The South Eastern Railway (abbreviated SER) is one of the 19

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

zones in India and Part of Eastern Railways. It is headquartered at

Garden Reach Garden Reach is a neighbourhood of the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. It is situated in the south-western part of Kolkata near the bank of the Hooghly River.

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It comprises Adra railway division, Chakradharpur railway division, Kharagpur railway division and Ranchi railway division.

History

Predecessor

The

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

(BNR) Company was incorporated in 1887 to take over from the

Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway was a line owned by the provincial government and operated by the state railways. The line ran from Nagpur via Tumsar - Gondia and Dongargarh to Rajnandgaon. The initial section from Nagpur to Tumsar was opened on 6 ...

and to convert the line to broad gauge. The work was completed in 1888. The extension of the main line from

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

Asansol Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bar ...

was completed by 1891. A 161-mile branch line (258 km) that connected Bilaspur to Umaria coal mine was built and linked to the existing line from Umaria to

Katni Katni officially Murwara is a city on the banks of the Katni River in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Katni District. It is in the Mahakoshal region of central India. The city is from the divisional headquarte ...

(1891). By the turn of the twentieth century, work on the Calcutta–Bombay and Calcutta–Madras lines was completed. Through the first half of the twentieth century work on the BNR lines progressed steadily. In 1921 the Talcher coalfields were connected by a railway line starting from Nergundi. In 1931, the

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Ch ...

–

Vizianagaram Vizianagaram is a city and the headquarters of Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is central Eastern Ghats, about west of the Bay of Bengal and north-northeast of Visakhapatnam. The city has a population of 228,0 ...

line was set up, which connected the east coast with the Central Province. By the end of the 1930s the BNR owned the largest narrow-gauge network in the country. The BNR management was taken over by the British Indian government on 1 October 1944. and continued to be called by that name until 14 April 1952, when it was amalgamated with the East Indian Railway to form one of six newly carved zones of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

: the Eastern Railway.

Re-organisation

On 1 August 1955, the erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway portion was separated and a new zone, the South Eastern Railway, came into existence. In July 1967, the South Eastern Railway took over the Bankura Domodar River line. South Eastern Railway Detail 1955

Till April 2003, the South Eastern Railway comprised eight divisions: Kharagpur, Adra, Sambalpur, Khurda Road, Visakhapatnam, Chakradharpur, Bilaspur and Nagpur. In April 2003 two new zones were carved out from the SER. On 1 April 2003 the East Coast Railway (E.Co.R) comprising South Eastern Railway's Khurda Road,

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

and

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

divisions was dedicated to the nation; on 5 April 2003 the South East Central Railway (S.E.C.R) comprising South Eastern Railway's

and Bilaspur divisions and a new

division was dedicated to the nation. On 13 April 2003 the SER reorganized

Adra The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA or ADRA International) is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the purpose of providing individual and community development and disaster relief. ...

and

Chakradharpur Chakradharpur is a city in West Singhbhum district in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is the railway divisional headquarters of Chakradharpur (CKP) division of the South Eastern Railway. The city stands at an elevation of 227 metres (745 fe ...

divisions to form the new

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

division. The South Eastern Railway has electric multiple unit sheds in Tikiapara, Kharagpur and Panskura. Electric locomotive sheds are in Santragachi, Tatanagar,

Bokaro Steel City Bokaro, officially known as Bokaro Steel City () is a planned city in Jharkhand, India. It is fourth largest and most populous city in the state. It is one of the planned cities of India. Bokaro is the administrative headquarters of Bokaro distr ...

, Rourkela, Kharagpur and Bondamunda. Diesel locomotive sheds are located in Kharagpur,

, and Bondamunda. The coach maintenance yard is in Santragachi. The South Eastern Railway has a major workshop located in Kharagpur.

Administration

The South Eastern Railway caters to the states of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

and

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

. S.E. also runs regular

electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numb ...

(EMU) services to areas adjacent to

, from

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is ...

Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision. It is the largest, most populated, multicultural and cosmopol ...

, Amta, Medinipur, Tatanagar,

Balasore Balasore or Baleswara is a city in the state of Odisha, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the largest town of northern Odisha and the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It ...

Rourkela Rourkela is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of state capital Bhubaneswar and is surro ...

and

Santragachi Santragachi, or Santragachhi, is a residential neighbourhood in Howrah, Howrah district, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Santragachi Junction in Santragachi is one of th ...

to Shalimar. It also handles major freight traffic to

and

Haldia Haldia is an industrial port city in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a major river port and industrial belt located approximately southwest of Kolkata near the mouth of the Hooghly River, one of the distributaries of ...

and

Digha Digha is a seaside resort town in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies in Purba Medinipur district and at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal. It has a low gradient with a shallow sand beach. It is a popular sea resort in West Bengal. H ...

and Mecheda to

Divisions

* Adra railway division * Kharagpur railway division * Chakradharpur railway division * Ranchi railway division

Gallery

File:Howrah Mumbai Mail.jpg, Howrah - Mumbai Mail File:Coromandel Express with WAP-4 Loco at Nalpur.jpg, Coromandel Express File:East Coast Express hauled by LGD shed WAP-4.JPG, East Coast Express File:Yesvantpur-Howrah Express with a WAP-4 loco at Marripalem 02.jpg, Yesvantpur-Howrah Express File:A View of Anakapalle Train station.jpg, Howrah – Chennai Mail File:12221 Pune Howrah Duronto Express - AC 3 tier coach.jpg, Howrah - Pune Duronto File:Titlgarh (TIG) bound 12871 (Howrah-Titlagarh) Ispat Express 01.jpg, Ispat Express File:Howrah bound Amaravati Express at Vizianagaram.jpg, Amaravati Express File:BNR House.jpg, BNR House, residence of the GM of SER

Loco sheds

* Electric Loco Shed, Tatanagar * Electric Loco Shed, Bokaro Steel City * Electric Loco Shed, Santragachi * Electric Loco Shed, Rourkela * Electric Loco Shed, Bondamunda * Electric Loco Shed, Kharagpur * Electric Loco Shed, Ispatnagar * Diesel Loco Shed, Bondamunda

References

External links

* * {{coord missing, West Bengal Zones of Indian Railways 1955 establishments in West Bengal