Indian Railway organisational structure
Encyclopedia
The Indian Railways
is organised broadly by functional groups of Indian Railway Service. This is traditionally how the co-operation is organised. The Indian Railways perhaps has been less adventurous in changing the structure; it has largely kept up what it got as a legacy since the British era.
. The board is headed by a Chairman who reports to the Minister of Railways. The board has five other members in addition to the chairman.
The General Managers of the zonal railways and the production units report to the board.
Non Technical Services recruitment though Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC (also known as IAS (allied) Services)
Technical Services recruitment thorough Indian Engineering Examination conducted by UPSC
Recruitment through Combined medical Examination conducted by UPSC
A vast rail system as India's, the 3rd largest in the world, has been managed at a regional level. Indian Railways has divided itself into 16 zonal railways. 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.
Each zone also manages the workshops that are part of it. This does not include the Production Units, which are managed by General Managers reporting directly to the Railway Board.
Each division has all the functional (both line and staff) organisations. The heads of these functional groups report to the DRM for administrative purposes but rely on guidance from the railway board and the zonal headquarters for policy guidelines.
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
is organised broadly by functional groups of Indian Railway Service. This is traditionally how the co-operation is organised. The Indian Railways perhaps has been less adventurous in changing the structure; it has largely kept up what it got as a legacy since the British era.
Railway Board
The apex management organisation is the Railway Board, also called the Ministry of RailwaysMinistry of Railways (India)
The Ministry of Railways in India is in charge of the Indian Railways, an organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport in India. Dinesh Trivedi is the current minister responsible for railways....
. The board is headed by a Chairman who reports to the Minister of Railways. The board has five other members in addition to the chairman.
The General Managers of the zonal railways and the production units report to the board.
Functional branches
The various cadres are as below:Non Technical Services recruitment though Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC (also known as IAS (allied) Services)
- IRTSIndian Railway Traffic ServiceThe Indian Railway Traffic Service is an organized Group 'A' service of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Transportation - Operations and Commercial wings - of the Indian Railways...
- Indian Railway Traffic Service - IRASIndian Railway Accounts ServiceThe Indian Railway Accounts Service ' is a Group A Central Service of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for Accounts and Finance Management of the Indian Railways...
- Indian Railway Accounts Service - IRPSIndian Railway Personnel ServiceThe Indian Railway Personnel Service is a cadre of the Group-A services of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Human Resources of the Indian Railways which has a work force of about 1.4 million employees....
- Indian Railway Personnel Service - RPFRailway Protection ForceThe Railway Protection force is an Indian Central Armed Police Force charged with protecting the Indian Railways.The strength of RPF is about 65,000.The duties of the Railway Protection Force include:...
- Railway Protection Force
Technical Services recruitment thorough Indian Engineering Examination conducted by UPSC
- IRSEIndian Railway Service of EngineersThe Indian Railway Service of Engineers is a cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Civil Engineering Organisation of the Indian Railways-Recruitment:...
- Indian Railway Service of (Civil) Engineers - IRSEEIndian Railway Service of Electrical EngineersThe Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers is a cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Electrical Engineering Organisation of the Indian Railways....
- Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers - IRSMEIndian Railway Service of Mechanical EngineersThe Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering is a cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Mechanical Engineering Organisation of the Indian Railways-Recruitment:...
- Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers - IRSSIndian Railway Stores ServiceThe Indian Railways Stores Service is a cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are the procurement and logistics specialists, contract managers on the IR, providers of logistics for the transportation of material from and within various railways as well as the planners and...
- Indian Railway Stores Service - IRSSEIndian Railway Service of Signal EngineersThe Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers is a Group A Gazetted cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Signals and Telecommunications Engineering Organisation of the Indian Railways...
- Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers
Recruitment through Combined medical Examination conducted by UPSC
- IRMS - Indian Railway Medical Service
A vast rail system as India's, the 3rd largest in the world, has been managed at a regional level. Indian Railways has divided itself into 16 zonal railways. 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.
