South Western Railway zone
The South Western Railway (SWR) is one of the 18 railway zones in India, headquartered at Hubballi in Karnataka State. SWR was created from carving out the routes from Southern Railways and South Central Railways in 2003.
 10-South Western Railway | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Rail Soudha, Gadag Road Hubballi Karnataka Divisions: Hubli, Mysore and Bangalore |
| Locale | Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and Tamil Nadu |
| Dates of operation | 2003– |
| Predecessor | Southern Railway zone South Central Railway zone Central Railway zone |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | Broad gauge |
| Previous gauge | Meter gauge |
| Electrification | 731 kilometres (454 mi) |
| Length | 3,566 kilometres (2,216 mi) |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
History
It is headquartered at Hubballi and comprises three divisions namely Hubballi, Mysuru, and Bengaluru. The fourth division at Kalaburagi will come up shortly and preparations of work has already begun.[1] The zone came into existence on 1 April 2003.
Jurisdiction
South Western Railway covers most of the railway lines in the state of Karnataka (other than the Konkan Railway), many parts of Goa (that are not under Konkan Railway), small parts of Southern Andhra Pradesh, Western parts of Dharmapuri district,hosur taulk and patchur,somanayakanpatti of Tirupattur district of tamilnadu.
Development
As of 1 April 2020, Out of 3,566 kilometres (2,216 mi) of broad guage route, a total of 731 kilometres (454 mi) is electrified in the zone. This makes South Western Railways having the lowest electrified routes in Indian Railways.[2]
The section between Bangalore-Mysore(136 kilometres (85 mi)) is doubled and electrified. The Bangalore-Hubli line is being doubled in isolated patches. While Bangalore-Tumkur was doubled and opened to traffic in 2007, progress on other sections has been painfully slow. The doubling of the Kadur-Chikjajur section of the same line was completed in 2015, while doubling of Tumakuru-Kadur and Huballi-Chikjajur section are in progress. Bellary-Hospet line is completely doubled and opened for traffic, Hubli-Gadag, Gadag-Hotgi and Londa - Miraj - Pune line doubling is in progress. In the 2016 Railway Budget, electrification of Bangalore-Omalur (via:Hosur, Dharmapuri) was also announced. In February 2017, the Bangalore - Hassan railway line via Shravanabelagola was completed.[3]
Modernisation
The Mysuru Division of South Western Railways will be designated as "Digital Division" after fully adopting its current technology harnessing programme. Government of India had asked Railways divisions to cut red tape and reduce paper work in offices. All the officials will adopt technologies like WhatsApp and Google Drive to share reports and other documents. This will save 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.[4]
Project Unigauge
Since 2007, the SWR is entirely Indian gauge. SWR has many WDG4, WAP-7, WAG-9HC and WDP-4 locomotives currently based at diesel loco sheds Hubli and Krishnarajapuram.
Routes
Express routes
- Yesvantpur–Kacheguda Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Kacheguda
- Yesvantpur–Latur Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Latur
- Ksr Bengaluru – Kolhapur Rani Chennama Express, between Ksr Bengaluru and Miraj
- Yesvantpur–Shivamogga Town Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Shivamogga Town
- Yesvantpur-Pandharpur Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Pandharpur railway station
See also
- Zones and divisions of Indian Railways
- All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA)
References
- "New railway division in Kalaburagi to be under SWR but they are not setting up as it is formed in Congress time". The Hindu. 6 March 2014. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- Indian Railways. "Trend of RE Commissioning in India (192-2020)" (PDF). Indian Railways. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- "Bangalore - Hassan Railway line set for commissioning". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- "On course to becoming a 'digital division' - Today's Paper". The Hindu. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
