The South Western Railway (SWR) 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 p ...

zones in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, headquartered at

Hubballi Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

State. SWR was created from carving out the routes from Southern Railways,

South Central Railways The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

and Central Railways in 2003.

History

The South Western Railway zone came into existence on 1 April 2003 by bifurcating Mysuru and Bengaluru divisions from Southern Railway along with Hubballi division from South Central Railway. It is headquartered at

and comprises three divisions namely

, Mysuru, and Bengaluru. The fourth division at Kalaburagi was slated to be the fourth division which was supposed to be carved out from Hubli, Secunderabad, Guntakal and Solapur divisions. Currently the divisional office at Kalaburagi is on hold due to operational constraints.

Jurisdiction

South Western Railway covers most of the railway lines in the state of

and Goa except the

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The first passenger train ran on Konkan railway tracks on 20 March 1993, between Udupi and ...

line, parts of

Sri Sathya Sai district Sri Sathya Sai district is a district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its headquarters is at Puttaparthi. It was formed on 4 April 2022 from the Dharmavaram, Penukonda, Kadiri revenue divisions and a new Puttaparthi revenue division, ...

and

Chittoor district Chittoor district () is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located at Chittoor. It has a population of 4,170,468 according to 2011 census of India. It lies in ...

in Andhra Pradesh, Krishnagiri district, parts of Dharmapuri district and Tirupathur district of Tamil Nadu.

Divisions

* Bengaluru railway division * Mysuru railway division * Hubballi railway division * Kalaburagi railway division (Proposed and on hold)

Development

As of 10 November 2021, Out of of broad gauge route, a total of is electrified in the zone. The section between Bengaluru – Mysuru ( is doubled and electrified. The Tumakuru – Hubballi line is being doubled and electrified in patches. While Bengaluru – Tumakuru was doubled and opened to traffic in 2007, progress on other sections has been comparatively slow. The doubling of the Birur –

Chikjajur Chikjajur is a town in Karnataka. The town is served by a railway line. Chikjajur later emerged as the market centre for surrounding regions there. The town is known for the 500-year-old Temple of Lord Maruthi. See also *Hagalavadi *Gubbi *B ...

section of the same line was completed in 2015 while the doubling of Tumakuru –

Arsikere Arsikere is a city and taluka in the Hassan district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the second largest city in Hassan district, demographically. Arsikere city municipal council consists of 31 wards. This region is known for its cocon ...

and Hubballi – Harihara sections are in progress. The doubling of

Yelahanka Yelahanka is now a suburb of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka and one of the zones of BBMP. It is the oldest part of present Municipal Bengaluru (Bangalore) city and is in the north of the city. It is Nadaprabhu Kempegowda I, of the Yelaha ...

– Penukonda section has been completed till Hindupur and the remaining section is still in progress. The Ballari – Hubballi line is completely doubled and electrified. Gadag – Hotgi and Hubballi –

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

line doubling is in progress with electrification. In the 2016 Railway Budget, the electrification of Bengaluru – Salem line via Hosur and

Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by sp ...

was announced was completed in July 2021, doubling between Bengaluru and Hosur is in progress. In February 2017, the Bengaluru – Hassan railway line via

Shravanabelagola Shravanabelagola () is a town located near Channarayapatna of Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is from Bengaluru. The Gommateshwara Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagola is one of the most important tirthas (pilgrimage d ...

was completed. Construction of new railway lines such as Tumakuru – Chitradurga, Chitradurga – Davanagere, Tumakuru – Kadiridevarapalli, Hubballi – Belagavi via Kittur, Yalvigi – Gadag, Gadag – Wadi,

Ginigera Ginigera is a village in the Koppal taluk of Koppal district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is from Koppal and lies on National Highway 67. Ginigera is on the railway network and lies on the Guntakal–Hubli line. Demographics At t ...

– Raichur, Hubbali – Ankola, Miraj – Bagalkote, Hassan –

Chikkamagaluru Chikmagalur, known officially as Chikkamagaluru, is a city and the headquarters of Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri peak of the Western Ghats, the city attracts tourists from ...

are either proposed, planned, under construction or partially open for service in phases.

Modernisation

The Mysuru Division of South Western Railways will be designated as "Digital Division" after fully adopting its current technology harnessing programme. The government of India had asked Railways divisions to cut red tape and reduce paperwork in offices. All the officials will adopt technologies like WhatsApp and Google Drive to share reports and other documents. This will save a lot of papers being used for circulating reports as done currently. Two web-based helplines have been launched so that digitised information can be shared among different officials. The inspection reports regarding maintenance, passenger amenities, cleanliness, electronics, and communication, etc. will be managed by a new software which is under construction now. These measures will cut down redundant works, reduce number of registers and reports maintained by officials, reduce paper consumption and improve the efficiency and celerity of operations.

Project Unigauge

Since 2007, the SWR is entirely Indian gauge. SWR has many WDG4, WAP-7, WAG-9HC and

WDP-4 The EMD GT46PAC or WDP4 is a passenger-hauling diesel-electric locomotive with AC electric transmission designed by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and built by both GM-EMD and under license by Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) of Varanasi, ...

locomotives in use.

Routes

Express routes

* Yesvantpur–Kacheguda Express, between and * Yesvantpur–Latur Express, between and *

Rani Chennamma Express The Rani Chennamma Express is a train connecting the cities of Bengaluru and Miraj City,a medical hub in southern Maharashtra, India. Rani Chennamma Express is a daily train maintained by South Western Railway zone, South Western Railway, Banga ...

, between Bangalore City railway station and Miraj * Yesvantpur–Shivamogga Town Express, between and Shivamogga Town * Yesvantpur-Pandharpur Express, between and

Pandharpur railway station Pandharpur railway station is a railway station serving Pandharpur town, in Solapur district of Maharashtra State of India. It is under Solapur railway division of Central Railway Zone Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zo ...

Loco sheds

* Diesel & Electric Loco Shed, Krishnarajapuram * Diesel Loco Shed, Hubli

References

External links

South Western RailwayIndian Railways reservations
{{coord missing, Karnataka Zones of Indian Railways Rail transport in Karnataka 2003 establishments in India