Indian Railways

Brief History of Indian Railways

Started in 1853 from Mumbai to Thane with a distance of 34 KM
Total of 1.6 Million employees and the second largest network in the world.
Biggest network in Asia
Mascot for Indian Railway – Bholu
Railway Board is the highest in the railway heirarchy after the Railways Minister.
Railway board has one chairman and 6 members for the following departments
Traffic, Mechanical, Engineering, Electrical, Finance and Staff
Present Railway Board chairman isJP Batra
Previously, Railway board was under the Department of Commerce and Industry
Railways has 16 Zones and 2 other special zones out of which 6 are newly created.
Total of 67 Divisions are there in which 8 are newly added
Computerisation was done in 1995
IR was nationalised in 1951 . till then it was a private player mailny in the hands of the Great India Peninsular Railway
In 1907, taken by the Govt. and formed the Indian Railways with 42 seperate Railways systems in differen princely states.
Railway budget was started in 1924-25 year and it only needs a simple majority in the Lok sabha and the recommendations of the Rajya sabha are not binding
But, the total Railway budget is again included in the union Budget.
Parliamentary Convention Committee to review the financial policies

Zones:

Central – Mumbai CST
Western – Mumbai Church Gate
Eastern – Kolkata
Northern – New Delhi
Southern – Chennai
South Central – Secunderabad (1966)
North Eastern – Gorakhpur
North Eastern Frontier – Guwahati (Maligaon) (1958)
South Eastern – Kolkata (1955)
North Western – Jaipur (2002)
South Western – Hubli (2003)
South East Central – Bilaspur (2003)
West Central – Jabalpur (2003)
North Central – Allahabad (2003)
East Coast – Bhuvaneshwar (2003)
East Central – Hajipur (2002)
Konkan Railway – Special Zone
Kolkata Suburban Metro Railway – Special Zone

New Divisions added – Agra, Ahmedabad, Guntur, Nanded, Pune, Ranchi, Raipur, Rangia

27 states and 3 UT are connected through IR – the only state not connected with is Sikkim
Station to have all the three Guages – Siligudi

Meter gauge – 1000mm
Narrow gauge – 767 to 610 mm
Broad gauge – 1676 mm

6 Billion passengers and 750 million tonnes of Frieght
IR is the largest commercial Employer in the World.

Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee
Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee

Signalling Methods –

Panel Inter locking
Route Relay Inter locking – Delhi station has the largest Inter locking system
Centralised Traffic Control (New)
Automatic Signalling (New)
Multi Aspect Color light Signaling (New)

PSUs under Railways:

IRCTC – Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation
RVNL – Rail Vikas Nigam Limited
MRVNL – Mumbai Rail Vikas Nigam Limited
IRCON International Ltd- Indian Railways Constructions Limited – has international presence
CONCOR – Container Corporation of Railways
RITES – Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd
IRFC -Indian Railways Finance Corporation
KRCL – Konkan Railway Corporation Limited
Rail Tel – Railway Telecommunications
DFCCI – Dedicated Frieght Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (Not under Ministry of Rail)
Dedicated freight corridor for eastern region – it is the largest single railway program initiated after independence linking Ludhiana with north eastern states
western – Jawahar lal Nehru prot with delhi
CRIS – Center for Railway Information System – not a PSU but a registered society under the Railway board.
Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow for R & D
Central Organization for Rail Electrification – Allahabad
Trans Asian Railway Project – the agreement was signed in Busan, South Korea by 17 countries. it is a 81000 KM railway passing through 28 countries. – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Camboodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazaksthan, Loas, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, SL, Tazaksthan, Thailand,Turkey, Uzbekinstan and Vietnam but passes through India
India and SL – Indian railways is going to construct a 160 km route from Colombo to mathara – this is an Indian railways first foreign venture
Bharatiya Rail Bijilee – jv between Indian Railways and NTPC – 26 and 74 %
lal bahadur shastri was the first railway minister to resign form the cabinet following a train accident

Factories:

Integrated Coach factory – (Perambur) Chennai – the first coach factory in India
Rail Coach Factory – Kapurthala
Diesel Locomotive Works – Varanasi – Collaboration with GM USA
Chittaranjan Locomotives Works – Chittaranjan -Collaboration with ABB
Diesel Loco-Modernisation Works – Patiala
Wheel and Axle Plant – Bangalore
Rail Spring Kharkhana – Gwalior

Mmbai Sub urban railway – one of the largest local train networks with seperate lanes.
Western, Central and Harbor are the divisions of he Mumbai Metro
Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknoe, Hyderabad and Pune has Metro Railways.
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway – World Heritage Site, Highest point in this is Ghum (7000Ft)
Starts at New Jalpaigudi (peviously Siligudi)- it is a narrow gauge
Nilgiri Mountain Railway – World Heritage Site – it is the only Rack Railway in India
CST – World Heritage Site
Kalka Shimla Railway – Guiness Book of Records for the steepest rise in altitude
Kharagpur – has the longest railway platform in the world
Ghum -Toy Train route in Darjeeling is the seccond highest in the world by a steam locomotive
Shortest name is lb and the longest name is Srivenkatanarasimharaajuvaripeta
Himsagar Express from Kanyakumari to Jammu Tawi is the longest both in distance and Duration (3745 Km) and 75 Hrs
Bhopal Shatabdi is the fastest train at present in India with 140 KMPH
Trivandrum Rajdhani has the longest one stop route from Vadodara to Kota
New Rail Coach Factory Coming up at Raebareli