Central Railway
8-Central Railway CR's headquarters Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Dates of operation	1951–Present
Predecessor	Great Indian Peninsula Railway, Scindia State Railway, Dholpur Railway & others
Track gauge	Mixed
Headquarters	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

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.

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.^[1][2]

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[link]

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Busiest Railways Station in India. It also World Heritage Site

• 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

The B.B. & C.I. Railway Head Offices[link]

The B.B. & C.I. Railway Head Offices, 1905

It was partially destroyed by fire the night the Prince of Wales left Bombay, Nov. 1906.

Connections[link]

Central railway zone connects to other Zones of Indian railways as at

• Vasai Road Jn (WR), Dadar, Mahim Jn to Mumbai WR railway division of Western Railway Zone,
• Roha to Konkan Railway
• Mamnad Jn to Nanded railway division of South Central Railway Zone,
• Jalgaon Jn to Mumbai WR railway division of Western Railway Zone,
• Miraj Jn to Hubli railway division of South Western Railway Zone
• Khandwa Jn to Bhopal railway division of Western Central Railway Zone
• Khandwa Jn to Nanded railway division of South Central Railway Zone for Meter Gauge
• Akola Jn to Nanded railway division of South Central Railway Zone for Meter Gauge
• Nagpur Jn to Nagpur SEC railway division of South East Central Railway Zone
• Itarsi Jn(WCR) to Bhopal division of Western Central Railway Zone,
• Chhindwara(SECR) to Nagpur SEC railway division of South East Central Railway Zone
• Ballarshah to Secundarabad railway division of South Central Railway Zone
• Pimpalkutti to Nanded railway division of South Central Railway Zone
• Wadi Jn to Secundarabad railway division of South Central Railway Zone
• Wadi Jn to Guntakal railway division of South Central Railway Zone
• Hotgi Jn to Hubli railway division of South Western Railway Zone
• Latur Road to Nanded division of South Central Railway Zone

Neral Matheran Line[link]

Constructed in 1907, the narrow gauge Matheran line connects Neral on the Mumbai-Pune main line with the hill station of Matheran in the Western Ghats, east of Mumbai. Neral is linked to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) by frequent suburban electric trains. Steam engines have now been replaced by diesel locomotives but it is still a pleasurable journey. The route is noted for its sharp curves.

Divisions of Central Railway[link]

It is organized into five divisions: Mumbai CST, Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. The details of the network divisionwise are as follows ^[3]

Central Railway Headquarters at CST.

Mumbai Division[link]

• Mumbai CST-Dadar-Kurla
  • Mumbai CST – Wadala Road- Kurla (Harbour Line)
    • Wadala – Kings Circle – Mahin Jn – Bandra (Harbour Line)
  • Kurla – Trombay(Goods)
  • Kurla – Mankhud – Vashi – Nerul – Belapur – Panvel
    • Sanpada – Airoli – Thane
    • Nerul – Airoli – Thane
• Kurla-Thane-Diva Jn- Kalyan
  • Diva Jn-Panvel-Roha
    • Panvel-Jasai-Uran
      • Jasai-JNPT
  • Diva Jn- Vasai Road
• Kalyan Jn-Kasara-Igatpuri (Inclusive)
• Kalyan Jn-Neral Jn-Karjat Jn-Lonavala (Inclusive)
  • Neral Jn – Matheran (Narrow Gauge)
  • Karjat Jn-Panvel
  • Karjat Jn-Khopoli

Bhusawal Division[link]

Nagpur Division[link]

• Badnera Jn(Exclude)- Pulgaon Jn – Wardha Jn – Butibori Jn-Nagpur Jn
  • Pulgaon Jn-Arvi (Narrow Gauge)
  • Butobori Jn – Umrer
• Wardha Jn- Majri Jn – Tadali Jn – Chandrapur-Ballarshah Jn(Include)
  • Majri Jn – Wani Jn – Rajur
    • Wani Jn – Pimpalkutti
  • Tadali Jn – Ghugus
  • Ballarshah Jn – Chanda Fort
• Nagpur-Amla Jn-Itarsi Jn(exclude)
  • Amla Junction-Chhindwara(exclude)

Solapur Division[link]

Daund Sub Div.

