Lok Sabha Question No. 343 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-17
Subject: Railway Zones
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Supriya Sadanand Sule, Amol Ramsing Kolhe

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 343 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.07.2019

## RAILWAY ZONES

*343. SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)    the  details  of  the  Railway  Zones  functioning  in  the  country  and  the reasons for creating these zones;
- (b)  whether every new Railway Zone created has fulfilled the factors like size, workload, accessibility, traffic pattern, operational and administrative requirements and if so, the details thereof, zone-wise;
- (c)   the details of gross income of each Division since its creation, division and zone-wise;
- (d)   whether   the Government  proposes to sanction more railway zones considering the demands of various States and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether  the  Railway  Board  has conducted rating  of its zones, if so, the details and the outcome  thereof and the steps taken by the Government to improve the overall performance of all the railway zones so as to improve the profitability of railways?

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

ANSWER (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.343  BY  SHRIMATI  SUPRIYA  SULE  AND  DR.  AMOL  RAMSING  KOLHE  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.07.2019 REGARDING RAILWAY ZONES

(a) to (c): There are 17 Railway Zones in the country. Zones on Indian Railways are created keeping in view the factors like size, workload, accessibility, traffic patterns and  other  operational/administrative  requirements  consistent  with  the  needs  of economy and efficiency.

Earning records are not maintained division-wise. Details of all Zones, including total earnings,  zones-wise  since  last  re-organisation  of  Indian  Railways  in  2003-04,  are given below:

| S.No.                          | Zonal Railway                  | Headquarter   | Year of Creation   | Number of Divisions   | Gross earnings since 2003-04 to 2018-19 ( ` in Crore)   |
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|---------------|--------------------|-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| 1. Central Railway             | 1. Central Railway             | Mumbai        | 1951               | 5                     | 143,948.91                                              |
| 2. Eastern Railway             | 2. Eastern Railway             | Kolkata       | 1952               | 4                     | 71,033.65                                               |
| 3. East Central Railway        | 3. East Central Railway        | Hajipur       | 2002               | 5                     | 113,281.69                                              |
| 4. East Coast Railway          | 4. East Coast Railway          | Bhubaneswar   | 2003               | 3                     | 150,513.97                                              |
| 5. Northern Railway            | 5. Northern Railway            | New Delhi     | 1952               | 5                     | 175,206.07                                              |
| 6. North Central Railway       | 6. North Central Railway       | Allahabad     | 2003               | 3                     | 147,907.45                                              |
| 7. North Eastern Railway       | 7. North Eastern Railway       | Gorakhpur     | 1952               | 3                     | 32,696.62                                               |
| 8. Northeast Frontier Railway  | 8. Northeast Frontier Railway  | Guwahati      | 1958               | 5                     | 48,357.46                                               |
| 9. North Western Railway       | 9. North Western Railway       | Jaipur        | 2002               | 4                     | 69,650.79                                               |
| 10. Southern Railway           | 10. Southern Railway           | Chennai       | 1951               | 6                     | 85,915.94                                               |
| 11. South Central Railway      | 11. South Central Railway      | Secunderabad  | 1966               | 6                     | 163,684.28                                              |
| 12. South Eastern Railway      | 12. South Eastern Railway      | Kolkata       | 1955               | 4                     | 134,419.25                                              |
| 13. South East Central Railway | 13. South East Central Railway | Bilaspur      | 2003               | 3                     | 121,065.97                                              |
| 14. South Western Railway      | 14. South Western Railway      | Hubli         | 2003               | 3                     | 51,981.48                                               |
| 15. Western Railway            | 15. Western Railway            | Mumbai        | 1951               | 6                     | 140,063.01                                              |
| 16. West Central Railway       | 16. West Central Railway       | Jabalpur      | 2003               | 3                     | 110,796.29                                              |
| 17. Metro Railway              | 17. Metro Railway              | Kolkata       | 2010               | -                     | 1,969.54                                                |
|                                | Total                          |               |                    | 68                    | 1,762,492.37                                            |

(d):  The  Government  has  recently  approved  setting  up  of  a  new  Railway  Zone  viz. South Coast Railway (SCoR) with its headquarter at Visakhapatnam.  Apart from this, the Government does not propose to sanction any other railway zone.

(e) : There is no existing practice to give ratings to various Railway zones.  However, to  assign  greater  accountability  to  the  Zonal  Railways  and  also  to  ensure  that decision making at field level gets expedited, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is  being  signed  between  Secretary,  Railway  Board  and  General  Managers  of  each Zonal  Railway  in  the  beginning  of  the  Financial  Year.  Under  these  MOUs,  all  the Zonal  Railways,  undertake  to  achieve  the  targets  for  Key  Performance  Indicators (KPIs)  given  in  the  MOU.  These  KPIs  inter-alia  cover  operational  and  financial performance, infrastructure creation works, capacity utilization, asset maintenance and reliability.

To  improve  overall  performance  of  all  Railway  zones  and  profitability  of  Railways, thrust is on setting targets for all zones in the beginning of the Financial Year for freight loading, passenger traffic, earnings, expenditure, punctuality and infrastructure  creation,  and  reviewing  the  performance  regularly.    Further,  annual targets  are  also  being  set  for  improving  asset  utilization  and  productivity.    The performance is evaluated and monitored regularly through monthly review meeting. Issues  and  constraints  faced  by  zones  regarding  performance  are  also  addressed regularly.  To  encourage  competition  amongst  Railway  Zones,  the  best  overall performing  Zone  is  awarded  every  year.  Awards  are  also  given  to  Zones  for excellence in performance in specific areas also.

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