• Indian Railways : An Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and
operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of
Railways.
• Railways were first introduced to India in 1853 from Bombay
to Thane.
• In 1951 the systems were nationalized as one unit.
• With 1.4 million employee strength, 13 million passengers / day,
1.3 million tones of freight / day :
The Indian Railways is currently fourth largest rail-networksin the world.
• Pakistan: Thar Express to Karachi and Samjhauta Express international train
(Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar, India).
• Bangladesh: The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in 2008
• Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
• Myanmar– Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
• Vietnam– On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor
announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur
to Vietnam via Myanmar.[
Connecting to Neighbourhood Countries
• Lowest level: Garib rath
• Middle/Upper Level: Duronto Express, Shatabdhi express, Jan
Shatabdhi Express, Intercity Superfast Express/Mail ,Rajdhani Express
• Premium level: The Fairy Queen, Bhuddhist Special Train-
Mahaparinirvan Express,Village on Wheels,Heritage on Wheels,
The Golden Chariot,Palace on Wheels,Deccan Odyssey.
List of Trains
• Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways.
1.The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
2. the Mountain Railways of India.
• The Mountain Railways of India consists of three separate railway lines located
in different parts of India
– The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal
– Nilgiri Mountain Railway, in Tamil Nadu.
– Kalka-Shimla Railway, in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh.
In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for
offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometer.
: Connecting UNESCO sites :
Indian Railway Catering and
Tourism Corporation
• It is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles the catering,
tourism and online ticketing operations of the railways.
• IRCTC was incorporated on 27th September, 1999 as an extended
arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade, professionalize and manage
the catering and hospitality services at stations
• Gujarat’s second largest dairy — Dudhsagar Dairy of Mehsana — is all set
to flag off a dedicated train to transport milk to the country’s biggest
milk market, Delhi, on a daily basis by the end of this year.
“Milk will be carried in insulated tankers of 24,000 liters capacity each (50
bogies for 12 lakh litres),” said manager (sales & logistics) of Mehsana Dairy
Pulak Mukherjee
North Gujarat-based Banas Dairy had flagged off a train carrying four lakh
litres of milk from Palanpur to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Freight traffic is the major source of revenue for Indian Railways.
Only one-third of the 13000 trains running daily on IR are freight trains, but
it accounts 65% of total revenue of IR.
Railway Freight traffic is vital for economic and industrial progress of the
country.
Raw materials from producing centers to factories and finished/semi-
finished products from factories to consumption areas or ports for export has
to be carried. Eg: Coal reserves from Bengal and Bihar has to be transported
to thermal and steel plants all over the country.
Railway Freight
AWARDS
• Largest and the fastest-growing e-commerce website in the Asia-Pacific
region, with about six lakh registered users as of 2013.
• National Tourism Award of Excellence by Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.
• Genius of the Web Award 2007 for being the "Best E-Governance PSU Site" by
CNBC.
• National Award for E-Governance, 2007–08 jointly by Department of IT,
Govt. of India and Govt. of Haryana
• Won the ICICI Bank Retail Excellence Award in 2005.
Challenges:
1. Overburdened and inadequate railway network
2. Unfavorable geographical conditions, beyond reach regions.
3. Stiff competition from road transport and thus its share in passenger and
goods traffic is declining.
4. Overburdened with surplus staff on its regular pay roles, hinders the
further development of railways.
5. The railways have to develop uneconomic projects due to political
pressures and interferences.
6. Huge outstanding payments to diesel and electric power supply companies.
7. The State Electricity Boards and NTPC increase the tariffs arbitrarily and
thus adds to the burden of railways.
8. Railways are the largest consumer of diesel. Any increase in the rates of
diesel, adversely affect the financial resources.
9. Most of the equipment used by the railways are now obsolete and need
immediate replacements.
10. There is mounting deficit due to non increase in fares and tariffs by the
Government due to political reasons.
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