India Railway is the lifeline of the commercial and passenger transport services of India. The route length of over 62,600 KM throughout the country, the Indian Railway has more than 7043 stations in the country. It operates in Broad Gauge, Meter Gauge, and Narrow Gauge operations in various geographical areas such as mountain terrains, long tunnels, on sea bridges and others.
History of Indian Railway
Indian Railway was inaugurated in 1853 during British India between Bombay and Thane. Since then, it has been a phenomenal journey for the Railways in India. It is now the second largest employer in the world. 70%-75% of the bulk movement in the country is done by the Indian Railways.
Features
Indian Railway contributes 8% of the National GDP. Majority parts of the railways are electrified now. It has separate passenger services and commercial services. For Passenger services, Indian Railways have Chair Car (Non-AC & AC), Sleeper Class (Non-AC), AC (3rd,2nd, and 1st Class). There are different trains in the various parts of the country. For local distances, there are passenger trains and local trains. Railways operate Intercity Express trains between two cities. Apart from it, there are Express, Superfast, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Garibrath, Duronto, Tejas and other special trains between different stations throughout the country.
High Speed Train
Indian Railways has already started building High Speed and Semi-High Speed corridors for Bullet Trains. There will be separate freight corridor for the Indian Railways very soon separating it from the passenger route.
Operational Area
Indian railways are vast and connect various areas of the country. It is present in Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Maharashtra to Bengal. The entire country is connected through the railways. However, there are some areas that are yet to be connected through the railways but are currently under planning. Indian Railways is even present in International destinations. Samjhota Express and The Link Express run between India and Pakistan. The Maitree Express and Bandhan Express run between India and Bangladesh. India also connects Nepal through Jayanagar and Janakpur line.
Expansion
Indian Railways is planning to expand the routes to various areas of the country and beyond. The entire North East Area starting from Guwahati is planning to be connected to the other areas of Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Sikkim. The Indian Railways is also planning to expand the railway’s routes to China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bhutan. Connectivity with Bhutan is already under construction.
Recently Indian Railways upgraded its old site version to new one that’s name is IRCTC Next Generation.