Railway Transport In India
Clockwise from top left: A Vande Bharat train-set; a WAP-7 electric locomotive; a metro train and a suburban train
Operation
National railway	Indian Railways
System length
Total	Regular/suburban: 68,584 km (42,616 mi)[1] With 29,719 km (18,467 mi) of the lines having two or more tracks, total running track length was 106,493 km (66,172 mi), while total trackage (including sidings) was 132,310 km (82,210 mi).[1] Metro: 895 km (556 mi)[2]
Double track	38,415 km (23,870 mi) (2023)[1][2]
Electrified	64,080 km (39,820 mi)[3][2]
Track gauge
1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge	65,977 km (40,996 mi)[1][4]
1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge	245 km (152 mi)[2][4]
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge	1,345 km (836 mi)[1]
762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft)	1,262 km (784 mi)[1]
Features
Longest tunnel	Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel, 11.215 km (6.969 mi)
No. bridges	156,417 (2023)[1]
Longest bridge	Bogibeel Bridge, 4.94 km (3.07 mi)[5]
No. stations	Total: 8016 Regular/Suburban: 6268[1] Metro: 748
Highest elevation	2,257 m (7,405 ft)
at	Ghum
Lowest elevation	3 m (10 ft)
at	Burra Bazar and Honnavar

Rail transport in India consists of primarily of passenger and freight shipments along an integrated rail network. Indian Railways (IR), a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India, operates India's national railway system. It is the primary owner and operator of rail operations throughout the country including suburban rail in major metros.

Majority of the metro urban rail networks are operated by independent bodies constituted for the purpose of the respective operations. Private owned rails exist in few places, mostly used to connect freight to the integrated rail network. Inter-city rail services are operated primarily by Indian Railways though efforts have been made to introduce privately operated trains as recently as 2022.

The national rail network comprised total route length of 68,584 km (42,616 mi), with more than 132,310 km (82,210 mi) of track and 8,000+ stations and is the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the busiest networks in the world, transporting more than 11 billion passengers and 1.416 billion tonnes of freight annually. As of August 2024, more than 64,080 km (39,820 mi) of all the routes have been electrified with 25 KV AC electric traction. The rolling stock consisted of 318,196 freight wagons, 84,863 passenger coaches, 14,781 locomotives and other multiple units owned by Indian Railways apart from rail-sets operated by metro rail corporations.

Studies by economic historians have identified substantially beneficial economic effects from the Indian railway network.^[6][7]

In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made.^[8][9] In 1835, a railway track was constructed between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837. It was hauled by a rotary steam engine imported from England and was used for ferrying granite.^[10]

The Madras Railway was established in 1845.^[9] Temporary railway lines were built such as the Godavari Dam Construction Railway at Dowleswaram by Arthur Cotton to supply stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River in 1845 and the Solani aqueduct railway, built by Proby Cautley in Roorkee to transport construction materials for an aqueduct over the Solani river in 1851.^[9] On 1 August 1849, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway was incorporated with a guarantee system providing free land and guaranteeing five-percent rates of return to private English companies building railways.^[9] In 1852, a steam locomotive imported from England was tried at Byculla.^[11]

In 1853, the first passenger train on 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge ran for 34 kilometres (21 mi) between Bombay and Thane which had 14-carriages carrying 400 people, hauled by three steam locomotives: the Sahib, Sindh and Sultan.^[12][13] The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853.^[14] The Thane viaducts, the first railway bridges, were built over the Thane creek when the Mumbai-Thane line was extended to Kalyan in May 1854. Eastern India's first passenger train ran 39 km (24 mi) from Howrah, near Kolkata, to Hoogly on 15 August 1854.^[9] The construction of 97 km (60 mi) line in the South between Royapuram in Madras and Arcot started in 1853, which became operational on 1 July 1856.^[15] The first workshops were established by GIPR at Byculla in 1854 and Madras Railway at Perambur in 1856. The Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI) was incorporated in 1855 and Eastern Bengal Railway in 1858.^[16][17] The Carnatic Railway was founded in 1869.^[14] On 24 February 1873, a horse-drawn 3.8 km (2.4 mi) tram opened in Calcutta between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat street.^[18] On 9 May 1874, a horse-drawn tramway began operation in Bombay between Colaba and Parel.^[19] The Great Southern of India Railway and the Carnatic Railway merged in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway.^[20] In 1879, the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway was established which built railway lines across the then Hyderabad State.^[21] In 1877, an Ajmer built F-1/734 Steam Locomotive became the first indigenously built locomotive in India.^[22] East Coast State Railway was established in 1890.^[23] In 1897, lighting in passenger coaches was introduced with Jodhpur Railway, the first to introduce electric lighting as standard fixtures.^[9] In 1908, Madras Railway merged with Southern Mahratta Railway to form the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway.^[24] Pamban bridge, the first sea bridge was opened on 24 February 1914.^[25] In 1920, electric lighting of signals was introduced between Dadar and Currey Road in Bombay.^[26]

