Brief introduction

Brief introduction

Indian Railways (IR) is largest system in world under single management& is life line of country.It plays very important part in socioeconomic development of country. It has one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting over 5 billion passengers and over 600 million tonnes of freight annually. IR is also the world's largest commercial or utility employer, having more than 1.6 million regular employees on its payroll.Annual expenditure & earning of Indian Railway is about 42000cr & 36000 cr as per budget of 2004-05

The railways traverse through the length and breadth of the country covering a total length of 63,140 km (39,200 miles). IR owns a total of 222147 wagons, 42570 coaches and 7,739 locomotives and runs a total of 14,444 trains daily, including about 8,702 passenger trains(2003-04)

The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 108,706 km (67,547 miles). Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h (47 to 99 mph). Indian railways uses three gauges, the Broad gauge (wider than the standard gauge – 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)); the metre gauge; and the Narrow gauge (narrower than the standard gauge).

Gauge Broad gauge – 1,676 mm (5.5 ft) – is the most widely used gauge in India with 86,526 km (53,765 miles) of track. In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge – 1,000 mm (3.28 ft) – is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all track to broad gauge. Narrow Gauge is present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains, which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow guage covers a total of 3,651 km (2,269 miles). The Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are two famous lines that use narrow gauge. This gauge is also used by zoos in India, whose tracks are sometimes maintained by the railways.