Category:Indian Railways

When India became independent in 1947, there were 42 rail systems operating in what had been British India. Many of these were already owned by government; others, notably those owned by, or operated for the Indian Princely States, were gradually nationalised as the new nation incorporated the latter into the Union.

Rationalisation and reorganisation there was e.g. the Saurashtra Railway was created in Gujerat by merging the several small systems that operated there, but the major systems e.g. East Indian Railway by and large continued as they had previously save for the replacement of British General Managers by their Indian subordinates.

Zonal Grouping

On 14 April 1951, a new grouping, or zone, called Southern Railway was formed from the merger of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway. This was followed in November 1951 by the creation of two further zones, Central Railway and Western Railway. Further mergers in 1952 took the total number of zones to 6 since when the number has grown to 16. These are shown below.