South Western Railway zone

South Western Railway
	10-South Western Railway
Overview
Headquarters	Rail Soudha, Gadag Road Hubballi Karnataka
Locale	Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and Tamil Nadu
Dates of operation	2003; 18 years ago–
Predecessor	Southern Railway zone; South Central Railway zone; Central Railway zone
Technical
Track gauge	Broad gauge (1676mm, 5'6")
Previous gauge	Meter gauge
Electrification	731 kilometres (454 mi)
Length	3,566 kilometres (2,216 mi)
Other
Website	www.swr.indianrailways.gov.in SWR Official Website

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.

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 Hubballi and comprises three divisions namely Hubballi, 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.^[1]

Jurisdiction[]

Map of South Western Railway zone (in Cyan)

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 taluk and patchur, somanayakanpatti of Tirupattur district of Tamil Nadu.

Divisions[]

Development[]

Rail Soudha, headquarters of the South Western Railway zone located at Hubbali, Karnataka.

As of 10 November 2021, Out of 3,566 kilometres (2,216 mi) of broad gauge route, a total of 1,233 kilometres (766 mi) is electrified in the zone. ^[2]

The section between Bengaluru-Mysuru(136 kilometres (85 mi) is doubled and electrified. The Bengaluru - 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 section of the same line was completed in 2015 while the doubling of Tumakuru - Arsikere and Hubballi - Harihara sections are in progress. The doubling of Yelahanka-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 Londa - Miraj - Pune line doubling is in progress with electrification. In the 2016 Railway Budget, the 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. 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.^[4]

Project Unigauge[]

Since 2007, the SWR is entirely Indian gauge. SWR has many WDG4, WAP-7, WAG-9HC and WDP-4 locomotives in use.

Routes[]

Express routes[]

Yesvantpur–Kacheguda Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Kacheguda
Yesvantpur–Latur Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Latur
Rani Chennamma Express, between Bangalore City railway station and Miraj
Yesvantpur–Shivamogga Town Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Shivamogga Town
Yesvantpur-Pandharpur Express, between Yesvantpur Junction and Pandharpur railway station

Loco sheds[]

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

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.
^ "South Western Railway completes electrification of 598 kilometres in 16 months". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
^ "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.

External links[]

[1] "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.

[2] "South Western Railway completes electrification of 598 kilometres in 16 months". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 December 2021.

[3] "Bangalore - Hassan Railway line set for commissioning". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 February 2017.

[:2-4] "On course to becoming a 'digital division' - Today's Paper". The Hindu. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2016.

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