Interesting Facts about Indian Railways

Indian Railway is certainly the 'Lifeline of the Nation' with its commendable performance since the last 150 years. Indian Railways is known to be the largest railway network in Asia and world's largest railway system under a single management. IR employs about 1.6 million people, making itself the second largest commercial or utility employer in the world.

IR boasts of more than 7,500 railway stations in its periphery. It has a fleet of not less than 7800 locomotives, 40,000 coaches 3,26,000 wagons. 9 pairs of Rajdhani and 13 pairs of Shatabdi Express Trains run on the rail tracks of India. In 1977, the National Rail Museum was established at New Delhi. Given here is a list providing some interesting and amazing facts about Indian Railways.

First Passenger Train Ran On: 16th April 1853 (between Bombay to Thane)


First Railway Bridge: Dapoorie Viaduct on the Mumbai-Thane route


First Rail Tunnel: Parsik Tunnel


First Ghats Covered by the Rail lines: Thal and Bhore Ghats


First Underground Railway: Calcutta METRO


First Computerized Reservation System started in: New Delhi (1986)


First Electric Train ran on: 3rd Feb' 1925 (between Bombay VT and Kurla)


Toilets on Trains were introduced in: 1891 (1st Class) 1907 (lower classes)


Shortest Station Name: Ib (Orissa)


Longest Station Name: Sri Venkatanarasimharaj uvariapeta (Tamil Nadu)


Busiest Railway Station: Lucknow (64 trains everyday)


Longest Run (Time): Himsagar Express (Jammu to Kanyakumari- 3751 km in 74 hrs and 55 min)


Shortest Run: Route between Nagpur to Ajni (3km)


Longest Run for Daily Train: Kerala Express (3054 km in 42.5 hrs)


Longest Non-Stop Run (Distance): Trivandrum Rajdhani (528 km in 6.5 hrs)


Longest Railway Platform in the World: Kharagpur (2,733 ft in length)


Longest Railway Bridge: Nehru Setu on Sone River (10044ft in length)


Longest Tunnel: On Konkan Railway between Monkey hill Khandala ( 6.5 km)


Oldest Preserved Locomotive: Fairy Queen (1855), still in working order



Heritage Train : Darjeeling Himalayan Railways, running from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling, a hill station at an elevation of 2134 meters has attained the World Heritage Status from UNESCO.


Gauges of Track: 4 Gauges; BG (5'6"), MG (1 metre), NG (2)


IR Daily Runs: About 14,000 trains


IR Daily Carries: More than 11 million passengers 1 million tonnes of freight


IR's only line with Rack Pinion system: From Mettupalayam to Conoor


IR's Fastest Train: Bhopal-Shatabdi (runs at a speed up to 140 Km/ph)


Railway Station with all the Three Gauges : Siliguri Railway Station


Route Kilometers of Track: More than 62,000 kms


People Employed in IR: About 1.6 million people


Train with Maximum Number of Halts: Howrah-Amritsar Express (115 halts)


Trains without Commercial Halts : Sampoorna Kranti Express, Howrah Rajdhani, Bombay Rajdhani, Pragati Express and Pune Shatabdi


Stations across State Lines: Navapur (Maharashtra and Gujarat), Bhawani Mandi (Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan)


Classes of travel on Indian Railway: Ist AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, AC Chair Car IInd sleeper IInd ordinary. The Mumbai Suburban Railway system carries more than 6.1 million commuters on a daily basis and constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself