About Multi Disciplinary Zonal  Training Institute, 

Tiruchchirappalli.

 A Slice of History

        While tracing back the history of its origin, the Multi Disciplinary Zonal Training Institute, Tiruchchirappalli, reminiscences  a glorious past. 

         Under the erstwhile South Indian Railway Company Limited, it had its origin  in 20th of April 1931 and has grown by leaps and bounds to the present state of

authority, name and fame.

          Expanding its horizons over the years, MDZTI has carved a niche for itself to become a model Institution imparting methodological training to scores of Railway men

and women from various departments like, Traffic-Transportation & Commercial, Electrical Operations, Accounts, Establishment, Stores etc. Nevertheless, MDZTI has

crossed a historical mile stone of celebrating its Platinum Jubilee in the year 2006.

         To recount its emergence, the premier training institution was started in the General Offices compound as a "Traffic Training School" for the purpose of training

Probationers and Signallers of Traffic Department on 20th of April 1931.

        The first batch had just 18 trainees attending Refresher Course from the whole Railway. The trainees were taught on the working principles inCommercial, Transportation,

Audit and Statistics. On completion of the course, examinations were conducted to test their theoretical knowledge. The failed candidates were either reverted to lower grades 

or withheld their promotions. Interestingly, the then South Indian Railway Company Limited had more Europeans than native Indians, according to the Statistics shown in the

Company's Annual Report of 1931-1932.

School of Thought

        The Training School was later shifted to the old Engineering Workshop building, on a 16-acre site, sprawling on the south-eastern side of the present location in 1932.

Initially, a model room was created with working models similar to Golden Rock station signalling system. Two cabins consisting of 12 levers and 32 levers were at the either end of

the yard.

        The Training School was headed by an Assistant Traffic Superintendent who was assisted by two Instructors.

                          1931- Traffic Training School under construction

Raising of Military Unit

         In 1941, The Government of India came up with a scheme to raise military personnel from existing Railway men to be deployed in war zone. This lead to the formation of Army

Headquarters, Training Group in Trichinopoly (Tiruchchirappalli) coming directly under the administrative control of the Agent and General Manager for recruiting and training of

personnel from Transportation, Mechanical and Engineering departments for Railway Military Units.

         An Officer from the  Railway was appointed as Commandant of the group.

        Subsequently, a camp was held inside the Traffic Training School premises which later became the 'Centralised Training School'. Theoretically trained personnel were

despatched to Transportation Training Centre at Jullundur.

Early stages of  the Training Centre 

     Until 1951, The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company (M & SMR), the South Indian Railway Company (SIR) and the Mysore State Railway Company (MSR) were

the three major railway companies which operated in South India. Some of the lines operated by them were actually owned by Government, various District Boards and tiny princely

States and the Government of French Settlement in India.

     These companies had their own Training Centres at Madras, Nagapattinam, Podanur and Mysore.

     They were all falling short in operational standards. New recruits learnt most of their work from their seniors while their top brass had their training abroad.

The First Zonal Railway

      The interesting fact is that Southern Railway got the honour of being the first Zonal Railway formed on 14th April 1951.

      Shri. N.Gopalaswamy Iyyengar, the then Honourable Minister of Railways mooted the setting up of an independent and sustainable Training Centre for each zone, while deciding on

the size of the zones.

      Thus a "Centralised Training School" was opened in 1952 at Tiruchchirappalli closing down the Training Schools in Madras, Mysore etc.

      The integration of the railway system in 1951-52 paved way for the formation of Southern Railway with its jurisdiction upto Waltair and Poona.

      The "Centralised Training School" was upgraded and renamed as "Zonal Training School" in 1962 based on the recommendations of a Technical Committee.

                                         1962-Zonal Training School

The Crowning Glory

         The Training Institute was visited by a team from Commonwealth in 1970's to study the curriculum being followed. The Institution was considered a pioneer Training Institute and redefined as a Model School.

          The nomenclature of the Institute was changed as"Zonal Training Centre" in 1992.

                                        1992-Zonal Training Centre

       And subsequently modified as "Zonal Railway Training Institute" in 2003. 

                                  2003-Zonal Railway Training Institute

      With effect from 14th June 2018 it is renamed as ‘Multi Disciplinary Zonal Training Institute’ with PCPO as  the Administrative In-charge and COM(G) as the Training Manager.

                                                          2018-Multi Disciplinary Zonal Training Institute

       Subsequently the following officers are nominated as Training Managers by GM Southern Railway from 09.05.2024.