KNOW ABOUT INDIAN RAILWAYS

Indian Railways, a historical legacy, are a vital force in our economy. The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran from Bombay to Thane on 16th A ril 1!"#. $ourteen railway carriages carried about %&& guests from Bombay to Thane covering a distance of '1 miles (#% )ilometers*. +ince then there has been no loo,ing bac,. Today, it covers 6,-&stations over a total route length of more than 6#,&'! ,ilometres. The trac, ,ilometers in broad gauge (16.6 mm* are !6, "'6 ,ms, meter gauge (1&&& mm* are 1!, "'- ,ms and narrow gauge (.6'/61& mm* are #,6"1 ,ms. 0f the total route of 6#,&'! ,ms, 16,&&1 ,ms are electrified. The railways have !&&& locomotives, "&,&&& coaching vehicles, ''',1%. freight wagons, 6!"# stations, #&& yards, '#&& goodsheds, .&& re air sho s, and 1."% million wor, force. Indian Railways runs around 11,&&& trains everyday, of which .,&&& are assenger trains. 1resently, - airs of Ra2dhani and 1# airs of +hatabdi 34 ress Trains run on the rail trac,s of India. It is interesting to note that though the railways were introduced to facilitate the commercial interest of the British, it layed an im ortant role in unifying the country. Railways are ideally suited for long distance travel and movement of bul, commodities. Regarded better than road trans ort in terms of energy efficiency, land use, environment im act and safety it is always in forefront during national emergency. Indian railways, the largest rail networ, in Asia and the world5s second largest under one management are also credited with having a multi gauge and multi traction system. The Indian Railways have been a great integrating force for more than 1"& years. It has hel ed the economic life of the country and hel ed in accelerating the develo ment of industry and agriculture. Indian Railways is ,nown to be the largest railway networ, in Asia. The Indian Railways networ, binds the social, cultural and economical fabric of the country and covers the whole of country ranging from north to south and east to west removing the distance barrier for its eo le. The railway networ, of India has brought together the whole of country hence creating a feeling of unity among Indians.

Organization Overview The 6inistry of Railways under 7overnment of India controls Indian Railways. The 6inistry is headed by 8nion 6inister who is generally su orted by a 6inster of +tate. The Railway Board consisting of si4 members and a chairman re orts to this to hierarchy. The railway 9ones are headed by their res ective 7eneral 6angers who in turn re ort to the Railway Board. $or administrative convenience Indian Railways is rimarily divided into 16 9ones: Railway Zone ;entral Railway 3astern Railway <orthern Railway <orth 3astern Railway <orth 3ast $rontier Railway +outhern Railway +outh ;entral Railway >estern Railway +outh 3ast ;entral Railway 3ast ;oast Railway <orth ;entral Railway <orth >estern Railway +outh >estern Railway >est ;entral Railway 3ast ;entral Railway ead!"arters 6umbai ;+T )ol,ata <ew =elhi 7ora,h ur 6aligaon, 7uwahati ;hennai +ecunderabad ;hurch 7ate, 6umbai Bilas ur Bhubaneswar Allahabad ?ai ur @ubli ?abal ur @a2i ur

T#e $inistry o% Railways #as %ollowing nine "nderta&ings' 1. '. #. %. ". 6. .. !. -. Rail India Technical A 3conomic +ervices Bimited (RIT3+* Indian Railway ;onstruction (IR;0<* International Bimited Indian Railway $inance ;or oration Bimited (IR$;* ;ontainer ;or oration of India Bimited (;0<;0R* )on,an Railway ;or oration Bimited ()R;B* Indian Railway ;atering A Tourism ;or oration Btd (IR;T;* Railtel ;or oration of India Btd. (Rail Tel* 6umbai Rail Ci,as <igam Btd. (6RC<B* Rail Ci,as <igam Btd. (RC<B*

Indian Railways have their research and develo ment wing in the form of Research, =esigns and +tandard 0rgani9ation (R=+0*. R=+0 functions as the technical advisor and consultant to the 6inistry, Donal Railways and 1roduction 8nits. Railway B"dget +ince 1-'%-'", railway finances have been se arated from 7eneral Revenue. Indian railways have their own funds in the form of Railway Budget resented to the 1arliament annually. This budget is resented to the 1arliament by the 8nion Railway 6inster two days rior to the 7eneral Budget, usually around '6th $ebruary. It has to be assed by a sim le ma2ority in the Bo, +abha before it gets final acce tance. Indian Railways are sub2ect to the same audit control as other government revenues and e4 enditure. (assenger Tra%%i) The assenger traffic has risen from lea s and bounds from 1'!% million in 1-"&-"1 to "11' million in '&&'-'&&#. *reig#t Tra%%i) The revenue fright traffic has also grown immensely from .#.' million tones in 1-"&-"1 to ""..#- million tones. Indian railways carry huge variety of goods such as mineral ores, fertili9ers, etrochemicals, agricultural roduce and others. It has been made ossible with measures such as line ca acity augmentation on certain critical sectors and moderni9ation of signaling system and increase in roller bearing eEui ed wagons. Indian Railways ma,e huge revenue and most of its rofits are from the freight sector and uses these rofits to augment the loss-ma,ing assenger sector. @ere, it is im ortant to note that com uteri9ation of freight o erations --- $reight 0 erations Information +ystem ($0I+* has been achieved with the im lementation of Ra,e 6anagement +ystem.

