Indian Railways is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km and 7,112 stations.
- Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane
- Indian Railways Nationalised in 1951
- The country’s first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway
- The Indian railway system is the largest in Asia and fourth in the world based on rail transport network size after USA, China and Russia
- It is the biggest employer in the world and the largest single undertaking in the country
- It has the second biggest electrified system in the world after Russia
- Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones.which are further sub-divided into 68 divisions
- Each zone is headed by a general manager
Railway Zones
| Name | Established | Headquarters | Divisions |
| Southern | 14 April 1951 | Chennai | Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, and Salem, Palakkad,Thiruvananthapuram |
| Central | 5 November 1951 | Mumbai | Mumbai,CST, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur and Nagpur |
| Western | 5 November 1951 | Mumbai | Mumbai,Central, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Vadodara |
| Eastern | 14 April 1952 | Kolkata | Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol and Malda Town |
| Northern | 14 April 1952 | Delhi | Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow and Moradabad |
| North Eastern | 14 April 1952 | Gorakhpur | Izzatnagar, Lucknow and Varanasi |
| South Eastern | 1955 | Kolkata | Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur and Ranchi |
| Northeast Frontier | 15 January 1958 | Maligaon | Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangia, Lumding and Tinsukia |
| South Central | 2 October 1966 | Secunderabad | Vijayawada, Secunderabad, Guntakal, Guntur, Hyderabad and Nanded |
| East Central | 1 October 2002 | Hajipur | Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur and Sonpur |
| North Western | 1 October 2002 | Jaipur | Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner and Jodhpur |
| East Coast | 1 April 2003 | Bhubaneswar | Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Visakhapatnam |
| North Central | 1 April 2003 | Allahabad | Allahabad, Agra and Jhansi |
| South East Central | 1 April 2003 | Bilaspur | Bilaspur, Raipur and Nagpur |
| South Western | 1 April 2003 | Hubli | Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore and Gulbarga |
| West Central | 1 April 2003 | Jabalpur | Jabalpur, Bhopal and Kota |
Railway Tracks:
- Track – Distance between rails
- Broad Gauge – 1676mm
- Metre Gauge – 1000mm
- Narrow Gauge – 762mm/610mm
Manufacturing Unit
| Name of the Unit | Location |
| Chittaranjan Locomotive Works | Chittaranjan, West Bengal |
| Central Organisation for Railway Electrification | Allahabad, UP |
| Diesel Locomotive Works | Varanasi, UP |
| Diesel Loco Modernisation Works | Patiala, Punjab |
| Integral Coach Factory | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Rail Coach Factory | Kapurthala, Punjab |
| Rail Wheel Factory | Bangalore, Karnataka |
| Rail Coach Factory | Raebareli, UP |
| Rail Wheel Plant | Chhapra, Bihar |
| Diesel Component Factory | Dankuni, West Bengal |
Luxury Train routes
| Name | Run by | Route |
| Palace on Wheels | Rajasthan Tourism | Delhi-Jaipur-Sawai-Madhopur-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Bharatpur-Agra-Delhi |
| Deccan Odyssey | Maharashtra Tourism | New Delhi – Sawai Madhopur – Agra – Jaipur – Udaipur – Vadodara – Ellora Caves – Mumbai |
| The Golden Chariot | Karnataka Tourism | Bengaluru, Kabini, Mysore-Belur – Halebidu – Hampi – Badami –Goa – Bengaluru |
| Royal Rajasthan on Wheels | Rajasthan Tourism | Delhi – Jaipur – Jaisalmer – Jodhpur –Sawai – Madhopur – Chittorgarh – Udaipur – Bharatpur – Agra – Delhi |
Important Railway Committees
- Shahnawaz Committee – 1954, High Level Safety Review Committee
- Kanjaru Committee – 1962, Railway Accidents Committee
- Wahchoo Committee – 1968, Railway Safety Committee
- Seekari Committee – 1978, Railway Accidents Enquiry Committee
- Khanna Committee – 1998, Railway Safety Review Committee
- Arvind Panagariya committee – 2016 to fast-track bullet train project
Important facts about Railway:
- First train in India – Mumbai to Thane, With 400 passengers, this train completed its journey of 34 kms with the help of three engines–Sahib, Sindh and Sultan.
- Father of Indian Railway – Lord Dalhousie
- Fastest train – The Bhopal Shatabdi Express,1988,betweenAgra and New Delhi
- Slowest train in India- Nilgri Express,between Chennai and Mettupalayam
- First electric train – Deccan Queen, 1931,connects Mumbai with Pune .
- First double-decker train – Shatabdi train was flagged off in October 2011
- First air-conditioned double-decker train – Shatabdi train will run from Mumbai to Goa
- First underground railway (Metro Railway) – Kolkata Metro(1984)
- Largest Zone in Indian Railways – Northern Railway
- A platform surrounded by rail lines from all the four sides – Island platform
- First railway station – Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station in Mumbai.
- Longest running train -Vivek Express. It runs from Dibrugarh in upper Assam to Kanyakumari at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu.
- Longest railway platform –Gorakhpur railway station, Uttar Pradesh
- First A.C. train between Bombay and Baroda started – 1936
- First broad gauge super fast train – rajdhani express new delhi howrah 1stmarch 1969
- First metre gauge super fast train – pink city express new delhi jaipur 17thoct 1981
- First narrow gauge super fast train – shivalik deluxe express kalka – shimla 9thaug 1996
- First time table 1853 central india
- First stamp on indian railways 4 annas 10thdec 1936 by king george
- First ac train mumbai and baroda 1936
- First automatic signalling system 1928
- First railway book stall – 1877 allahabad wheeler & co ltd
- First wagon in india 1920 jessop & co., Kolkata
- First vestibuled train 1stjune 1930, deccan queen
- World’s first double decker train – 1862 bb&cir
- First railway tunnel of Indian railway -Parsik tunnel
- First rail minister after independence – John Mathai and before independence Asif Ali
- Countries there is no railway line – Lebanon,Mauritius reunion, Libya, Argentina, Afghanistan, Papua,New Guinea
- Trains that have placed in Guinness Book -Darjeeling Toy Train, Nilgiri Mountain Train Simla Toy Train, Mathenron Toy Train, Place on wheels Royal Orient, Buddha circular Express, Fairy Queen.
