Indian Railway organisational structure
The Indian Railways is organised broadly by functional groups. This is traditionally how Railways are organised the world over. The Indian Railways perhaps has been less adventurous in changing the structure; it has largely kept up what it got as a legacy from the British era.
Contents
1 Railway Board
2 Functional branches
3 Regional organisation
3.1 Zonal management
3.2 Divisional organisation
Railway Board
The apex management organisation is the Railway Board, also called the Ministry of Railways. The board is headed by a Chairman who reports to the Minister of Railways. The board has fiveMember -ie Member - Electrical,Staff, Engineering, Mechanical,Traffic and Financial Commissioner are the 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 recuritment though Civil Services Exmination conducted by UPSC (also known as IAS (allied) Services)
* IRTS - Indian Railway Traffic Service
* IRAS - Indian Railway Accounts Service
* IRPS - Indian Railway Personnel Service
* RPF - Railway Protection Force
Technical Services recuritment thourh Indian Engineeing Examination conducted by UPSC
* IRSE - Indian Railway Service of (Civil) Engineers
* IRSEE - Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers
* IRSME - Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers
* IRSS - Indian Railway Stores Service
* IRSSE - Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers
Recuritment 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
Regional organisation - Zonal management
This is the regional break-up of the organisation Also shows the Divisions of the Indian Railways
The current zones of the Indian Railways
1. Central Railway CR Headquarters - Mumbai
2. Eastern Railway ER Kolkata
3. East Central Railway ECR Patna
4. East Coast Railway ECoR Bhubaneswar
5. Konkan Railway KR Navi Mumbai
6. Northern Railway NR Delhi
7. North Central Railway NCR Allahabad
8. North Western Railway NWR Jaipur
9. North Eastern Railway NER Gorakhpur
10. Northeast Frontier Railway NFR Maligaon(Guwahati)
11. Southern Railway SR Chennai
12. South Central Railway SCR Secunderabad
13. South Eastern Railway SER Kolkata
14. South East Central Railway SECR Bilaspur, CG
15. South Western Railway SWR Hubli
16. Western Railway WR Mumbai
17. West Central Railway 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.