*a)ilities %or (assengers ;om uter based unreserved tic,eting ta,es care of the large chun, of unreserved segment of assengers. This facility allows issuance of unreserved tic,ets from locations other than boarding station. Indian Railway +atering and To"ris, +or-oration IR;T; has launched on line tic,eting facility with the aid of ;enter for Railway Information +ystem, which can be boo,ed on www. irctc.co.in. $or the convenience of customers Eueries related to accommodation availability, assenger status, train schedule etc are can all be addressed online. ;om uteri9ed reservation facilities have made the life easy of commuters across India. <ational Train 3nEuiry system is another initiative of Indian Railways which offers train running osition on a current basis through various out ut devices such as terminals in the station enEuiries and Interactive Coice Res onse +ystems ( ICR+* at im ortant railway stations. Indian Railways are committed to rovide im roved telecommunication system to its assengers. $or this 0 tical $ibre ;ommunication (0$;* system has been embraced, which involves laying o tical fibre cable along the railway trac,s. In recent years Indian Railways have witnessed the mar,ed rise of collaboration between rivate and ublic sectors. $ew of the notable e4am les here are the broad gauge connectivity to 1i ya 1ort where a 2oint venture com any is formed with 1i ava 1ort authority. +imilarly 6emorandums of 8nderstanding has been signed between Railways and +tate governments of Andhra 1radesh, )arnata,a, 6aharashtra, >est Bengal, Tamil <adu and ?har,hand, Rolling Sto)& Today, Indian Railways have become self reliant in roduction of rolling stoc,. It su lies rolling stoc, to other countries and non-railway customers. The roduction units are at =iesel Bocomotive >or,s, Caranasi, ;hittaran2an Bocomotive >or,s, ;hittaran2an, =iesel-Boco 6odernisation >or,s, 1atiala, Integral ;oach $actory, ;hennai, Rail ;oach $actory, )a urthala, >heel A A4le 1lant, Bangalore and Rail + ring )ar,hana, 7walior.

S-e)ial Trains Indian Railways have several s ecial trains, which are ,nown across the world such as =ar2eeling @imalayan Railway, <ilgiri 6ountain Railway, 1alace on >heels, +am2hauta 34 ress, Bifeline 34 ress, $airy Fueen, @imsagar 34 ress and others. =ar2eeling @imalayan Railways, running from <ew ?al aiguri to =ar2eeling, a hill station at an elevation of '1#% meters has attained the >orld @eritage +tatus from 8<3+;0. The <ilgiri 6ountain Railway is credited with being only rac, railway in India. 51alace on >heels5 gives you the e4 erience of a royalty. The train asses through following destinations. ?ai ur, ?aisalmer, ?odh ur, +awai 6adho ur, ;hittaurgarh,8dai ur, Bharat ur and Agra. >hile $airy Fueen, the oldest functioning steam engine has received @eritage Award at the international Tourist Award a art from finding a lace in 7uinness Boo, of >orld Records. S"."r.an Railway ;ities in India such as 6umbai, ;hennai, )ol,ata, =elhi, and Buc,now have dedicated suburban networ,s while @yderabad and 1une share the trac,s with long distance trains. The assenger traffic in suburban trains is handled mostly by electric multi le units. The 6umbai +uburban Railway s read over #&#-route ,ms carries more than 6.1 million commuters daily. It is one of the most intensively utili9ed ublic trans ortation in the world. )ol,ata metro is the first underground ra id transit system in India, which began o erations in 1-!%. The line begins at =um =um in the north and continues till the southern end in Tollygunge. =elhi metro, started in =ec '&&', is the second underground ra id transit system in India. =elhi 6etro combines elevated, at-grade and underground lines. The 1hase 1 of the networ, consists of 6".11 ,ms of route length with 1#,&1 ,ms underground called 6etro corridor and "'.1& ,ms surface elevated called Rail ;orridor. 1hase II is resently under construction, with a target com letion date of '&1&.