- Satpura Express numerical name 10001/10002 – run between Jabalpur and Balaghat
- Longest train -Prayagraj Express (26 Coaches, New Delhi–Allahabad)
- Highest Railway station in India – Similiguda (996.08 mt from sea level in the Valtair division of Southern–Eastern Railway)
- Highest river bridge manufactured under Konkan Railway – Panval River Rail bridge (64 mt. high)
- Division that has maximum number of tunnels – Kalka Simla division of Northern Railway (103 tunnels)
- Longest railway bridge of Indian railway – Railway bridge in Kerala near Kochchi joins Idapalli to Vallerpadma (Length 4.62 km)
- Last railway station of Northern Railway and Indian Railway – Bajalta
- Indian state has maximum rail routes – Uttar Pradesh
- Himsagar Express passes through – 11 States(Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala)
- Railway station that has all the three rails -Dumdum Railway station (EMU rail service circular Railway and Metro Railway)
- Railway station has smallest name from the English alphabets -IB (Between Howrah–Nagpur)
- Railway station has longest name – Venkatanarsimharajuvaripeta (Tamilnadu)
- First female operator in Delhi Metro – Minakshi Sharma.
- First female to become the member of Railway Board – Vijaylaxmi Vishwanathan
- Longest platform situated – Khadagpur (West Bengal)
- Train only for women run – From Churchgate to Boriwali in Mumbai
- Metro Rail in Calcutta – 1984
- Railway week celebrated on 10–16April.
- 19 Railway Recruitment Boards are there in India
- First tourist rail – Palace on wheels in 1982 between Delhi–Jaipur
- Railway accident in the history of Indian Railway occurred in Morghat (Pure–Bombay root) on 5 January, 1869
- Longest rail route in India – from Dibrugarh (Assam) To Kanyakumari
- First monorail operate in India – From Sarhind to Alampur and Bhawani mandi to Patiala
- India’s first indigenous steam engine – F–734
- First longest railway tunnel situated between Monkey hill and Khandala (2100 mt)
- First telecommunication between guard and driver – Mumbai–New Delhi (Rajdhani Express)
- First Rajdhani Express ran between New Delhi–Howrah , 1969
- First DC electrical rail engine – Lokmanya (CLW manufactured it in 1961)
- First computer reservation system start in New Delhi, 2002
- Biggest railway yard located in India-Itarasi (Madhya Pradesh)
- Southern Eastern Railway is known as ‘Blue chip’
- Metroman – Shridharan (Delhi Metro Rail Engineers)
- First Duranto Express ran between Sialdah and New Delhi 18 September, 2009
- Numbers of Indian railway used to be of 5 Digits from 20 December, 2010
- Busiest railway station in Indian-Lucknow (64 Trains everyday).
- First railway factory established in Jamalpur, 1890
- Train runs between India and Pakistan – Samjhauta Express, Thar Express
- Railway zone launched first Railway Time Table -Central Railway
- State with minimum rail routes – Manipur
- First blind friendly train, from Mysuru to Varanasi – Train no. 16226/ 16230.
Other Important Recent Facts :
- Dial 138 for medical emergency on train launched by Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways.
- Golden Day in the history of Northeast – 10 August 2015
- Harsh Vardhan, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Prakash Javadekar flagged off the special train(16 coaches) named Science Express Climate Action Special – “Climate Change” – 64 locations.
- Japan offered to finance India’s first bullet train with an estimated cost of Rs. 90000 crores – Mumbai and Ahmedabad with speed 300km/h and 350km/h.
- Delhi Metro’s bagged ranked first in“information during travel” and holds second position in “train cleanliness and comfort”.
- Japanese maglev fastest passenger train across the world, has broken an earlier speed record of 581 kmph as the train reached 603 kmph.
- First Compressed Natural Gas(CNG)flagged off – two trains(Rewari to Rohtak and Rewari to Bikaner station) from Haryana’s Rewari station.
- Mobile-‘m-Indicator’ launched for the safety of women-Mumbai suburban trains.
- Mumbai will get its 1st double-decker bridge on P D’Mello Road at CST that will have railway tracks and a motorway.
- India’s 1st railway-line built between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port under PPP model inaugurated in Gujarat.
- Union cabinet approved a proposal to redevelop 400 railway stations using a contract method called the “Swiss challenge”- 400 stations.
- Gatimaan Express,India’s 1st semi-high speed train service with supersonic calliber between Delhi and Agra at a speed of 160 kph
- India’s 1st Diesel Electric Multiple Unit(DEMU) train service with an air-conditioned coach is launched in Kochi – Ernakulam-Tripunithura-Piravom train service.
- 1st goods train from Lumding to Silchar in Assam-210Km.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged 1st train service from Thalaimannar to Madhu Road in Northern Sri Lanka.
- Indian Railways IRCTC Launched Ru-Pay pre-paid debit card-24th March 2015.
- Delhi & Tokyo may ink pact for India’s first Bullet Train – Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
- Diamond Quadtrilateral project – High speed rail connects Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi
- Current Railway Minister – Suresh Prabhu
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