The Central Railway of India is one of the largest amongst the 16 zones of Indian Railway carrying passengers all across the nation. The Central Railway is headquartered at Mumbai at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, which was formerly known as the Victoria Terminus. The Central Indian Railway includes country`s first ever passenger railway line that was inaugurated on April 16, 1853 and it stretches from Bombay to Thane. The Central Railway covers a major portion of Maharashtra and some regions of Southern Madhya Pradesh and North-Eastern Karnataka. Central Indian Railway is divided into particular divisions, namely the Mumbai Division, Bhusawal Division, Nagpur Division, Solapur Division and Pune Division.
Central Railway India was started on November 5, 1951 and initially comprised various government-owned railways like the Scindia State Railway of Gwalior and the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Formerly, the Central Railway zone comprised the northern zone of Madhya Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh and southern part of Uttar Pradesh. This made it the largest railway zone in the country in regards to staff, area, as well as track mileage. In April 2003, these areas were included under the West Central Railway zone.
At the initial stage of Central Railway India, it was a single step of 34 kilometers from "Boree Bunder" (presently Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) to "Tannah" (now Thane). Central Railway`s first train ever to run on the Indian soil rolled out to change the history of India. Central Railway also marked the dawn of the Railway Age in Asia. Later after about a year, the railway line was extended from Thane to Kalyan (20 kilometers). From Kalyan, the central railway line branched into two directions, namely the North Eastern line leading towards Igatpuri, Bhusaval, and the South Eastern line towards Pune and Solapur. The period 1861 to 1870 was very important for the Central Railway India, because during this period, the fast growing industrial town of Mumbai was connected with Calcutta. During the same decade, Bombay (now Mumbai) was connected with Madras (now Chennai) as also with Nagpur.
In the present decade, Central Railway is a network of 3832 route kilometers and 5818 track kilometers linking 476 stations over 5 divisions spanning across the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka and playing a key role in the progress of the nation as a carrier of passenger and cargo traffic. Central Railway has become the premier passenger carrying system amongst all Indian Railways. It carries more than 4 lakh passengers daily to every nook and corner of the country through about 548 mail, express and passenger trains. Mumbai suburban train system is the lifeline of this metropolis where 3 million commuters travel every day in 1236 local trains serving 73 stations. Central Railway also runs 40 suburban trains on Pune-Lonavla section.
Deccan Queen, running between Pune and Mumbai, Maharastra Express (Kolahpur - Gondia), Pushpak Express (Mumbai - Lucknow), Vidarbha Express (Mumbai - Nagpur), Konark Express (Bhubaneshwar - Mumbai), Gitanjali Express (Mumbai - Kolkata), Punjab Mail, Azad Hind Express, Hussainsagar Express, and Kurla Express are some of the notable trains of Central Indian Railway.
Major central Indian railway routes are as follows -
Mumbai CST - Dadar - Kurla - Kalyan - Manmad - Bhusawal - Wardha - Nagpur
Kalyan - Neral - Lonavala - Pune - Daund - Solapur - Wadi
Daund-Manmad
Nagpur-Amla-Itarsi
Pune-Miraj-Kolhapur
Bhusawal-Khandwa
Wardha-Ballarsha
