In which one of the following places, Headquarters of a Railway Zone is located ?

The Headquarters of the East Central Railway (ECR) zone is located in Hajipur, Bihar [2]. This zone was officially established on October 1, 2002, by carving out divisions from the Eastern and North Eastern Railways [4]. The other options provided do not serve as zonal headquarters: Kanpur and Lucknow are major railway hubs and divisional headquarters under the North Central and Northern/North Eastern Railway zones respectively, but they do not host a zonal head office. New Jalpaiguri is a significant station under the Northeast Frontier Railway, which is headquartered at Maligaon, Guwahati [1]. Indian Railways is currently divided into several zones for administrative efficiency, with Hajipur serving as the administrative center for the East Central region, overseeing divisions like Danapur, Dhanbad, and Samastipur [4].

Sources

1. [1] INDIA PEOPLE AND ECONOMY, TEXTBOOK IN GEOGRAPHY FOR CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 7: Transport and Communication > Table 7.2 : Indian Railways: Railway Zones and Headquarters > p. 79
2. [2] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 12: Transport, Communications and Trade > Table 12.3 > p. 15
3. [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Central_Railway_zone