TheEast Coast Railway (abbreviatedECoR) is one of the 19 railway zones ofIndian Railways. It came into existence on 1 April 2003. It headquarters are located atBhubaneswar.^[1]

East Coast Railway

15-East Coast Railway
Overview
Headquarters	Bhubaneswar
Reporting mark	ECoR
Locale	Odisha Chhattisgarh Andhra Pradesh
Dates of operation	1 April 2003; 21 years ago (2003-04-01)–
Predecessor	South Eastern Railway Zone
Technical
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC
Other
Website	eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in

Consequent upon the parliament's approval, East Coast Railway was the first of the seven new zones to be inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of IndiaH. D. Deve Gowda on 8 August 1996. The Officer-on-Special Duty took charge of the newly declared Zone on 16 September 1996. Initially, only one division namely Khurda Road was attached to this railway.

The zone became fully operational on 1 April 2003. The Waltair division was notified to be bifurcated from the East Coast Railway zone on 27 February 2019. The Odisha section of Waltair division will constitute the new Rayagada division, while the Andhra Pradesh section will be a part of theSouth Coast Railway zone upon operationalization.^[2]

The geographical jurisdiction of East Coast Railway zone extends over three states encompassing almost all ofOdisha andBastar,Mahasamund andDantewada districts ofChhattisgarh and a minor partPalasa,Sompeta and seven other stations ofSrikakulam district inAndhra Pradesh. The zonal headquarters is atBhubaneswar in Odisha.

The zone has three divisions:Sambalpur,Khurda andRayagada.

TheRayagada railway division was proposed to succeed a section of the former Waltair division which will remain in the East Coast Railway zone upon bifurcation.^[3] The foundation stone for the zone was laid on 6 January 2025, with the demarcation of the zone finalised on 7 February 2025.^[4]

As of 31 December 2021, it is one of the three 100% electric railway zones in India.^[5] The East Coast Railway line integrated with the commissionedHowrah-Chennai electrified trunk route on 29 November 2005. There was a missing link betweenKharagpur andVisakhapatnam stations and all trains from Howrah towards Chennai side had to undergo a locomotive change from electric to diesel at Kharagpur and vice versa at Visakhapatnam in order to pass through Odisha. Even trains from New Delhi such as theBhubaneswar Rajdhani had to undergo the change at Kharagpur. This frequent loco change on a trunk route became a time-consuming and inconvenient process. With electrification along the 765 km Kharagpur-Visakhapatnam stretch, trains got speeded up and the need for double headed diesels for high speed express trains was eliminated thus saving on diesel consumption and a cleaner travel. Additionally the line branching off Khurda road towards Puri was also electrified. Gradually the Cuttack-Angul line, Cuttack-Paradeep line and branch line from Jakhapura towards Barbil got electrified too.

The major railway stations in the entire zone areBhubaneswar,Cuttack,Chatrapur,Puri,Sambalpur,Khurda Road,Balugaon,Rayagada,Brahmapur,Angul,Dhenkanal,Bhadrak,Balangir,Bargarh,Jajpur Keonjhar Road,Titilagarh,Kesinga,Lanjigarh,Koraput,Mahasamund,Jagdalpur,Kendujhargarh,Palasa andBarbil.

Most of the major stations fall in the state ofOdisha,Chhattisgarh.

• Carriage Repair Workshop –Mancheswar, Bhubaneswar
• MEMU Shed –Khurda Road

East Coast Railway zone has about 273 railway stations with a track length of 5214 km spread as follows:-

ECoR zone has below tracks. All are5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge. The sections are:-

1. Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Khurda Road- Double Electrified BG line [92 Railway stations]
2. Talcher-Cuttack Double Electrified BG line [21 Railway stations]

1. Titlagarh Junction-Mahasamund Single Electrified BG line [15 Railway stations] (Electric doubling of this line is currently underway)
2. Cuttack-Paradip Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
3. Khurda road-Puri Double Electrified BG line [11 Railway stations]
4. Sambalpur Junction-Talcher Single Electrified BG line [16 Railway stations](Electric doubling of this line is currently underway)
5. Titlagarh Junction-Sambalpur Junction Single Electrified BG line [16 Railway stations] (Electric doubling of this line is currently underway)
6. Sambalpur Junction-Jharsuguda Junction Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
7. Rayagada-Koraput Single Electric BG line [15 Railway stations]
8. Naupada Junction-Gunupur Single Diesel BG line [14 Railway stations]
9. Jakhapura Junction-Banspani Single Electrified BG line [17 Railway stations] (Electric doubling of this line is currently underway)

• Electric Loco Shed, Angul

• East Coast Railway Official Website
• Khurda Road Division
• Sambalpur Division
• Waltair Division

• All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA)
• Zones and divisions of Indian Railways
• Indian Railway Signal Maintainers Union (IRSTMU)
• South Coast Railway