What was the Revolution of Indian Railway ?

Ahmedabad Mumbai Central Double Decker Express is India’s first double Decker train.

The oldest working Indian locomotive still in use is the Fairy Queen, which worked with a steam engine.

It was built in 1855. After retiring in 1909, it was relaunched in 1997 and operates as a tourist train between Delhi and Alwar. It travels at a speed 40 km/h.

The Indian Railways is the world’s eighth largest employer with a total of 1.4 million employees.

Computerized reservations began in New Delhi in 1986.

Indian Railways launched an awareness campaign train on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2007, called the Red Ribbon Express.

The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854.

India has eight Railway Museums – in Delhi, Pune, Kanpur, Mysore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ghum and Tiruchirappalli. Out of these, the National Railway Museum in Delhi is the largest rail museum in Asia.

Nationalised in 1951, Indian Railways is today the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest network operated under a single management.

It has 115,000 km of track length. It runs 12,617 trains to carry over 23 million passengers daily – equivalent to moving the entire population of Australia – connecting more than 7,172 stations.

Indian Railways is the largest railways network to be operated by a single government and is the world’s third largest network with a total length of 127,760 kms.

Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight every day.

It has entered a select club of railways that includes China, Russia and USA in carrying more than one billion tons of freight annually.

Indian Railways owned the longest railway platform in the world at Kharagpur with a length of 2,733 feet. Now, breaking the record, Gorakhpur station has recently taken its place with a span of 4,430 feet.

Two historical railway elements are included in the UNESCO’ World Heritage site list – the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and the Indian Mountain Railways.

Indian Railways has over 239,281 freight wagons, 59,713 passenger coaches and 9,549 locomotives.

Nationalised in 1951, Indian Railways is today the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest network operated under a single management.

It has 115,000 km of track length. It runs 12,617 trains to carry over 23 million passengers daily – equivalent to moving the entire population of Australia – connecting more than 7,172 stations.

Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight every day.

Indian Railways: The Weaving of a National Tapestry
By Bibek Debroy, Sanjay Chadha, Vidya Krishnamurthi

Imagine how the world must have seemed to the ordinary Indian who had never seen anyone or anything move at a speed greater than fifteen kilometres an hour. The railways liberated us from our narrow, provincial mindset that had been limited to local customs, local knowledge and local connections. They brought us travelling merchants, artisans, singers and new products.

It has entered a select club of railways that includes China, Russia and USA in carrying more than one billion tons of freight annually.

Indian Railways has over 239,281 freight wagons, 59,713 passenger coaches and 9,549 locomotives.

After the 1860s, our horizons began to expand to a world of distant towns and unfamiliar landscapes. And, like the English language, the railways helped to unify India and give us an Indian ‘world view’.

It has 115,000 km of track length. It runs 12,617 trainsto carry over 23 million passengers daily – equivalent to moving the entire population of Australia – connecting more than 7,172 stations. 3) Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight every day.

They changed our public spaces. Major Indian cities were reshaped around railway terminuses, with broad avenues leading up to them. Indeed, the new stations, not only in the metropolitan cities of Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi and Madras, but also in many other cities, brought about a revolution in architecture and urban design in the country.