The Railways in India provide the principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers. It brings together people from the farthest corners of the country and makes possible the conduct of business, sightseeing, pilgrimage and education. The Indian Railways have been a great integrating force during the last more than 150 years. It has bound the economic life of the country and helped in accelerating the development of industry and agriculture. From a very modest beginning in 1853, when the first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane, a distance of 34 kilometers Indian Railways have grown into a vast network of 7,133 stations spread over a route length of 63,465 kilometres with a fleet of 8,025 locomotives, 44,090 passenger service vehicles, 5,990 other coaching vehicles and 2,07,176 wagons as on 31st March, 2006. The growth of Indian Railways in the 150 years of its existence is thus phenomenal. It has played a vital role in the economic, industrial and social development of the country. The network runs multigauge operations extending over 63,332 route kilometres.
The gauge-wise route and track lengths of the system as on 31st March, 2006 are as under:
| |
Gauge |
Route km |
Running Track km |
Total Track km |
|
|
| |
Broad Gauge (1.676 mm) |
48,574 |
69,016 |
91,274 |
|
|
| |
Metre Gauge (1.000 mm) |
11,834 |
12,429 |
15,236 |
|
|
| |
Narrow Gauge (762 mm and 610 mm) |
2,924 |
2,925 |
2,298 |
|
|
| |
Total |
63,332 |
84,370 |
1,09,808 |
|
About 28 per cent of the route kilometre, 40 per cent of running track kilometre and 41 per cent of total track kilometre is electrified. The network is divided into 16 Zones. Divisions are the basic operating units. The 16 zones and their respective headquarters are given below:
| |
Zonal Railways |
Headquarters |
|
|
| |
Central Railway |
Mumbai CST |
|
|
| |
Eastern Railway |
Kolkata |
|
|
| |
Northern Railway |
New Delhi |
|
|
| |
North Eastern Railway |
Gorakhpur |
|
|
| |
North-East Frontier Railway |
Maligaon (Guwahati) |
|
|
| |
Southern Railway |
Chennai |
|
|
| |
South Central Railway |
Secunderabad |
|
|
| |
South Eastern Railway |
Kolkata |
|
|
| |
Western Railway |
Church Gate, Mumbai |
|
|
| |
East Central Railway |
Hajipur |
|
|
| |
East Coast Railway |
Bhubaneswar |
|
|
| |
North Central Railway |
Allahabad |
|
|
| |
North Western Railway |
Jaipur |
|
|
| |
South East Central Railway |
Bilaspur |
|
|
| |
South Western Railway |
Hubli |
|
|
| |
West Central Railway |
Jabalpur |
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The Indian Railways is now reorganised into 16 Zones. Two new Railway Zones viz., East Central Railway, Hajipur and North Western Railway, Jaipur became functional on 1 October 2002. Five more new Zones viz., East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar, North Central Railway, Allahabad, South East Central Railway, Bilaspur, South Western Railway, Hubli and West Central Railway, Jabalpur became functional on 1 April 2003. Along with the reorganisation of the Zones, eight new Railway Divisions viz., Agra on North Central Railway, Ahemdabad on Western Railway, Guntur and Nanded on South Central Railway, Pune on Central Railway, Raipur on South East Central Railway, Ranchi on South Eastern Railway and Rangiya on Northeast Frontier Railway became operational on 1 April 2003.
Cooperation between public and Railway administration is secured through various committees including Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committees and Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committees. The rolling stock fleet of Indian Railways in service as on 31 March 2005 comprises 44 Steam, 4,801 diesel and 3,065 electric locomotives. Currently, the Railways are in the process of inducting new designs of fuel-efficient locomotives of higher horse power, high-speed coaches and modern bogies for freight traffic. Modern signaling like panel inter-locking, route relay inter-locking, centralised traffic control, automatic signaling and multi-aspect colour light signaling, are being introduced. The Indian Railways have made impressive progress regarding indigenous production of rolling stock and variety of other equipment over the years and is now self-sufficient in most of the items.
The main objectives of railways planning have been to develop the transport infrastructure to carry the projected quantum of traffic and meet the developmental needs of the economy. Since the inception of the planned era in 1950-51, Indian Railways have implemented nine five-year plans, apart from annual plans in some years. During the Plans, emphasis was laid on a comprehensive programme of system modernisation. With capacity being, stretched to the full, investment of cost-effective technological changes become inescapable in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for rail transport. Along with the major thrust directed towards rehabilitation of assets, technological changes and upgradation of standards were initiated in important areas of track, locomotives, passenger coaches, wagon bogie designs, signaling and telecommunications.
