ThomasPeterdavid at 13:27, 21 March 2026

2026-03-21T13:27:49Z

>Vatsmaxed: removed link, since a redirect

2021-06-11T02:12:47Z

removed link, since a redirect

New page

The [[Indian Railways]] are broadly organised from functional groups within the Indian Railway Service. India's rail system is managed at a regional level since Indian Railways have divided themselves into eighteen zonal railways.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) |url=http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_section_new.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,305 |website=www.indianrailways.gov.in |accessdate=2 August 2019}}</ref> Each zone, headed by a General Manager, is semi-autonomous and this creates a matrix organisation where the functional branches are under dual control viz.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's railway history : a research handbook |date=3 August 2012 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004230033 |pages=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPB5RTODBJAC |accessdate=2 August 2019}}</ref>
* Operational Control at Zonal level
* Functional Policy & Guidance from the Railway Board

==Railway Board==

At the apex of the management organisation is the [[Railway Board]], a part of the [[Ministry of Railways (India)|Ministry of Railways]]. The board is headed by a [[Chairman Railway Board (India) | Chairman]] who directly reports to the Railway Minister. The board has five other members.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indian railway ready for 'privatization to run trains'! |url=https://www.wiki.meramaal.com/2019/06/20/indian-railway-knockout-of-privatization/ |accessdate=2 August 2019 |work=Meramaal Wiki |date=20 June 2019}}</ref>

The General Managers of the zonal railways and the production units report to the Board.

==Zonal management==

The current 18 zones of the Indian Railways are

{|class="toccolours" cellpadding="3" style="border:0px;text-align:left"
|----
!Name
!Abbr.
!Headquarters
|----
|'''[[Central Railway (India)|Central Railway]]'''
|CR
|[[Mumbai]]
|----
|'''[[Eastern Railway (India)|Eastern Railway]]'''
|ER
|[[Kolkata]]
|----
|'''[[East Central Railway]]'''
|ECR
|[[Hajipur]]
|----
|'''[[East Coast Railway]]'''
|ECoR
|[[Bhubaneswar]]
|----
| '''[[Northern Railway (India)|Northern Railway]]'''
|NR
|[[Delhi]]
|----
|'''[[North Central Railway]]'''
|NCR
|[[Prayagraj]]
|----
|'''[[North Western Railway]]'''
|NWR
|[[Jaipur]]
|----
|'''[[North Eastern Railway (India)|North Eastern Railway]]'''
|NER
|[[Gorakhpur]]
|----
|'''[[Northeast Frontier Railway]]'''
|NFR
|[[Guwahati|Maligaon (Guwahati)]]
|----
|'''[[Southern Railway (India)|Southern Railway]]'''
|SR
|[[Chennai]]
|----
|'''[[South Central Railway]]'''
|SCR
|[[Secunderabad]] ([[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]])
|----
|'''[[South Coast Railway zone|South Coast Railway]]'''
|SCoR
|[[Visakhapatnam]]
|----
|'''[[South Eastern Railway (India)|South Eastern Railway]]'''
|SER
| [[Kolkata]]
|----
|'''[[South East Central Railway]]'''
|SECR
|[[Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh|Bilaspur, CG]]
|----
|'''[[South Western Railway zone|South Western Railway]]'''
|SWR
|[[Hubballi]]
|----
|'''[[Western Railway (India)|
Western Railway]]'''
|WR
| [[Mumbai]]
|----
|'''[[West Central Railway]]'''
|WCR
|[[Jabalpur]]
|-
|'''[[Metro Railway, Kolkata|Metro Railway]]'''
|MTP
|[[Kolkata]]
|----
|}

==Divisional organisation==

The Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) heads the organisation at the division level. There are currently [[Indian Railways#Railway zones|71 divisions]] on the system nationwide. The divisions are primarily involved with train running but may also have locomotive sheds (repair shops for locomotives), coaching depots (repair home bases for passenger trains), and wagon depots (repair and maintenance points for freight stock).

Each division has all the functional organisations (both line and staff). The heads of these functional groups report to the DRM for administrative purposes but rely on the railway board and the zonal headquarters for policy guidelines.

==Cadres==
The various Group A cadres are as below:

'''Non Technical Services recruitment through Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by UPSC:'''
* [[Indian Railway Traffic Service|IRTS]] - Indian Railway Traffic Service
* [[Indian Railway Personnel Service|IRPS]] - Indian Railway Personnel Service
* [[Indian Railway Accounts Service|IRAS]] - Indian Railway Accounts Service
* [[Railway Protection Force|IRPFS]] - Indian Railway Protection Force Service

'''Technical Services recruitment through Engineering Services Examination (ESE) conducted by UPSC:'''
* [[Indian Railway Service of Engineers|IRSE]] - Indian Railway Service (Civil) Engineers
* [[Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers|IRSEE]] - Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers
* [[Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers|IRSME]] - Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers
* [[Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers|IRSSE]] - Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers
* [[Indian Railway Stores Service|IRSS]] - Indian Railway Stores Service

'''Medical Services recruitment through Combined Medical Services Examination (CMSE) conducted by UPSC:'''
* [[Indian railway medical service|IRMS]] - Indian Railway Medical Service

==See also==
* [[Zones and divisions of Indian Railways]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* Official websites
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120719043627/http://www.cr.indianrailways.gov.in/ Central Railway ]
** [http://www.er.indianrailways.gov.in/ Eastern Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140112090715/http://www.ecr.indianrailways.gov.in/ East Central Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140626115535/http://www.eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in/ East Coast Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160130001823/http://www.nr.indianrailways.gov.in/ Northern Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160121180251/http://www.ncr.indianrailways.gov.in/ North Central Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140427190605/http://www.nwr.indianrailways.gov.in/ North Western Railway ]
** [http://www.ner.indianrailways.gov.in/ North Eastern Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121215011857/http://www.nfr.indianrailways.gov.in/ Northeast Frontier Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20101120015723/http://www.sr.indianrailways.gov.in/ Southern Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130128160800/http://www.scr.indianrailways.gov.in/ South Central Railway ]
** [http://www.ser.indianrailways.gov.in/ South Eastern Railway]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20121204064436/http://www.secr.indianrailways.gov.in/ South East Central Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160121142348/http://www.swr.indianrailways.gov.in/ South Western Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120723112533/http://www.wr.indianrailways.gov.in/ Western Railway ]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313040609/http://wcr.indianrailways.gov.in/ West Central Railway ]
** [http://mtp.indianrailways.gov.in/ Metro Railway, Kolkata ]

[[Category:Indian Railways|organisational structure]]

Indian Railways organisational structure - Revision history

ThomasPeterdavid at 13:27, 21 March 2026

>Vatsmaxed: removed link, since a redirect