North Western Railway came being on 1st October, 2002. It was carved out of 2 divisions each from Northern and Western Railways. The formation of this zone along with five other new zones was first approved by Railway Board on 16th September, 1996 and foundation stone for this zone was laid on 17th October 1996 by the then Prime Minister Shri H.D. Deve Gowda at K.P. Singh Stadium, Jaipur. The impetus for formation of New Zone came with the Government of India notification no. 97/E&R/700/1/Notification dated 14.06.2002 wherein it was decided that North Western Railway with its jurisdiction over existing Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of Western Railway and Jodhpur and Bikaner divisions of Northern Railway was to come into effect from 1.10.2002.
Facts and Other Statistics
Consisting of four divisions, this railway has a total of 578 stations covering a total of 5449.29 route kms out of which 2575.03 are broad guage and 2874.23 are metre guage. The total track kilometers of this railway, however, are 6559.546 kms. The four divisions are Ajmer, Bikaner, Jaipur & Jodhpur. Jaipur & Ajmer divisions were originally part of Western Railway and Bikaner & Jodhpur were part of Northern Railway. The total number of trains dealt by North Western Railway amounts to 452 out of which BG trains total 264 and MG trains total 188.
Brief Outline of the Divisions
Jaipur Division – This division was formed after merging parts of BB&CI, Jaipur State Railways and Rajputana Malwa Railway, Jaipur Division serves the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Being a predominately passenger earning division (84.92% of its earning is by way of passenger traffic), it deals primarily with cross traffic consisting of fertilizer, cement, oil, salt, food grains, oil seeds, lime stone and gypsum traffic. Container loading is done from here in bulk. The total no. of stations on this division is 128 and the total no. of trains run are 146. Jaipur station alone deals with 88 BG & 22 MG trains and 35,000 passengers in a day. In order to ensure that the passenger does not face any hardship for reservations the division has at the moment 14 functioning Computerized Passenger Reservation System Centres. The staff strength of this division in all categories is 12007.
Bikaner Division – This division was established in 1924 and it serves the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. This division has an equal amount of passenger and goods traffic. The main outward goods traffic of this division is food grains, china clay and gypsum. The total no. of situations in this divisions is 198 and the total no. of trains dealt with are 142 including the railbus and BG and MG mail/exp and passenger trains. Bikaner division has 12 Computerised Passenger Reservation System functioning and one Computerized Passenger Reservation System at Ratangarh is about to be commissioned. A proposal for opening of PRS at Mahendergarh has already been sent to Railway Board for sanction. The staff strength of this division in all categories is 13728.
Jodhpur Division – This division was up in the year 1882 and it consists primarily of semi–urban districts of Rajasthan. It covers areas of Jodhpur, Pali Marwar, Nagaur Jalore, Barmer, Jaisalmer. It also covers certain districts of Gujarat state. This division also serves certain sensitive areas of Rajasthan such as Jaisalmer, Barmer and Pokaran. The main commodities loaded on this division are lime stone, salt and gypsum. This division has a total of 144 stations and deals with 92 trains in the inward and outward directions. Fifteen Computerised Passenger Reservation System Centres exist over this division and another one is on the anvil. A proposal for four more locations has already been sent. The staff strength of this division in all categories is 10231.
Ajmer Division – This division is spread over the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is predominantly a cement loading division as many cement plants of Rajasthan are located within the jurisdiction of Ajmer. Rock phosphate, soap stone powder are loaded from Udaipur area. This division is prominent on the religious and tourist map of India as it witnesses large amount of passenger traffic to Ajmer Sharief, Pushkar, Jain Temples Dilwara at Mount Abu and Ranakpur Temples. This division has 130 stations and the total no. of trains run over the division amounts to 36 in both the passenger and mail/exp category. At present there are 12 Computerized Passenger Reservation System Centres functioning over this division and one location is awaiting commissioning. Proposals for 3 more locations have already been sent. The staff strength of this division in all categories is 9046.
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