Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India’s national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a total route length of 68,043 km (42,280 mi), running track length of 102,831 km (63,896 mi) and track length of 128,305 km (79,725 mi) as of 31 March 2022. 58,812 km (36,544 mi) of all the gauge routes are electrified with 25 kV 50 Hz AC electric traction as of 1 April 2023.
In 2020, Indian Railways carried 808.6 crore (8.086 billion) passengers and in 2022, Railways transported 1418.1 million tonnes of freight. It runs 13,169 passenger trains daily, on both long-distance and suburban routes, covering 7,325 stations across India. Mail or Express trains, the most common types of trains, run at an average speed of 50.6 km/h (31.4 mph). Suburban EMUs run at an average speed of 37.5 km/h (23.3 mph). Ordinary passenger trains (incl. mixed) run at an average speed of 33.5 km/h (20.8 mph).[5] The maximum speed of passenger trains varies, with the Vande Bharat Express running at a peak speed of 180 km/h (110 mph).
In the freight segment, IR runs 8,479 trains daily. The average speed of freight trains is around 42.2 km/h (26.2 mph). The maximum speed of freight trains varies from 60–75 km/h (37–47 mph) depending on their axle load with ‘container special’ trains running at a peak speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
As of March 2022, Indian Railways’ rolling stock consisted of 3,18,196 freight wagons, 84,863 passenger coaches and 13,215 locomotives. IR owns locomotive and coach-production facilities at several locations in India. It had 1.38 Million employees as of March 2020, making it the world’s tenth-largest employer. The government has committed to electrifying India’s entire rail network by 2023–24, and become a “net zero (carbon emissions) railway” by 2030.
History
Main article: Rail transport in India § History
The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras in 1832. India’s first railway line was named Red Hill Railroad and was built by Arthur Cotton to transport granite for road-building. It ran from the Red Hills in Chennai to the Chintadripet bridge in Madras and was opened on 12 September 1837. This railway, the first on the Indian Subcontinent, was only used for freight transport. In 1845, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway was built by Cotton at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry, to supply stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River. In 1851, the Solani Aqueduct Railway was built by Proby Cautley in Roorkee to transport construction materials for an aqueduct over the Solani River. These railway tracks were dismantled after each project was completed and no longer exist.
India’s first passenger train, operated by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway and hauled by three steam locomotives (Sahib, Sindh and Sultan), ran for 34 kilometres (21 mi) with 400 people in 14 carriages on 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge track between Bori Bunder (Mumbai) and Thane on 16 April 1853. The Thane viaducts, India’s first railway bridges, were built over the Thane creek when the Mumbai-Thane line was extended to Kalyan in May 1854.[16] Eastern India’s first passenger train ran 39 km (24 mi) from Howrah, near Kolkata, to Hoogly on 15 August 1854. The first passenger train in South India ran 97 km (60 mi) from Royapuram-Veyasarapady (Madras) to Wallajaroad (Arcot) on 1 July 1856.
On 24 February 1873, a horse-drawn 3.8 km (2.4 mi) tram opened in Calcutta between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street. On 9 May 1874, a horse-drawn tramway began operation in Bombay between Colaba and Parel. In 1879, the Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway was established which built several railway lines across the then Hyderabad State with Kachiguda Railway Station serving as its headquarters. In 1897, lighting in passenger coaches was introduced by many railway companies. On 3 February 1925, the first electric passenger train in India ran between Victoria Terminus and Kurla. On 1926, Erode Trichinopoly line became the fastest ever gauge converted line in entire global railway network history. It had been converted from Meter Gauge to Broad Gauge in just 5 hours of time which became the recorded history and this record could not be broken till date.
The organization of Indian railways into regional zones began in 1951, when the Southern (14 April 1951), Central (5 November 1951), and Western (5 November 1951) zones were created. Fans and lights were mandated for all compartments in all passenger classes in 1951, and sleeping accommodations were introduced in coaches. In 1956, the first fully air-conditioned train was introduced between Howrah and Delhi (Presently known as Poorva Express).[26] Ten years later, the first containerised freight service began between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. In 1974, Indian Railways endured a 20 day strike, which damaged the nation’s economy.