The first railway budget was presented in 1924.^[9] The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway was merged with the East Indian Railway Company (EIR) in the same year.^[27] On 3 February 1925, the first electric train ran between Victoria Terminus (VT) and Kurla, hauled by a SLM electric locomotive on 1500 V DC traction.^[28] Later, the VT–Bandra section was electrified and the first Electric Multiple Units (EMU) were introduced in with 1.5KV DC units imported were from Cammell Laird and Uerdingenwagonfabrik.^[29] On 1 April 1929, Grand Trunk Express commenced operations between Peshawar in the North Western Railway and Mangalore with two coaches detached and connected to Madras further.^[30][31] The Frontier Mail made its inaugural run between Bombay and Peshawar in 1928.^[32] Technical advancements led to automatic colour light signals become operational between Bombay and Byculla in 1928.^[33] In the subsequent years, the route from Bombay to Poona was electrified and in June 1930, the first deluxe train, Deccan Queen began running, hauled by a WCP-1 locomotives with seven coaches along the route.^[34] The Grand Trunk express commenced operating as a dedicated daily train between Madras and Delhi from 1 September 1930.^[35] Chennai suburban railway started operating in 1931 with a single metre gauge line from Chennai Beach to Tambaram.^[36] In 1944, all the railway companies were taken over by the Government.^[37]

Beginning 1926 and for statistical purposes, the Government of British Raj classified Indian railway systems according to three classes. It was a similar system to the Railroad classes in North America.^[38][39]

Trams, industrial and port railways were recorded separately and independently of turnover. In terms of net revenue, East Indian Railway was the largest company in 1927 with 86,881,000 rupees. Followed by the North Western State Railway with 57,343,000 rupees and the Great Indian Peninsula Railway with 56,215,000 rupees.^[40] No further reclassification was carried out after 1942, but the rankings remained in use until the mid-1950s.^[38][41]

The first locomotive manufacturing unit at Chittaranjan was commissioned in 1950.^[42] In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for re-organising Indian Railways into six regional zones with the Southern (14 April 1951), Central (5 November 1951), and Western (5 November 1951) zones being the first to be created.^[43] On 14 April 1952, the Northern Railway, the Eastern Railway and the North Eastern Railway were created.^[43] In 1952, fans and lights were mandated for all compartments in passenger trains and sleeping accommodations were introduced in coaches.^[9] In 1953, the Indian Railways completed hundred years of operation which was commemorated by multiple events and a commemorative postage stamp.^[44][45] The first diesel locomotive used in India was fabricated by North British Locomotive Company in 1954.^[46] On 1 August 1955 the South-Eastern Railway was split from the Eastern Railway, and, the following year, divisional systems of administration were set up for the various regional zones. The first rail coaches were manufactured in India from 1956 when the Integral Coach Factory was established at Madras.^[47] In 1956, the first air-conditioned train plied between Howrah and New Delhi.^[48] In 1958, the North-Eastern Railway split to form a new Northeast Frontier Railway.^[43]

In 1957, Indian Railways adopted 25 kV AC traction with the first trial runs operating with the WAM-1 locomotives in 1959 and commercial services beginning in August 1960.^[29] In 1960, the Railway Board of India commissioned a study to increase the speed of passenger trains to 160 km/h (99 mph) with an intermediate stage of 120 km/h (75 mph).^[49] Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) started work on the same in 1962 with field trials commencing in 1967 with coaches manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory at Madras and hauled by diesel locomotives.^[49] The first containerized freight rail transport began between Bombay and Ahmedabad in 1966.^[9] In 1966, electrification of several suburban tracks around Delhi, Madras and Calcutta were completed with the 25 kV AC system. In 1969, the Government of India announced the introduction of a new express train capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h (75 mph) in the railway budget and the first Rajdhani Express was flagged off from New Delhi to Howrah in March 1969.^[50][51] In 1974, Indian Railways endured a 20-day strike.^[52][53] In 1979, the Main Line Electrification Project was reconstituted into the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE).^[54] In 1980, the WAP-1 electric locomotives reached a speed of 130 km/h (81 mph).^[55]