- Operational Control at Zonal level
- Functional Policy & Guidance from the Railway Board
Zonal management
The current zones of the Indian Railways are| Name | Abbr. | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| Central Railway | CR | Mumbai Mumbai Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million... |
| Eastern Railway Eastern Railway (India) The Eastern Railway is one of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairley Place, Kolkata, and comprises four divisions: Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol. These are the financial departments and each has an assistant divisional financial manager , divisional railway... |
ER | Kolkata Kolkata Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India... |
| East Central Railway East Central Railway The East Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hajipur and comprises Sonpur Samastipur Danapur, Mughalsarai, and Dhanbad divisions .-History:... |
ECR | Hajipur Hajipur Hajipur is the headquarters of Vaishali district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous for producing bananas, and has a modern railway zonal office. Patna, the capital of Bihar is only 10 km from Hajipur... |
| East Coast Railway East Coast Railway The East Coast Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones of Indian Railways came into existence from 1 April 2003.The geographical jurisdiction of this railway zone extends over three states encompressing almost all parts of Orissa along with parts of Srikakulam, Vizainagaram and Visakhapatnam... |
ECoR | Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital... |
| Konkan Railway Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway is a railway line which runs along the Konkan coast of India. It was constructed and is operated by the Konkan Railway Corporation... |
KR | Panvel Panvel Panvel is city and a municipal council in Raigad district in the state of Maharashtra. Panvel is also known as the gateway of Konkan region. It adjoins Navi Mumbai, and is just after the Thane district border. Panvel is located on the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway about 21 kilometres from... |
| Northern Railway Northern Railway (India) The Northern Railways is one of the 16 zones and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Delhi at New Delhi Railway Station.... |
NR | Delhi Delhi Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census... |
| North Central Railway North Central Railway The North Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India.The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central followed by Mughal Sarai... |
NCR | Allahabad Allahabad Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,... |
| North Western Railway North Western Railway The North Western Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur. It comprises four divisions: Jodhpur and reorganized Bikaner division of the erstwhile Northern Railway and reorganized Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of the erstwhile Western Railway. This zone... |
NWR | Jaipur Jaipur Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million.... |
| North Eastern Railway North Eastern Railway (India) The North Eastern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur and comprises Lucknow and Varanasi divisions as well as reorganized Izzatnagar division.... |
NER | Gorakhpur Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, near the border with Nepal. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur District and Gorakhpur Division. Gorakhpur is one of the proposed capitals of the Purvanchal state which is yet to be formed... |
| Northeast Frontier Railway Northeast Frontier Railway The Northeast Frontier Railway abbreviated as N F Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. Headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam it is responsible for rail operations in the entire Northeast and parts of West Bengal and Bihar... |
NFR | Maligaon(Guwahati) Guwahati Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India... |
| Southern Railway Southern Railway (India) The Southern Railway is the earliest of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways created in independent India. It was created on April 14, 1951 by merging three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway. The South Indian Railway... |
SR | Chennai Chennai Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India... |
| South Central Railway South Central Railway The South Central Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Secunderabad and has the following divisions:# Secunderabad# Hyderabad# Guntakal # Vijayawada# Guntur# Nanded... |
SCR | Secunderabad Secunderabad Secunderabad popularly known as the twin city of Hyderabad is located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh north of Hyderabad. Named after Sikandar Jah, the third Nizam of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, Secunderabad was founded in 1806 AD as a British cantonment... |
| South Eastern Railway South Eastern Railway (India) The South Eastern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Garden Reach, Kolkata. It comprises four divisions:# Adra Railway Division# Chakradharpur Railway Division# Kharagpur Railway Division... |
SER | Kolkata Kolkata Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India... |
| South East Central Railway South East Central Railway The South East Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Bilaspur and comprises Nagpur division, reorganized Bilaspur division of South Eastern Railway and new Raipur division.... |
SECR | Bilaspur, CG Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh Bilaspur is a city in Bilaspur District in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, situated 111 km north of state capital, Raipur. It is the second-largest city in the state. It is the administrative headquarter of Bilaspur district... |
| South Western Railway South Western Railway The South Western Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hubli and comprises Bangalore, Mysore divisions of the erstwhile Southern Railway and the reorganized Hubli division of the erstwhile South Central Railway which includes Hospet and Bellary. The division... |
SWR | Hubli |
| Western Railway Western Railway (India) The Western Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Surat - Mumbai, Surat - Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad - Vadodara and Palanpur -... |
WR | Mumbai Mumbai Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million... |
| West Central Railway West Central Railway The West Central Railway, one of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways, came into existence on April 1, 2003. It is headquartered at Jabalpur.-History:... |
WCR | Jabalpur |
Each zone also manages the workshops that are part of it. This does not include the Production Units, which are managed by General Managers reporting directly to the Railway Board.
Divisional organisation
The Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) heads the organisation at the division level. There are currently 67 divisions on the system nationwide. The divisions are primarily involved with train running but may have loco 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 (both line and staff) organisations. The heads of these functional groups report to the DRM for administrative purposes but rely on guidance from the railway board and the zonal headquarters for policy guidelines.
See also
- Divisions of Indian RailwaysDivisions of Indian RailwaysThe Indian Railways is divided into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions....
- Detailed example of organisation - IR Service of Mechanical Engineers
- Production Units of the Indian Railways
External links
- Indian Railways Frequently Asked Questions
- Official websites
- Central Railway
- Eastern Railway
- East Central Railway
- East Coast Railway
- Northern Railway
- North Central Railway
- North Western Railway
- North Eastern Railway
- Northeast Frontier Railway
- Southern Railway
- South Central Railway
- South Eastern Railway
- South East Central Railway
- South Western Railway
- Western Railway
- West Central Railway