In 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced in New Delhi. In 1988, the first Shatabdi Express was introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi; it was later extended to Bhopal. Two years later, the first self-printing ticket machine (SPTM) was introduced in New Delhi. In 1993, air-conditioned three-tier coaches and a sleeper class (separate from second class) were introduced on IR. The CONCERT system of computerized reservations was deployed in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in September 1996. In 1998, coupon validating machines (CVMs) were introduced at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. The nationwide concierge system began operation on 18 April 1999. In February 2000, the Indian Railways website went online. Individuals can book reserved tickets in online through Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC) official website (www.irctc.co.in). On 3 August 2002, IR began online train reservations and ticketing. Though in November 2019, the website suffered a data breach exposing the records of 2 million customers including about 583,000 unique email addresses, usernames and passwords in plain text.
The Railway Budget was usually presented two days before the Union budget every year till 2016. The central government approved merger of the Rail and General budgets from next year, ending a 92-year-old practice of a separate budget for the nation’s largest transporter. On 31 March 2017, Indian Railways announced that the country’s entire rail network would be electrified by 2022 or 2023, and become a net-zero (carbon emission) railway by 2030.
On 22 March 2020, Indian Railways announced a nationwide shutdown of passenger rail service to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in India. This became part of a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The railway shutdown was initially scheduled to last from 23 to 31 March, but the nationwide lockdown, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 March, was to last 21 days. The national rail network is maintaining its freight operations during the lockdown, to transport essential goods. On 29 March, Indian Railways announced that it would start service for special parcel trains to transport essential goods, in addition to regular freight service. The national rail operator has also announced plans to convert coaches into isolation wards for patients of COVID-19. The railways have since reopened and were functioning by 2022.
The Indian government plans to invest ₹9.05 trillion (US$110 billion) to upgrade IR.
Infrastructure modernisation projects include high-speed rail; redevelopment of 400 stations by monetizing 2,700 acres (11 km2) of spare railway land under a ₹10,70,000 crores($134 billion) plan; doubling tracks to reduce congestion and delays while improving safety; the refurbishing of 12- to 15-year-old coaches at the Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal to enhance passenger amenities and fire safety; Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled tracking of trains to improve safety and service; Digital India-driven ₹3,500,000 million (equivalent to ₹4.9 trillion or US$61 billion in 2023) digitalisation of the railway to improve efficiency and reduce cost; rainwater harvesting, with 1885 systems installed by December 2016;[51] and reforestation of railway land and along the tracks.
All routes will be electrified to save on imported fuel costs. Off-the-grid solar-powered trains are planned with the installation of one gigawatt of solar and 130 megawatts of wind power between 2017 and 2022; India introduced the world’s first solar-powered train and 50 coaches with rooftop solar farms in June 2017. Initial assessments of this experiment have been positive. Rooftop solar electricity is planned at stations to reduce long-term fuel costs and protect the environment, and sustainable LED lighting at all the stations was completed by March 2018 which saves Rs 500 million per annum in electricity bills. Locomotive factories have been modernised, including two new factories in Bihar: an electric locomotive factory in Madhepura and a diesel locomotive factory in Marhaura, and 2,285 bio-toilets were introduced from April to July 2014. A ₹200 billion (US$2.5 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
All the unstaffed level crossings had been eliminated by Jan 2019, and staffed level crossings are being progressively replaced by overbridges and underbridges. Other safety projects include the extension of an automated fire alarm system, first introduced on Rajdhani Express trains in 2013, to all air-conditioned coaches; and 6,095 GPS-enabled Fog Pilot Assistance System railway signalling devices (replacing the practice of placing firecrackers on tracks to alert train drivers) installed in 2017 in four zones: Northern, North Central, North Eastern and North Western; and replacing ICF coach with LHB coach.
In an unprecedented move, the railways had suspended the services of all passenger trains for 48 days after the lockdown was announced by the PM on 24 March 2020. Its freight trains however continued to run during this period. This was the first time in its entire history that lifeline of the nation was stopped. On 12 May 2020, in first phase, Railways started the Rajdhani Express for 15 cities and began the reservation for the same via IRCTC website an evening before.
Indian Railways is planning to seek investments from private firms to operate passenger trains for the first time. Ministry of Railways identified 109 origin-destination routes via 151 trains asked private companies to submit their interest. Private companies may operate trains by April 2023. This will incorporate modern trains with technological advancements like less maintenance, reduce travel time and create employment. 151 trains will be operated by the by private entities. Each train shall have minimum 16 coaches.
Government of India is building the world’s highest rail bridge over the river Chenab, which will connect the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. It is set to be completed in 2022. According to the media, per a local government official: “This is the tallest railway bridge in the world and the maximum designed wind speed for the bridge is 266 kmph”.
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