The South Western Railway is one of the 17 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hubli and comprises 3 divisions namely Hubli, Mysore, and Bangalore. The 4th division at Gulbarga will come up shortly and preparations of work has already begun. The zone came into existence on 1 April 2003. Important named trains operated by this zone are :  Karnataka Express (Bangalore-New Delhi),  Rani Chennamma Express (Bangalore-Kolhapur), Gol Gumbaz Express (Mysore-Solapur), Basava Express (Mysore-Bagalkote), Siddaganga Intercity Express (Bangalore-Dharwad), Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express (Bangalore-New Delhi) and (Bangalore-Chandigarh), Hampi Express (Mysore-Hubli), Lalbagh Express (Bangalore-Chennai), Shatabdi Express (Bangalore-Chennai), Tippu Express (Bangalore-Mysore), Island express (Bangalore-Kanyakumari) and Goa Express (Vasco Da Gama-Hazrat Nizamuddin).