The first metro rail was introduced in Calcutta on 24 October 1984 with the line between Esplanade and Bhowanipore.^[56] In 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced by Indian Railways.^[57] In 1988, the first Shatabdi Express was introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi.^[9] Two years later, the first self-printing ticket machine (SPTM) was introduced in Delhi.^[58] In 1993, air-conditioned three-tier and sleeper were introduced.^[9] In 1995, Chennai MRTS became the first operational elevated railway line in India.^[59] In 1995, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, a joint venture between Government of India and Government of Delhi was established.^[60] Centralized computer reservation system was deployed in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in September 1996, coupon validating machines (CVMs) were introduced at Mumbai CSMT in 1998 and the nationwide concierge system began operation on 18 April 1999.^[9] In 1999, the South East Central Railway zone was established and on 6 July 2002, the East Coast, South Western, South East Central, North Central, and West Central zones were created.^[61][43]

The Indian Railways website went online in February 2000. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was incorporated in 1999 and online ticketing was introduced on 3 August 2002 through IRCTC.^[62] The first line of the Delhi Metro was inaugurated on 24 December 2002.^[63] In 2012, Western Railway switched completely to AC traction with Central Railway following it in 2016.^[64][65] On 1 February 2014, Mumbai Monorail became the first operational monorail system in India.^[66] In 2015, the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered trains were rolled out.^[67] On 5 April 2016, Gatimaan Express, then India's fastest train with a maximum speed of 160 km/h (99 mph), made its first run from New Delhi to Agra Cantonment.^[68]

The central government approved the merger of the Rail and General budgets from 2017.^[69] On 31 March 2017, Indian Railways announced a target of electrifying the entire rail network would be electrified by 2023.^[70] In March 2020, Indian Railways announced a nationwide shutdown of passenger service to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in India with the freight operations continuing to transport essential goods.^[71][72][73] The railways resumed passenger services in a phased manner in May 2020.^[74]

Starting in the 2010s, various infrastructure modernization projects have been undertaken including high-speed rail,^[75][76] redevelopment of 400 stations,^[77] doubling tracks to reduce congestion,^[78] refurbishing of coaches,^[79][80] Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled tracking of trains^[81] and modernization of locomotives.^[82][83] In 2018, a semi-high speed self-propelled train-set capable of reaching speeds of over 160 km/h (99 mph) was rolled out from ICF and the Vande Bharat Express was launched in 2019.^[84][85] Indian Railways announced plans to become a net-zero carbon emission railway by 2030 and has implemented rainwater harvesting at stations,^[86] reforestation along the tracks,^[87] introduction of solar-powered trains,^[88] installation of solar and wind power generation facilities,^[89] and sustainable LED lighting at all the stations.^[90] Indian railways removed all unstaffed level crossings by 2019 with staffed level crossings being replaced by bridges.^[91] Other safety projects include the extension of an automated fire alarm system to all air-conditioned coaches and GPS-enabled Fog Pilot Assistance System railway signalling devices.^[92] In 2020, Indian Railways allowed the operation of private passenger trains for the first time with the first train flagged off from Coimbatore in June 2022.^[93][94]

A covered wagon (left) and a WAG-11 electric locomotive used to haul freight

Indian Railways hauls variety of cargo to cater to various requirements and have specialized rolling stock corresponding to the cargo hauled. There are 243 types of rolling stock used for cargo operations.^[96] These include covered wagons, boxcars, flat wagons, flatbeds, open wagons, hoppers, containers, automobile carriers, defense vehicle carriers and tankers.^[97] The freight cars can often carry loads from 10 to 80 tonnes per car depending on the configuration.^[97] A new wagon numbering system was adopted in Indian Railways in 2003.^[98] The requirement of wagons was previously met by Bharat wagon and engineering with the procurement and manufacturing now done by both in public and private sector.^[1] The earliest goods trains in the 1800s were hauled by imported steam locomotives.^[9] Locomotives are classified by various parameters including function (passenger/goods/mixed).^[99] Indian Railways uses dedicated electric locomotives such as WAG series (Wide AC Goods), dedicated diesel locomotives such as WDG series and diesel locomotives of mixed usage such as WDM series to haul freight trains.^[100][101]

