Indian Railways At a Glance

Dear Readers,we have collected some important information about Indian Railways. We hope, it will help you in Competitive exams.

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

Railway Tracks:

• Track – Distance between rails
• Broad Gauge – 1676mm
• Metre Gauge – 1000mm
• Narrow Gauge – 762mm/610mm

Manufacturing Unit

Luxury Train routes

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 1^stmarch 1969
• First metre gauge super fast train – pink city express new delhi jaipur 17^thoct 1981
• First narrow gauge super fast train – shivalik deluxe express kalka – shimla 9^thaug 1996
• First time table 1853 central india
• First stamp on indian railways 4 annas 10^thdec 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 1^stjune 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