India Railway is the fourth largest railway network in the world by size. The total route length 67,368 km. About 57.91% routes are electrified. 33% are double or multiple tracks.

Indian Railway runs more than 20,000 passengers trains daily. The trains have five digit and four digit numbering system.

Some Important Things to Highlight

1. It is a part of government of India.

2. It is founded 8^th May 1845.

3. The headquarters of Indian Railway in New Delhi India.

4. Piyush Goyal is the Railway Minister.

5. Indian Railway is the lifeline of the country. It provides many servicers like Passenger railways, freight services, parcel carrier, Catering and tourism services, and parking lot operation.

6. Total Revenue generated by Indian Railway is Rs 1.97214 trillion. Net income worth Rs 60.14 billion.

7.  About 1.30 million employees of ministry of railway.

8. Indian railway divided in 18 zones.

History

The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras in 1832. The country's first train, Red Hill Railway (built by Arthu Cotton to transport granite for road-building), ran from Red Hills to the Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837. In 1845, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway was built by Cotton at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry, to supply stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River. In 1851, the Solani Aqueduct Railway was built by Proby Cautley in Roorkee to transport construction materials for an aqueduct over the Solani River.

India's first passenger train, hauled by three steam locomotives (Sahib, Sindh and Sultan), ran for 34 kilometres (21 mi) with 400 people in 14 carriages on 1676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge track between Bori Bunder (Mumbai) and Thane on 16 April 1853. The Thane viaducts, India's 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 from Howrah, near Kolkata, to Hoogly on 15 August 1854. The first passenger train in South India ran 97 km from Royapuram- Veyasarapady (Madras) to Wallajah Road (Arcot) on 1 July 1856.

On 24 February 1873, a horse-drawn 3.8 km (2.4 mi) tram opened in Calcutta between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street. On 9 May 1874, a horse-drawn tramway began operation in Bombay between Colaba and Parel. In 1897, lighting in passenger coaches was introduced by many railway companies. On 3 February 1925, the first electric passenger train in India ran between Victoria Terminus and Kurla.

The organization of Indian railways into regional zones began in 1951, when the Southern (14 April 1951), Central (5 November 1951), and Western (5 November 1951) zones were created. Fans and lights were mandated for all compartments in all passenger classes in 1951, and sleeping accommodations were introduced in coaches. In 1956, the first fully air-conditioned train was introduced between Howrah and Delhi. Ten years later, the first containerized freight service began between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

In 1974, Indian Railways endured a 20 day strike, which damaged the nation's economy.