Indian railways operates a 68,584 km (42,616 mi) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge network which is equipped with long-welded, high-tensile 52kg/60kg 90 UTS rails with pre-stressed concrete (PSC) sleepers and elastic fastenings.^[1] These tracks are shared by both freight and passenger trains with passenger trains often priortized on the network. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India was established in 2006 to construct dedicated freight corridors to reduce congestion, increase speed and reliability and proposed upgradation of existing goods sheds, attracting private capital to build dedicated logistics terminals.^[102]

The first rail operational in Madras in 1837 was used for ferrying granite.^[103] The first dedicated commercial freight rail was operated between Bombay and Ahmedabad in 1966.^[9] Indian Railways ferries various commodities and cargo to cater to various industrial, consumer, and agricultural segments. Apart from dedicated freight trains, parcels, mail and small cargo are carried on specialized carriages attached to passenger trains.^[104] In 2022–23, Indian Railways operated 8,479 trains on average daily and transported 1418.1 million tonnes of freight.^[1] Indian Railways has historically subsidized the passenger segment with income from the freight business and hence, freight services were unable to complete other modes of transport on both cost and speed of delivery, leading to continuous erosion of market share till the early 2000s.^[105] To counter this, Indian Railways aimed to increase speed and reliability through various means including operating time-tabled freight trains and tweaking with the freight pricing/product mix.^[106] End-to-end integrated transport solutions such as roll-on, roll-off (RORO) service, a road-rail system pioneered by Konkan Railway in 1999 to carry trucks on flatbed trailers has been extended to other routes.^[107]

ICF coach

LHB coach

The early rail coaches were based on a prototype by a Swiss company and were termed as ICF coaches after Integral coach factory (ICF), the first coach manufacturing unit in India.^[47] These coaches, manufactured from 1955 to 2018, were largely in use till the early 2010s.^[108] From the late 1990s, the ICF coaches were replaced by safer and newer LHB coaches designed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany.^[109][110] In the late 2010s, Indian railways started upgrading the coaches of select trains from LHB to new Tejas coaches with enhanced features.^[111][112] As of March 2023, Indian Railways' had 84,863 passenger coaches.^[1] Coaches are manufactured by five manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and public sector companies BEML and BHEL.^[113] The coaching stock have unique five or six digit identifiers. Till 2018, the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last three digits indicating the class.^[114] In 2018, the numbering system was changed with the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last four digits indicating the sequence number.^[115]

Track

As of 31 March 2023, Indian railway network spanned 68,584 km (42,616 mi) in route length.^[1] Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 80 to 200 km/h (50 to 124 mph), though the maximum speed attained by passenger trains is 160 km/h (99 mph). Spanning 65,093 km (40,447 mi) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge is the most used gauge with 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge and 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge and 610 mm (2 ft) narrower gauge tracks limited to certain routes.^[1] Indian Railways uses a range of signalling technologies and methods to manage its train operations based on traffic density and safety requirements.^[1] It primarily uses coloured signal lights, which replaced the earlier semaphores and disc-based signalling.^[116][117]

Stations

As of March 2023, Indian Railways manages and operates 7,308 stations.^[1] Prior to 2017, the stations were classified into seven categories based on their earnings.^[118] Since 2017, Indian Railways categorizes the stations by commercial importance into three different categories namely Non Suburban Group (NSG), Suburban Group (SG) and Halt Group (HG). These are further subdivided into subcategories based on their commercial importance (NSG 1–6, SG 1-3 and from HG 1–3).^[119][118] The commercial importance of a station is determined by taking into account its passenger footfall, earnings and strategic importance and these categories are used to determine the minimum essential amenities required by each station.^[120][119]

