Railway zones in India

Indian Railways is divided into several zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952 and sixteen in 2003 . Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.

Indian Railways, functioning as Ministry of Railways, isheaded by the Minister for Railways. The apex body entrusted with the management of this mega enterprise is led by the Chairman Railway Board (CRB). Members of the Railway Board include Financial Commissioner, Member Traffic, Member Engineering, Member Mechanical, Member Electrical and Member Staff who represent their respective functional domains. For administrative purposes, Indian Railways is divided into 17* Zones, each headed by a General Manager. Zonal Railways are further divided into smaller operating units called Divisions. There are 68 Operating Divisions in Indian Railways at present, each under a Divisional Railway Manager. In addition, there are a number of Production Units, Training Establishments, Public Sector Enterprises and other Offices working under the control of Railway Board.

Metro Railway, Kolkata has been declared as New Zonal Railway w.e.f. 29.12.2010 
ROUTE KM'S AS ON -  zone-wise as on 31 March, 2011

Sl. No	Name	Abbr.	Date Established	Route KMs	Headquarters	Divisions
1.	Central	CR	1951-11-05	3905	Mumbai	Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur
2.	East Central	ECR	2002-10-01	3656	Hajipur	Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur
3.	East Coast	ECoR	2003-04-01	2646	Bhubaneswar	Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam
4.	Eastern	ER	1952-04	2435	Kolkata	Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda
5.	North Central	NCR	2003-04-01	3151	Allahabad	Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi
6.	North Eastern	NER	1952	3721	Gorakhpur	Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi
7.	North Western	NWR	2002-10-01	5464	Jaipur	Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur
8.	Northeast Frontier	NFR	1958-01-15	3908	Guwahati	Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangia, Lumding, Tinsukia
9.	Northern	NR	1952-04-14	6968	Delhi	Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad
10.	South Central	SCR	1966-10-02	5810	Secunderabad	Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur, Nanded, Vijayawada
11.	South East Central	SECR	2003-04-01	2455	Bilaspur	Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur
12.	South Eastern	SER	1955	2632	Kolkata	Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi
13.	South Western	SWR	2003-04-01	3177	Hubli	Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore
14.	Southern	SR	1951-04-014	5102	Chennai	Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram)
15.	West Central	WCR	2003-04-01	2965	Jabalpur	Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota
16.	Western	WR	1951-11-05	6440	Mumbai	Mumbai Central, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Vadodara
17.	Metro Railway Kolkata	MR	30-2-2010	25.55	Kolkata	-

Konkan Railway is not a zone of the Indian Railways, but a subsidiary company (along with the state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa). Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), that has constructed and operates Delhi Metro network, is a joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of Delhi and is an independent organization not connected to the Indian Railways. Similarly Bangalore Metro, Hyderabad Metro, Mumbai Metro and Chennai Metro are also independent organizations.