Indian Railways is geographically organized into zones. At present there are 17 Zonal Railways (including Metro Railway, Kolkata).
Each zone is under the control of General Manager (GM) who is responsible for its operation, maintenance and financial position. GM is assisted by an Additional General Manager (AGM) and Heads of Department (HoD) for various Departments viz, Transportation, Commercial, Accounts, Personnel, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Signal & Telecommunications, Stores, Medical and Security. In departments where more than one HoD is provided one of the HODs is nominated as co-ordinating HoD. For example in Transportation, there are many HOD like Chief Freight Traffic Manager(CFTM), Chief Passenger Traffic Manager(CPTM) etc., but COM is nominated as co-ordinating HoD
Zonal and Divisional boundaries are decided by operational/administrative requirements and not on considerations of State boundaries and as such there are some States which have railway lines under jurisdictional control of more than one Zonal Railway/Division.
Apart from the Indian Railway Zones, there are metro railways which are part of the Indian railways. They do not form a part of the Indian Railway Zones and are as good as the local trains.