Travel classes

Indian Railways offers various travel classes on its coaches.^[121] For the purpose of identification in passenger trains, coaches in a train-set are assigned an alpha-numeric code. The first letter identifies the coach class and the second letter identifies the coach number.^[122] The berths and seats are numbered by an alphanumeric code with the letter(s) identifying the berth/seat type and numbers identifying the position. In standard coaches, the berths and seats are classified as follows:^[123]

Coach code (First digit)^[122]

Class	Code	Image	Description
First AC	H		It is the most luxurious and expensive class in most express trains.[124][125] They have separate air-conditioned compartments with private lockable doors, bedding, dedicated attendants and meals served at seat.[126]
First Class	F		First class is similar to first AC coaches with a combination of cabins and berths but are non air-conditioned and do not have all the facilities of first AC coaches.[126] They were started to be phased out of normal express trains starting in the 2000s and the last coach being de-commissioned in 2015.[127][128] The First class is still in use in toy trains where the coaches consist of seats similar to chair cars.[129]
Executive Anubhuti	EA		Executive Anubhuti is the premium class of air-conditioned chair car equipped with retractable, large cushioned seats in 2x2 configuration. The class is equipped with an entertainment system, large luggage compartments, passenger information system, dedicated reading lights, power sockets and call buttons, modular bio toilets with automated taps. Meals often provided as a part of the journey ticket.[130] The class is available only in select trains.[130][131]
AC Executive Class	E		AC Executive Class is often the top most class of air-conditioned chair car in express trains. It is equipped with large retractable seats in 2x2 configuration.[124][132] The class is equipped with dedicated reading lights and power sockets, modular bio toilets with automated taps. Meals are often provided as a part of the journey ticket.[126] In Vande Bharat Express trains, the class is equipped with more features including rotating seats, CCTVs, passenger information system, larger toilets, USB ports and automated doors.[133][134]
Executive Vistadome	EV		AC Tourist cars have vistadome coaches with glass roofs and extra wide windows. The interiors are similar to AC chair car coaches. Select trains operating mostly on tourist circuits are equipped with such coaches.[135] Indian Railways plans to introduce these coaches in all mountain railways.[136]
Second AC or AC 2-tier	A		Second AC or AC 2-tier is an air-conditioned sleeping car with wide sealed windows.[124] There are four berths arranged in two-tiers facing each other in a single bay with two-tiered berths arranged on the sides lengthwise across the corridor.[125] Individual berths are equipped with curtains, simple bedding, reading lights and charging sockets.[137][138] Food is available on order or as a part of the ticket depending on the train.[126]
Third AC or AC 3-tier	B		Third AC or AC 3-tier is an air-conditioned sleeping car.[124] There are six berths arranged in three-tiers facing each other in a single bay with foldable middle berths and two-tiered berths arranged on the sides lengthwise across the corridor.[125] There are common charging sockets and lights in each compartment with simple bedding provided.[138] Food is available on order or as a part of the ticket depending on the train with the same menu shared with AC 2-tier.[126] Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Indian_Railway_Classification Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia.  Navigácia: Veda > Analytika Antropológia Aplikované vedy Bibliometria Dejiny vedy Encyklopédie Filozofia vedy Forenzné vedy Humanitné vedy Knižničná veda Kryogenika Kryptológia Kulturológia Literárna veda Medzidisciplinárne oblasti Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy Metavedy Metodika Metodológia vedy Náboženstvo a veda Náučná literatúra Podvody vo vede Popularizácia vedy Potravinárstvo Prírodné vedy Pseudoveda Scientometria Spoločenské vedy Teórie Teatrológia Technické vedy Technika Terminológia Umenie Výskum Veda Veda a technika podľa štátu Veda a technika podľa kontinentu Veda a technika podľa roka Veda v kozme Vedci Vedecká literatúra Vedecké databázy Vedecké experimenty Vedecké konferencie Vedecké metódy Vedecké ocenenia Vedecké organizácie Vedecké parky Vedeckí spisovatelia Vzdelávanie Záhady Príbuzné výrazy: Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. www.astronomia.sk | www.biologia.sk | www.botanika.sk | www.dejiny.sk | www.economy.sk | www.elektrotechnika.sk | www.estetika.sk | www.farmakologia.sk | www.filozofia.sk | Fyzika | www.futurologia.sk | www.genetika.sk | www.chemia.sk | www.lingvistika.sk | www.politologia.sk | www.psychologia.sk | www.sexuologia.sk | www.sociologia.sk | www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk