Indian Railways(IR) is a statutory body under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. The first railway proposals for india were made in Madras in 1832.As of March 2020, IR network spans 126,366km of track length, while the route length is 67,956km. Indian Railways is headed by a seven member Railway Board and is divided into 18 zones which are subdivided into 71 operating divisions headed by divisional railway managers(DMR).

1. THE INDIAN
RAILWAYS
~Shreyanshi Srivastava
10th-C
35

2. CONTENT
CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. ORIGIN- INDIAN RAILWAYS
3. DEVELOPMENT
4. PROGRESS OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
5. TYPES OF RAILWAY GAUGES
6. ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAYS
7. DISADVANTAGES OF RAILWAYS

3. INTRODUCTION
1. Indian Railways(IR) is the state owned railway
company of India.It is one of the largest and
busiest rail networks in the world, transporting
just over six billion passengers and almost 750
million tonnes of freights annually.IR is the
world’s largest commercial or utility employer,
with more than 1.6 million employees.
2. The railways transverse through the length and
width of the country;the routes cover a total
length of 63,940 km. As of 2005 IR owns a total
of 216,717 wagons, 39,936 coaches and 7,339
locomotives and runs a total of 14,244 trains
daily, including about 8002 passenger trains.

4. 3. Railways were first introduced to India in
1853. By 1947, the year of India’s independence,
there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the
systems were nationalised as one unit, becoming
one of the largest networks in the world. Indian
Railways operates both long distance and
suburban rail systems.

5. A SHORT HISTORY
OF INDIAN
RAILWAYS

6. ORIGIN –INDIAN RAILWAYS
• In 1884, the Governor-general of India, Lord
Hardinge allowed private enterpreneurs to set up a
rail system in India. Two new railway companies were
created and the East India Company was asked to
assist them. Interest from investors in the UK led to
the rapid creation of a rail system over the next few
years.
• The first railway proposals for India were made in
Madras in 1832. The country’s first train, Red Hill
Railway, ran from Red Hills to the Chintadripet bridge
in Madras in 1837.

7. 3. India’s first passenger train, operated by the Great Indian
Peninsula Railway and hauled by three locomotives
(Sahib, Sindh and Sultan),ran for 34km with 400 people in
14 carriages on 1,676mm broad gauge track between Bori
Bunder(Mumbai) and Thane on 16 April 1853.
4. The British Government encouraged new railway
companies backed by private investors under a scheme
that would gurantee an annual return of 5% during the
initial years of operation.
5. The route mileage of this network was about 14,500 km
by 1880, mostly radiating inward from the major port
cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.

8. DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT

10. PROGRESS OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
The Indian railways has gone under considerable improvement over the
years
1. Diesel engines replaced the steam engines in 1950 to avoid
environmental pollution. At present ,Diesel Locomotive Works(DLW) in
Varanasi(U.P.) and Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in West Bengal and
Locomotive Works in Jamshedpur(Jharkhand) are producing diesel
engines.
2. Diesel engines also caused considerable air pollution. Hence to meet the
growing pressure of traffic and goods, electrification of all the railway
tracks was undertaken. In the electrification process, priority was given to
the high density section of the railway lines to enable greater speed and
volume of traffic.
3. Priority has been assigned to conversion of metre gauge lines into broad
gauge. Railways tracks are electrified.

11. PROGRESS OF INDIAN RAILWAYS-
PROGRESS OF INDIAN RAILWAYS-
Particulars At the end of
1950-51
1970-71 2005-06
Route length (km)
of which
Electrified (km)
53,600
390
59,800
3,700
63,370
17,910
Passengers originating
(millions) 1,290 2,430 5,830
Goods originating
(million tons) 93 197 666

12. TYPES OF RAILWAY GAUGE
The railway gauge were
designed during the colonial
period keeping in mind the
volume of traffic and
movement of goods in
different areas of the country.
Indian railway currently has 3
different gauges-
(i)Broad gauge(width 1.676m)
(ii)Meter gauge(width 1m)
(iii)Narrow gauge(width
0.762m)

13. 1.BR0AD GAUGE:It is used in most part of the country. It was
mainly installed to connect the major ports with the other
cities to facilitate the export of raw material to Britain by
ships.
2.METRE GAUGE:It is mainly used in northern
U.P. ,Bihar,Assam and parts of western Rajasthan,Gujarat
and Tamil Nadu.
3.NARRAW GAUGE:It was used in mountainous region of
Kalka- Shimla ,Siliguri –Darjeeling and Ootacamund.
However,the government of India decided to convert all
the gauges into broad gauge to facilitate transport of
goods and general traffic.

14. ADVANTAGES OF INDIAN
RAILWAYS
Principle mode of transport.
●
Helps in Agriculture Development
& Urbanisation.
Important role in Economic
Development.
●
It forms the major employment sector
approx 1.5 million jobs.

15. DRAWBACKS OF INDIAN RAILWAY
Obsolete trains, tracks and equipment make
railway unsafe.

16. INDIAN
RAILWAYS
INDIAN
RAILWAYS