South East Central Railway zone

South East Central Railway
	14-South East Central Railways
Overview
Headquarters	Bilaspur Junction
Locale	Chhattisgarh; Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; Odisha;
Dates of operation	2003; 21 years ago–
Predecessor	South Eastern Railway Zone
Technical
Track gauge	Broad Gauge
Electrification	Yes
Other
Website	www.secr.indianrailways.gov.in

The South East Central Railway (abbreviated SECR) is one of the 19 Railway Zones in India. The Zone Office is headquartered at Bilaspur and comprises the Bilaspur, Nagpur and Raipur Division.

History

This Zone was formerly part of the South Eastern Railway. It was inaugurated on 20 September 1998 and dedicated to the nation on 1 April 2003.

Divisions

Infrastructure

Bilaspur Railway Station is a regional hub for the system. It is the busiest junction in Chhattisgarh and the fourth-busiest in Central India for passenger trains. It is one of busiest junctions of Indian Railway due to heavy freight movements of coal,steel,cement from East India to West & North India. The junction is upgraded to handle quadruple (4th line) and triple (3rd line) between Jharsuguda - Bilaspur - Durg and Bilaspur - Katni.

The zone's major passenger stations are Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Itwari (NITR), Gondia (G), Bhandara Road (BRD), Dongargarh (DGG), Rajnandgaon (RJN), Durg Junction railway station (DURG), Bhilai Power House railway station (BPHB), Bhilai (BIA), Raipur (R), Bhatapara (BYT), Tilda (TLD), Bilaspur (BSP), Gevra Road (GAD), Janjgir Naila (NIA), Champa (CPH), Raigarh (RIG), and Anuppur (APR), most of which lie on the Mumbai-Howrah and Delhi-Katni-Bilaspur main lines. Bilaspur, Gondia, Durg, Anuppur and Raipur are the zone's major junctions. By 2007, SECR had added a third rail line between Durg and Raigarh.

By 2024 fourth railway line between Bilaspur and Jharsuguda will be operational. Fourth railway line between Bilaspur and Durg due to the heavy freight movement was approved in FY23-24 railway budget.