National /i&as Yogna The government of India has initiated a scheme, 5<ational Ci,as Go2na5 for the develo ment of the Indian Railways. The scheme would focus on com letion on strategic ro2ects within a sti ulated eriod of time. The ,ey ro2ects under this scheme are: +trengthening of 7olden Fuadrilateral and =iagonals connecting the % metro cities i.e. =elhi, 6umbai, ;hennai and )ol,ata. 1roviding Rail based ort-connectivity and develo ment of corridors to hinterland including multi-modal corridors for movement of containers. ;onstruction of % mega bridges at 1atna and 6unger on river 7anga, at Bogibeel on river Brahm utra and at <irmali on river )osi.

Indian Railways O.0e)tives in 1223 Indian Railways created a history by generating a cash sur lus before dividend of Rs '&,&&& cr as against Rs 1%,.&& cr in the revious year. The 1assenger earnings have increased by 1% ercent while coach earnings have shown a rise of %! ercent. A Euantum 2um in freight business is another highlight of the year. $or the year '&&.-'&&! ;onstruction of @igh + eed 1assenger ;orridors have been ro osed. The corridors would have state of the art signaling and train control systems, for running high s eed trains at s eeds of #&& to #"& ,ms er hourH one each in the <orthern, >estern, +outhern and 3astern regions of the country. The trains will cover distance distances of u to 6&& ,ms in two to three hours. 1rivate 1ublic 1artnershi would be considered for @igh-s eed corridors. +te s would be ta,en to im rove the suburban services in cities such as 6umbai, )ol,ata, and ;hennai. 6umbai 68T1-1hase I will be com leted and the wor, on 68T1 1hase II would be started. +uggestions have been made to introduce airconditioned class services in suburban trains in 6umbai, ;hennai and )ol,ata and escalators at ma2or stations. The railway minister has ro osed to use more IT services in the railways which would hel in increasing assenger and freight earnings, reduce o erating costs, ensure effective utili9ation of human and hysical resources. 3R1 ac,ages would be im lemented in wor,sho s, roduction units and selected 9onal railways. 7auge ;onversion, Rolling +toc, 6oderni9ation and ;a acity Augmentation are the other as ects in the to do list of the Indian Railways. The year '&&. will be celebrated as cleanliness year where efforts would be ensured to maintain cleanliness and hygiene at station remises in assenger trains, railway lines, waiting rooms etc.

Interesting *a)ts a.o"t Indian Railways S#ortest station na,e: Ib near ?harsuguda on the @owrah-<ag ur main line (+outh 3astern Railway. Longest station na,e: Cen,atanarasimhara2uvaria eta often refi4ed with +ri. on the Ara,,onam-Renigunta section of the +outhern Railway. Longest r"n 4ti,e5: The @imsagar 34 ress running between ?ammu Tawi and )anya,umari, It covers its route of #."1,m in .% hours and "" minutes. Longest r"n %or daily train : The )erala 34 ress has daily service and covers #&"% ,m in its run (in %'." hours*. Longest non6sto- r"n 4distan)e5: The Trivandrum Ra2dhani does not have a technical halt at Ratlam and, therefore, travels non-sto between Cadodara and )ota ("'!,m*, covering the stretch in about 6." hours. Trains wit# no )o,,er)ial #alts en ro"te: +am oorna )ranti 34 ,@owrah Ra2dhani, Bombay Ra2dhani, 1ragati 34 and 1une +hatabdi S#ortest r"ns: <ag ur - A2ni has scheduled services that are 2ust #,m in distance. This is mainly a service for crew to travel from <ag ur station to the wor,sho at A2ni. ig#est n",.er o% #alts: 6ail and 34 ress trains I#/--J The @owrah-Amritsar 34 . leads in this category with 11" halts. B"siest Station: Buc,now which caters to as many as 6% trains er day. Stations straddling state lines: <ava ur is a station that is half in 6aharashtra and half in 7u2arat . Bhawani 6andi station, on the +hamgarh-)ota section of the Bombay-=elhi line is half in 6adhya 1radesh and half in Ra2asthan. Station wit# all t#e t#ree ga"ges: +iliguri station.

Indian Railways Bottlene)&s Indian Railways reEuire finance for moderni9ation however the reEuired budgetary su ort is absent. $or e4am le, the rovision of automated signaling system to revent the crashes is missing. The stiff com etition between rivate airlines has brought serious threat on u er class assengers of the railways. Though Ra2dhanai and +hatabadi trains are the fastest and lu4urious trains of India their s eed and food service is not com etitive as com ared to the air travel. The other ,ey roblem faced by the Indian Railways is the high accident rate, which includes derailment, collisions, many being run over by trains. The earlier ay commission (in the years 1-!6 A 1--6* recommendations had badly hit the bottom lines of the Railways and other 7overnment =e artments. The recommendations of si4th ay commission are e4 ected by the end of '&&!, which might ma,e Indian railways go red again.