The North Eastern Railway (abbreviated NER) is one of the 18 railway zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur.

Zonal Rail Training Institute (ZRTI) is established in district Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh.

North Eastern Railway is one of the most important transit zones. It takes loaded wagons, especially food grains, from Northern Railway divisions like Firozpur, towards the Eastern belt and Northern Frontier region (Seven Sister States). Thus, it acts as an essential cog in the food security of the country. It is also at the central area for much inward traffic from the neighboring zones. This traffic includes the shipping of food grains, fertiliser, stone chips, cement, petroleum, and coal.

As North Eastern Railway caters to a large area spread from the western part of Uttar Pradesh towards eastern Uttar Pradesh and area comprising western Bihar, it runs many passenger trains for the economically weaker sections. Thus, in its true sense, North Eastern Railway is delivering on the balance between social as well commercial objective of the Indian Railways.

History

The North Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 by combining two railway systems the Oudh and Tirhut Railway and Assam Railway and the Cawnpore–Achnera Provincial State Railway of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. The Cawnpore–Barabanki Railway was transferred to the North Eastern Railway on 27 February 1953. NER was bifurcated into two Railway Zones on 15 January 1958, the North Eastern Railway and the Northeast Frontier Railway and all lines east of Katihar were transferred to Northeast Frontier Railway.Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways, New Delhi: National Book Trust, pp.42-4

By December 2017, Indian Railways had installed 6,095 GPS-enabled "Fog Pilot Assistance System" devices across the four zones most affected by dense fog: the Northern Railway zone, North Central Railway zone, North Eastern Railway zone, and North Western Railway zone.The system replaced the earlier practice of placing detonators (firecrackers) on the tracks to warn train drivers operating at reduced speed in low visibility. This provides train pilots with advance information on the location of signals, level-crossing gates, and other approaching markers.Indian Railways to use GPS-enabled devices to fight fog this season, The Economic Times, 12 Dec 2017.

Divisions Lucknow Railway division Varanasi railway division Izzatnagar railway division

Major stations in North Eastern Railway zone Category of stationNo. of stationsStationsA-1 category6, , , , , , A category12, , , , , ,, , , , B category 6 Ghazipur City (GCT), Banaras (BSBS), Varanasi City (BCY), Bhatni (BTT), Babhnan (BV), SuraimanpurC category (suburban station) - -D category - -E category - -F category (halt station) - , Ghazipur Ghat, Paniara, Naik Dih, Hurmujpur, Fatehpur Atwa, Paligarh, GhosiTotal- -

Area covered NER covers UP & Bihar, and the Nepal border in three parts with three division work (Varanasi, Lucknow & Izzatnagar).

Western Uttar Pradesh as (Mathura, Hathras City, Kasganj, Farrukhabad, Kanpur) Northern Uttar Pradesh & Awadh (Kathgodam, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri Lucknow, Barabanki, Gonda, Ayodhya) All Purvanchal region & North western Bihar (Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi, Allahabad, Mau, Chapra)

Re-organisation On 1 October 2002, Samastipur and Sonpur divisions were transferred to East Central Railway. The present NER, after re-organisation of railway zones in 2002, comprises three divisions - Varanasi, Lucknow and Izzatnagar. NER has 3,402.46 route km with 486 stations. NER primarily serves the areas of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Western districts of Bihar.

Administration The administrative head of the zone is called the general manager, and is currently Saumya Mathur, as of 2024.

Trains Some trains operated by North Eastern Railway zone are as follows:

Number Train Starting station Terminating station12533/12534Pushpak ExpressLucknow Jn. NERMumbai CSMT22545/22546Lucknow–Dehradun Vande Bharat ExpressLucknow Jn. NERDehradun railway station22549/22550Gorakhpur - Prayagraj (Allahabad) Vande Bharat ExpressGorakhpur Jn.Prayagraj Junction22539/22540Mau– Anand Vihar Superfast ExpressMau Jn. Railway StationAnand Vihar Terminal Railway Station

Loco sheds

Diesel & Electric Loco Shed, Gonda Diesel & Electric Loco Shed, Izzatnagar Electric Loco Shed, Gorakhpur Electric Loco Shed, Saiyedpur Bhitri

Cultural importance North Eastern Railway passes through/connects to many important tourist and cultural centres like Varanasi, Sarnath, Lucknow, Prayagraj,Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Lumbani, Ghazipur City, Mau, Ballia, Suraimanpur, Deoria, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Hathras, Mathura, Vrindavan, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Faizabad, Nainital, Ranikhet,Farrukhabad, Pilibhit tiger reserve, Kausani, Dudhwa, Maharajganj, Nautanwa and Sonauli.

See also All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA) Zones and divisions of Indian Railways

References

External links North Eastern Railway official site North Eastern Railway