The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) Railway, came into existence on April 16, 1853, when the first train on the Indian Sub-continent steamed off from Mumbai to Thane, a modest stretch of only 33 kms. Central Railway was carved out of erstwhile GIP Railway on November 5, 1951.
Central Railway covers a large part of the state of Maharashtra and parts of North-Eastern Karnataka and Southern Madhya Pradesh. It is a system with a network of 3905.47 route kilometres and 5975.33 track kilometres linking 477 stations in five divisions i.e Mumbai, Pune, Bhusawal, Nagpur and Solapur .
Central Railway is the leading passenger carrying system. It carries more than 4 lakh passengers every day to each nook and corner of the country through Mail/Express/Passenger trains. Mumbai Suburban Train System is the life line of the Metropolitan City. More than 3 million passenger travel every day in 1573 suburban trains, moving across 77 stations. 40 suburban services are operated on Pune-Lonavla section in Pune division.
The Mumbai Suburban System of Central Railway extends from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Kalyan (54 Kms.), where it bifurcates into 2 directions, one to Kasara (121 Kms) and the other to Khopoli (114 Kms.).
Central Railway is also distinguished for its Neral - Matheran Line (Narrow Gauge line), which links Neral with the enthralling hill station of Matheran in the Western Ghats, on the Mumbai-Pune main line. Deccan Queen, Punjab Mail, Gitanjali Express, Hussain Sagar Express and Pushpak Express are the few prestigious trains run by Central Railway.
The freight business is the major source of revenue for the Indian Railway. Major commodities carried on Central Railway over its network are Coal, Imported Coal, Cement, Petroleum products, Indigenous Fertilisers, Sugar, Containers, and onion etc.
