Top 10 Facts About Indian Railways

The railway has a special place in the life and heart of Indian People

It gives the joy of meeting our loved ones and also the sadness of getting drifted away from them. It is because of the railways that we can easily stay connected with our loved ones who are residing in different parts of the country. Each one of us have travelled from one place to another in the gleaming trains of the Indian railways, yet there are certain unknown and intriguing facts about it. Let’s unveil the top 10 facts about the railway network of the country in this article:

1. The first railway network in the country was laid in 16th April 1853 which had a length of 21 miles connecting Bombay to Thane. The first railway line in Southern India was laid in 1856 covering a distance of 63 miles and connecting Vyasarpandy and Arcot. In North, a rail line of 119 miles was laid in 1859 between Kanpur and Allahabad.
2. Prior to independence, nearly 42 railway companies used to operate in the country. But now the entire railway is under one management.
3. Ever since its first initiation way back in the year 1853, the rail service of the country has been considered as the oldest track in the world.

     4. The oldest locomotive, Fairy Queen which was built in the year 1855 is still in the working order condition is celebrated as the oldest steam engine in working order. This locomotive has made a place for it in the Guinness Book of World Records.

   5. The fastest train in the country is the New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express which covers a distance of 704 km, in a time span of 7hrs 50 minutes. It has the highest commercial speed of 89.87 km/h.

6. The slowest train in our country is Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train which has a speed of 10 kmph. The prime reason for its slow speed is that it runs in the hilly region where it cannot run with fast speed. The next to the aforementioned train is Pratapnagar Jambusar passenger train which runs at a speed of 12 kmph and covers 44km distance in 4 hrs.

7. The Indian Railways is the largest recruiter in the country. Approximately 1.54 million workforce is attached to the railway network of the country. It is the ninth largest recruiter in the world.

   8. The longest train in terms of time and distance is the Vivek Express, which covers a distance of 4273 km between Kanyakumari and Dibrugarh. The longest non stop travel train is Trivandrum- H Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express, which covers a stretch of 528 km between Vadodara and Kota by running non stop.

   9. The railway has extended its arms all over the country. The last station in North is Baramulla situated in Jammu and Kashmir. In the west, the last station of the train is Naliya, which is near Bhuj in Gujarat. If we look down south, the last halt is at Kanyakumari. In the east the train lasts in Ledo.

10. The railway network of our country is celebrated as the largest rail network in the Asian continent and fourth largest amongst all the continents. Our country’s network of railway is also the second largest in the world which is under one management.