Eastern Railway zone

Eastern Railway

4-Eastern Railway
Howrah Junction
Overview
Headquarters	Fairley Place, Kolkata
Locale	West Bengal and Jharkhand, and some parts of Bihar
Dates of operation	14 April 1952 (1952-04-14)–
Predecessor	East Indian Railway
Technical
Track gauge	Broad gauge (BG) & narrow gauge (NG)
Electrification	2,222.620 kilometres (1,381.072 mi)
Length	2,818.484 kilometres (1,751.325 mi)
Other
Website	Eastern Railway

The Eastern Railway (abbreviated ER) is among the 18 zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairley Place, Kolkata and comprises four divisions: Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol. Each division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM). The name of the division denotes the name of the city where the divisional headquarters is located. Eastern Railway Consists the largest and second largest rail complex in the country namely Howrah Junction and Sealdah railway station and also consists of Most no. of A1 and A Category Stations like Howrah, Malda Town, Sealdah, Asansol, Durgapur, Barddhaman, Bhagalpur, Jasidih, Bandel, Dankuni etc. Eastern Railways operates the oldest trains of India, Kalka Mail. 3 Popular Zones ECR, SER (again from SER-ECOR and SECR carved out in 2020) NFR were part Indian railways.

History

The East Indian Railway (EIR) Company was incorporated in 1845 to connect eastern India with Delhi. The first train ran here between Howrah and Hooghly on 15 August 1854. The train left Howrah station at 8:30 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 which is now the Headquarters of South Coast Railway zone, 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, headquarters at Hajipur, was carved out by separating the Eastern Railway's Danapur, Dhanbad and Mughalsarai divisions from it. Presently, it comprises four divisions and they are Malda Town, Howrah, Sealdah and Asansol.

On 28 November 2017, Eastern Railways brought into service, the first rake of upgraded Sealdah–New Delhi ‘Swarna’ Rajdhani. This rake has become India's first Swarna Rajdhani rake under Project ‘Swarna’ of Indian Railways. Under Project ‘Swarna’, Indian Railways had given a free hand to Zonal Railways to develop and create aesthetic and passenger friendly coach interiors on running rakes of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

The objective was to establish new standards in passengers comfort. A budget of Rs. 50 lakh per rake was allocated for this purpose. The first rake of Sealdah–New Delhi Rajdhani has been upgraded at an expenditure of about Rs. 35 lakh. The new features in the coach are aesthetic International colour scheme and LED lighting to improve illumination, night signage for easy identifications of berth numbers, better hygiene by providing ‘auto janitor’ system in toilets, built-in ladders adjacent to berths for easy access to upper berth and CCTV cameras in doorway area and aisles to monitor any suspicious activity.

Divisions

• Howrah railway division
• Sealdah railway division
• Asansol railway division
• Malda railway division

Routes

View of Howrah station from Howrah Bridge

Sealdah Main railway station

Trunk routes

Howrah–Delhi main line

• Howrah–Bardhaman main line
• Howrah–Bardhaman chord line
• Bardhaman–Asansol section
• Asansol–Rajla section of Asansol–Patna line

Grand Chord and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line

• Howrah–Bardhaman main line
• Howrah–Bardhaman chord line
• Bardhaman–Asansol section
• Asansol–Chhota Ambana section of Asansol–Gaya line

Sahibganj loop

• Khana–Rampur section of Sahibganj Loop

Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line

• Howrah–Bardhaman main line
• Howrah–Bardhaman chord line
• Bardhaman–Khana section of Bardhaman–Asansol line
• Khana–Gumani section of Sahibganj loop
• Gumani–New Farraka section of Barharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop
• New Farakka–Malda Town section of New Farakka–Barsoi line

Suburban and Branch lines

• Ahmadpur–Katwa line
• Andal–Sainthia branch line
• Andal–Sitarampur loop line
• Bardhaman–Katwa line
• Barharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop
• Deoghar–Banka–Bhagalpur branch line
• Dumka–Bhagalpur line
• Jasidih–Dumka–Rampurhat line
• Madhupur–Giridih branch line
• Howrah–Belur Math branch line
• Nalhati–Azimganj branch line
• Krishnanagar–Nabadwip Ghat line (NG under conversion)
• Ranaghat–Lalgola line
• Ranaghat–Gede line
• Ranaghat–Shantipur–Krishnanagar line
• Ranaghat–Bangaon line
• Seoraphuli–Tarakeswar–Goghat line
• Sealdah–Barasat–Bangaon line
• Barasat–Hasnabad line
• Sealdah–Ranaghat line
• Naihati–Bandel branch line
• Kalyani–Kalyani Simanta branch line
• Sealdah–Budge Budge line
• Sealdah–Diamond Harbour line
• Sealdah–Canning line
• Sealdah–Namkhana line
• Kolkata Circular Railway
• Calcutta Chord line

Discontinued routes

• Dum Dum–Biman Bandar branch line

Loco Sheds

• Electric Loco Shed, Howrah
• Diesel Loco Shed, Howrah
• Electric Loco Shed, Sealdah (Narkeldanga)
• Diesel Loco Shed, Sealdah (Beliaghata)
• Electric Loco Shed, Bardhaman
• Diesel Loco Shed, Bardhaman
• Electric Loco Shed, Asansol
• Diesel Loco Shed, Andal
• Diesel Loco Shed, Jamalpur

See also

• All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA)
• Zones and divisions of Indian Railways

External links

• Eastern Railway Official Website