Apart from English and Cricket, another thing India is thankful to the British for are the Railways. They brought it here but t oday India is proud to be world’s third largest railways network. It is the lifeline of India and operates its own electric-locomotive, diesel-locomotive, and passenger-coach factories. That’s not it, Indian Railways even has an organization called Research Designs and Standards Organization for all the research, design and standardization related work.
Here are 20 ‘must read’ facts about Indian Railways:
1. The first train in India ran on 16 th April 1853 from Bombay to Thane.
2. The mascot of Indian Railways is Bholu – the guard elephant.
3. The full track length of Indian Railways can circle the equator one-and-a-half times.
4. The first railroad was constructed by two Indians – Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.
5. Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train is the slowest train in India. It runs at a speed of 10 kmph.
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6. The total distance covered by Indian Railways daily equals three and a half times the distance to the moon.
7. With over 1.6 million employees, Indian Railways is the world’s 8th largest employer.
8. Indian Railways is a monopoly. It is owned by the government.
9. Howrah-Amritsar Express has 115 stops, the record maximum for an Express train.
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10. Indian Railways carry more than 25 million passengers every day, more than the entire population of Australia.
11. In 1986, Indian Railways started its first computerized reservation in New Delhi.
12. The New Delhi Main Station, having the world’s largest route relay interlocking system, has a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
13. With a length of 1366.33 metres, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is the longest platform in the world.
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14. Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest railway networks, with 115,000 kms of tracks and a route of 65,000 kms.
15.Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta is the longest station name.
16. Guwahati-Trivandrum Express is the most unreliable train in the country. The average delay in the journey is 10-12 hours.
17. The world’s highest railway bridge is being built over Chenab. It will dwarf the Eiffel Tower.
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18. There are 7,349 railway stations in India.
19. For more than 50 years, there were no toilets on Indian Railways.
20. A mobile app system to track train schedules was introduced by Indian Railways in 2014.