• Manmad(exclude)-Ahmednagar-Daund Jn
• Daund Jn – Solapur
• Miraj Jn(exclude) – Kurudwadi Jn- Pandharpur – Latur – Latur Road
• Solapur – Hotgi Jn – Gulburga – Wadi Jn (Include)

Pune Division[link]

• Lonavala (exclude)-Pune Jn-Daund Jn(exclude)
• Pune Jn – Satara – Sangli – Miraj Jn – Kolhapur
• Daund Jn(exclude) – Baramati
• Lonand Jn – Phaltan ( to be completed in 2011)

^[4]

• Pune Jn - Rajgurunagar - Sangamner - Sinnar - Nashik Road (Works Begin) ^[5]
• Karad - Chiplun (Proposed) ^[6]

Notable Trains[link]

Ongoing Projects[link]

New line[link]

• Amravati-Narkhed
• Ahmednagar – Parli Vaijnath
• Lonand-Phaltan

Doubling[link]

• Daund-Manmad (Announced but not yet taken up)
• Bhigvan-Mohol
• Hotagi-Gulbarga
• Roha-Panvel
• Jalgaon-Nandurbar-Surat (Work in progress)

Conversion[link]

• Jalgaon-Nandurbar-Surat(Electrification)
• Daund-Manmad (Electrification)
• Pune-Daund(Electrification)

Utilization of Routes[link]

Highest Utilized Main lines[link]

• Mumbai-Kalyan-Karjat/Kasara sub-urban section
• Mumbai-Bhusawal-Nagpur
• Mumbai-Pune-Daund-Wadi
• Daund-Manmad
• Pune-Daund-Ahmednagar-Manmad-Bhusaval-Nagpur

Lowest Utilized Main lines[link]

• Pune-Miraj (only 6 daily express trains and few non-daily trains run on this route)
• Miraj-Latur (one daily express train and 2 passenger trains run on this route)

Reason for lower utilization[link]

No new daily express train has been introduced on the Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore, Pune-Miraj-Londa-Madgaon or Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Chennai route in the last 15 years. Chalukya express was introduced in 1995 via Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore section which runs five days a week. Apart from Chalukya express, only a handful of non-weekly trains like Delhi-Bangalore Karnataka Sampark Kranti(bi-weekly), Suvarnajayanti(Weekly), Pune-Ernakulam(weekly) and Ajmer/Jodhpur-Bangalore bi-weekly express have been introduced in the last 15 years.

Pune-Miraj-Hubli section was earlier with Secunderabad(AP) based South Central Railway (SCR). SCR laid more emphasis on starting new trains in Andhra Pradesh state only. As a result, no development took place on Pune-Miraj-Hubli section. Finally, Pune-Miraj section was handed over to Pune division of Central Railway(CR) and Miraj-Hubli section was handed over to the newly created South Western Railway (SWR)Hubli Division. Pune-Miraj-Hubli section has now been divided into two parts one went to CR and other went to SWR.

CR Pune Division has introduced more trains towards North of Pune and SWR Hubli Division has introduced more trains towards South of Hubli. As a result the Pune-Miraj-Hubli stretch has been left with very few trains. No new daily express trains have been introduced on Pune-Miraj-Hubli stretch after bifurcation into CR and SWR. This has resulted in under-utilization of Pune-Miraj section.

Ways to increase utilization[link]

There is a heavy passenger traffic on Mumbai-Bangalore, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Coimbatore, Mumbai-Tirupati routes. Lot of private buses ply on these routes as all trains on these routes are always full. Starting new trains to Bangalore & Chennai via Pune Miraj route which is under-utilized could help reduce the waiting list on many long distance trains.

Doubling of tracks and electrification of Pune to Wadi will ensure that more trains can be run between Mumbai and Chennai/Hyderabad. Pune Chamber of Commerce has demanded Doubling & Electrification of Pune-Miraj-Bangalore rail line which will speed up the travel time between Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

Re-Organization of Central Railway Zones[link]

The load on Mumbai Division is every growing with the sub-urban local traffic increasing every day. Now Thane-Belapur trans harbour line has also been added to Mumbai division. It is becoming difficult to manage the Mumbai Division day by day. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to re-organize the Central railway by transferring the busy Karjat-Lonavala-Pune section to Pune division and carving a new Division at Miraj junction which now has 4 broad gauge routes connecting it with a heavy passenger and freight traffic. The re-organization would result in following changes to Pune Division:

Pune Division (Re-organized)[link]

• Karjat – Lonavala – Pune Jn – Daund Jn(exclude)
• Pune Jn – Nira
• Daund Jn(exclude) – Baramati

Miraj Division (Creation of Miraj division to reduce load on Mumbai & Pune divisions)[link]

• Nira – Satara – Sangli – Miraj Jn – Kolhapur
• Lonand Jn – Phaltan
• Miraj – Pandharpur – Kurduvadi

Creation of Miraj division would reduce the load on the current Mumbai & Pune divisions. Also submit the Lonavla-puna in Mumbai division.

See also[link]

• Mumbai suburban railway
• Harbour line
• Trains of CR

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bhusawal Division
• Central, Western and Harbour railway timetable
• CENTRAL Railway local Train Timetable
• Detailed Mumbai Local Train Time Table
• Detailed Mumbai Local Train Time Table (Mobile)