What was the Revolution of Indian Railway ?

Least punctual train: Guwahati-Trivandrum Express is said to be the most unreliable long-distance train in the country. The charted journey time is 65 hours and 5 minutes, but the average delay on a trip is about 10-12 hours.

Two stations at same location: Srirampur and Belapur are two different stations in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra which are both at the same location on the railway route but on opposite sides of the track.

Most powerful locomotive: Electric locomotive WAG-9 used for hauling heavy freight rakes is the most powerful locomotive in Indian Railways’ fleet. The 6,350 horsepower beast is homed at Gomoh, Ajni, Lallaguda, Tughlakabad and Bhilai. Modified version of WAG-9 named WAP 7 is IR’s workhouse for high speed passenger service. It is capable of hauling 24 coachtrains at speeds ranging between 140 and 160 km per hour. WAP-7 has similar horsepower as that of WAG-9 but comes with modified gear ratios for faster acceleration.

Last stations in North-South-East-West direction: Northernmost railway station is Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir. Westernmost is Naliya near Bhuj in Gujarat. Southernmost railway station is Kanyakumari, while the last station on the east of India is Ledo on branch line from Tinsukia.

Junction with most number of routes originating from it: Mathura junction with 7 routes- Broad Gauge (BG) line to Agra Cantt, BG line to Bharatpur, BG line to Alwar, BG line to Delhi, Metre Gauge (MG) line to Achnera, MG line to Vrindavan and MG line to Hathras, Kasganj. Six route junction – Bhatinda. Five route junctions – Lucknow, Guntakal, Katni, Varanasi, Kanpur Central, Villupuram, Dabhoi, and Nagpur.

Most number of parallel tracks/ Three gauges at one station: Seven parallel tracks between Bandra Terminus and Andheri – 10km. Siliguri station on NFR holds the distinction of having three different gauges present.

Longest Platform: Indian Railways owns the longest railway platform in the world at Kharagpur (West Bengal) with a length of 2,733 ft (1072.5 m) in length.

Oldest Working Locomotive: Indian Railways still has the oldest preserved locomotive in working order, the Fairy Queen which was made way back in 1855. It is the oldest functioning steam engine in the world, which finds a place in the Guinness Book of World Records and got Heritage Award at the International Tourist Bureau, Berlin in March 2000.

First Railroad: The first railroad was constructed by two Indians (Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and Jaganath Shunkerseth) and not the British.

Labor Force: Indian Railways is the world’s ninth largest commercial or utility employer, bynumber of employees, with over 1.4 million employees. It is also the India’s largest employer.

Railway Network: Though it is commonly believed, India doesn’t have the largest railway network in the World. India comes fourth with approx. 64,000 km of railroad after US, Russia, and China. If the tracks were to be laid out from one point to another around the equator, it would circle it one-and-a-half times.

Steam Locomotives: The manufacture of steam locomotives in the country was stopped in 1972.

Distance Covered: The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains daily on the Indian Railways daily equals three & half times the distance to moon.

Lavatory: Toilets on trains were first introduced in 1891 in 1st class and in 1907 in lower classes.

Air Cooling: Air Cooling was first introduced in 1st class coaches in 1874 in Great Indian Peninsular Railway

Longest Tunnel: The country’s longest tunnel is Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel 11.215 km that was completed in December 2012 in Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel is yet to become functional railway route. Karbude on Konkan Railways, which is 6.5 km in length previously held the title for the longest tunnel in India.

Underground Railway: First Underground Railway that was opened for public use was Calcutta Metro.

Computerized Reservations: First Reservation through the computer System commenced in New Delhi in the year 1986.

Electric Trains: First Electric coach ran on the 3rd February 1925 between Bombay VT and Kurla stations

Palace on Wheels: Indians were not allowed to board the Palace on Wheels luxury train for quite a while when it was launched on Republic Day of 1982.

Worst Rail Disaster: In the Bihar train disaster on June 6, 1981, a passenger train carrying 800 or more passengers between Mansi and Saharsa, derailed and plunged into the river Bagmati while it was crossing a bridge. After five days, more than 200 bodies were recovered, with hundreds more missing that were feared washed away by the river. Estimates of total deaths range from 500 to 800 or more. It was the worst Indian rail disaster.

Passenger Load: The Indian Railways (IR) carries over 25 million passengers daily which is perhaps more than the entire population of Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania put together. Annually Indian Railways ferries 7.2 billion passengers (nearly 6x India’s current population).

Total Number of Trains: Indian Railways runs as many as 19,000 trains every day. Some 12,000 trains are for passengers and 7,000 for freight.

Total Number of Trains: Indian Railways runs as many as 19,000 trains every day. Some 12,000 trains are for passengers and 7,000 for freight.

Number of Stations: The whole network has 7,083 stations