How Many Zones are there in Indian Railways, Excluding Metro Rail?

By Balaji

Updated on: February 17th, 2023

There were 16 Railway zones in India, excluding Metro Rail. Indian Railways is one of the largest rail networks in the world, with a network span of 1,23,236 kilometres along with 16 Railway Zones and 68 Divisions. Regarding route kilometres, the northern zone is the largest, and the southern zone is the first to be built on 14 April 1951.

Table of content

1. Indian Railway Zones
2. How Many Zones are there in Indian Railways, Excluding Metro Rail?

Indian Railway Zones

Indian Railways separates its operations into zones, which are then further split into divisions, each of which has a divisional headquarters. The Indian Railway System has 70 Divisions and 19 Zones, including the Metro Railway, Kolkata. Each division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager, who reports to the General Manager of the zone.

Certain States have railroad lines under the jurisdictional supervision of more than one Zonal Railway/Division since the boundaries of Zonal and Divisional are determined by operational and administrative requirements rather than by considering State boundaries. Following are Indian Railways Zones and their respective Headquarters.

Zone	Headquarter
Eastern Railway	Kolkata
Central Railway	Mumbai
East Central Railway	Hajipur
Northern Railway	Baroda, New Delhi
East Coast Railway	Bhubaneshwar
North Eastern Railway	Gorakhpur
North Central Railway	Allahabad
North Western Railway	Jaipur
North Frontier Railway	Maligaon, Guwahati
Southern Railway	Chennai
South Eastern Railway	Garden Reach, Kolkata
South Central Railway	Secunderabad
South Western Railway	Hubli
South East Central Railway	Bilaspur
West Central Railway	Jabalpur
Western Railway	Church Gate

The city of Kolkata has the maximum number of Railway Headquarters in the country and some of the oldest. Moreover, the biggest Railway station in the country is the Howrah Junction, located in the state of West Bengal.

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