indian railway story

Indian Railways

Indian Railways (IR) is India's national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth-largest railway network in the world by size, with 121,407 kilometres (75,439 mi) of total track over a 67,368-kilometre (41,861 mi) route.Forty nine percent of the routes are electrified with 25 KV AC electric traction while thirty three percent of them are double or multi-tracked.

IR runs more than 20,000 passenger trains daily, on both long-distance and suburban routes, from 7,349 stations across India.The trains have a five-digit numbering system. Mail or express trains, the most common types, run at an average speed of 50.6 kilometres per hour (31.4 mph).In the freight segment, IR runs more than 9,200 trains daily. The average speed of freight trains is around 24 kilometres per hour (15 mph).

As of March 2017, IR's rolling stock consisted of 277,987 freight wagons, 70,937 passenger coaches and 11,452 locomotives. IR owns locomotive and coach-production facilities at several locations in India. The world's eighth-largest employer, it had 1.308 million employees as of March 2017.

In the year ending March 2018, IR carried 8.26 billion passengers and transported 1.16 billion tonnes of freight. In the fiscal year 2017–18, IR is projected to have revenue of ₹1.874 trillion (US$26 billion), consisting of 1.175 trillion (US$16 billion) in freight revenue and ₹501.25 billion (US$7.0 billion) in passenger revenue, with an operating ratio of 96.0 percent.

History

The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras in 1832.The country's first train, Red Hill Railway (built by Arthur 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 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge track between Bori Bunder (Mumbai) and Thane on 16 April 1853. The Thane viaduct, India's first railway bridge, was built over the Ulhas Riverwhen the Mumbai-Thane line was extended to Kalyan in May 1854. Eastern India's first passenger train ran 24 miles (39 km) from Howrah, near Kolkata, to Hoogly on 15 August 1854. The first passenger train in South Indiaran 60 miles (97 km) from Royapuram- Veyasarapady (Madras) to Wallajah Road (Arcot) on 1 July 1856.

On 24 February 1873, a horse-drawn 3.8-kilometre (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 Colabaand 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 organisation 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 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced in New Delhi.

In 1988, the first Shatabdi Express was introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi; it was later extended to Bhopal. Two years later, the first self-printing ticket machine (SPTM) was introduced in New Delhi. In 1993, air-conditioned three-tier coaches and a sleeper class (separate from second class) were introduced on IR. The CONCERT system of computerized reservations was deployed in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in September 1996. In 1998, coupon validating machines (CVMs) were introduced at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. The nationwide Concierge system began operation on 18 April 1999. In February 2000, the Indian Railways website went online. On 3 August 2002, IR began online train reservations and ticketing. Indian Railways announced on 31 March 2017 that the country's entire rail network would be electrified by 2022.

Organisation

Structure

Indian Railways is headed by a seven-member Railway Board whose chairman reports to the Ministry of Railways. Railway Board also acts as the Ministry of Railways. The officers manning the office of Railway Board are mostly from organised Group A Railway Services and Railway Board Secretariat Service. IR is divided into 17 zones, headed by general managers who report to the Railway Board.The zones are further subdivided into 68 operating divisions, headed by divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers of the engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, stores, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches report to their respective DRMs and are tasked with the operation and maintenance of assets. Station masters control individual stations and train movements through their stations' territory. In addition, there are a number of production units, training establishments, public sector enterprises and other offices working under the control of the Railway Board.

Subsidiaries and undertakings

IR is a major shareholder in 16 public sector undertakings (PSU) and other organizations that are related to rail transport in India. Notable among this list include:

Financing, construction and project implementation: IRFC, RITES, IRCON, MRVC, RVNL

Land and station development: RLDA, IRSDC

Rail infrastructure: DFCCIL, PRCL

Passenger and freight train operations: KRCL, CONCOR

IT and communications: CRIS, RCIL

Catering and tourism: IRCTC

Human resources

Staff are classified into gazetted (Groups A and B) and non-gazetted (Groups C and D) employees. Gazetted employees carry out executive / managerial / supervisorial level tasks. As of March 2017, the number of personnel (Groups A & B) constitutes 1.2% of the total strength, while Group C & D account for 92.6% and 6.2% respectively.

Recruitment of Group A employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission by examination. Group B employees are recruited by way of promotion among the Group C employees, by way of both seniority cum eligibility through a selection process. Recruitment of Group C section and junior engineers and depot material superintendents is conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board. Group C and D employees are recruited by 21 railway recruitment boards and cells, which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB).^[35] IR recruits for Group C posts through its RRB NTPC GP (Railway Recruitment Board Non-Technical Graduate Post) examination.

The training of all groups is shared among seven centralised zonal training institutes and 295 training centers located all over India.

IR offers housing and runs its own hospitals, schools and sports facilities for the welfare of its staff.

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