Some Facts About Indian Railways
Indian Railways is the largest railway system in the world under a single management
The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains on the Indian Railways everyday, equals three & half times the distance to moon
The first train on Indian soil ran between Bombay and Thane on the 16th of April 1853
IR has about 63,028 route kms. of track
IR employs about 1.55 million people
It carries over 13 million passengers & 1.3 million tones of freight everyday.
It runs about 14,300 trains daily
IR has about 7,000 railway stations
The longest journey on the IR is from Jammu Tawi (North) to Kanya Kumari (South), a distance of about 4,751 kms. covered by Himsagar Express in about 66 hours
The longest platform in the world is at Khragpur and is 2,733 ft. in length.
Nehru Setu on river SONE is the longest Railway bridge
The longest tunnel is KARBUDE on Konkan Railways, which is 6.5 kms in length.
India’s first railway bridge is the Dapoorie
Viaduct” on the
Mumbai-Thane route.
India’s first Rail Tunnel is Parsik Tunnel.
India’s first ghats covered by the Rail lines are Thal & Bhore ghats
Calcutta Metro is the 1st and only underground railway system in India
Computerized Railway Reservation system started at Delhi in 1986
IR's first electric train ran on 3rd Feb 1925 between Bombay VT and Kurla.
Toilets on trains were introduced in 1891 in 1st class and in 1907 in lower classes
42 Railway companies operated in the country before independence
FAIRY QUEEN (1855) is the oldest locomotive in working order
The manufacture of steam locomotives in the country stopped in 1972
Diesel Locomotives are manufactured at Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi
Electric Locomotives are manufactured at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan
Coaches are manufactured at ICF/Chennai, RCF/Kapurthala and BEML/Bangalore
IR's fastest train is the Bhopal Shatabdi Exp., which runs at speed upto 140 Kmph
1sr AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, AC Exec., Chair Car, First Class, Sleeper & IInd Ordinary are the various classes of travel on the IR.
IR's only Rack & Pinion system type of line is from Mettupalayam to Conoor.
At present Indian Railways are having 16001 route Kms. of track under over head electric traction.
The national Rail Museum at New Delhi was set-up in 1977