawal
 * Manmad-Igatpuri

Hexupling

 * Mumbai CSMT-Kalyan

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

Loco Sheds

 * Electric Loco Shed, Ajni
 * Electric Loco Shed, Kalyan
 * Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal
 * Diesel Loco Shed, Pune
 * Diesel Loco Shed, Kalyan
 * Diesel Loco Shed, Kurla
 * Electric Loco Shed, Daund (Under Construction)