What are the railway zones in India?

Indian Railways has 18 zones — Northern (NR), Central (CR), Eastern (ER), Western (WR), Southern (SR), and 13 more — that manage operations region-wise. Each zone is divided into divisions for ground-level administration.

Indian Railways Zones (18 total):

CodeNameHQ
NRNorthernNew Delhi
NCRNorth CentralPrayagraj
NWRNorth WesternJaipur
NERNorth EasternGorakhpur
NFRNortheast FrontierMaligaon
EREasternKolkata
ECREast CentralHajipur
ECoREast CoastBhubaneswar
SERSouth EasternKolkata
SECRSouth East CentralBilaspur
SRSouthernChennai
SCRSouth CentralSecunderabad
SWRSouth WesternHubballi
CRCentralMumbai
WRWesternMumbai
WCRWest CentralJabalpur
KRKonkanBelapur (CIDCO)
METROKolkata MetroKolkata

Each zone is further split into divisions (~70 total). Trains, stations, and PNR booking quotas are managed zone-wise.

First digit of PNR often hints at booking zone but not always reliable.

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