9 Indian Railways facts that could amaze you

[shree835]

The Railways is one massive teeming organization. It is over 150 years old and continues to expand. It helps transport people as well as goods. Yet, it is infamous for its lack of cleanliness and punctuality. It is not surprising then that we take the Railways for granted.

Here are some facts about Railways that will amaze you:

1. The Indian Railways daily carries over 230 lakh passengers on 12,617 trains connecting 7,172 stations across the country. “It is equivalent to moving the entire population of the Australia,” Railway minister, Sadanad Gowda, said in his budget speech.

2. The Railways is a monopoly. It is owned by the government, and there are no private players involved in the daily operations. It also receives all its money as advance payment from its 125-crore customer base. There are no delays in payment. Yet, it is still starved of funds. This is rare for a company which has complete monopoly.


3. India has joined China, Russia and USA in carrying more than 100 crore tonnes of freight in year. The Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying about 30 lakh tonnes (MT) of freight every day, the minister said on Tuesday.

4. Indian Railways has over 13.1 lakh employees. This makes our Railways is the ninth largest commercial employer in the world, according to various media reports.

5. “We have a total track length of 1.16 lakh kilometers; 63,870 coaches; more than 2.4 lakh wagons and 13.1 lakh employees,” Gowda said in Parliament. If the tracks were laid end to end, it could circle the Earth around the equator one and a half times, an India TV report suggested.

6. The Railways has an operating ratio of 94%. This means, it spends 94 paise out of every rupee it earns. The remaining 6 paise is its surplus profit. “This surplus, apart from being meager, is continuously on decline due to non-revision of fare. The surplus, after paying obligatory dividend and lease charges, was Rs 11,754 crore in 2007-08 and is estimated to be Rs 602 crore in the current financial year,” the railway minister said.

7. We have the distinction of owning the longest railway platform in the world, according to various media reports. The 2,733 feet-long platform at Kharagpur in West Bengal is the longest in the world.

8. Yes, the British gave us the Railways. However, reports suggest that the first railroad was actually constructed by two Indians – Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy; not the British.

9. The Delhi main station owns a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world’s largest route relay interlocking system, according to one report. This is the system where multiple tracks are interlocked. It helps divert train movements during periods of high traffic and volumes.

 

[TejasMk3]

Here is a documentary on how some of those hardest lines were built (konkan railways)

It's a common mistake to think that the railways we use today were built by the british. The lines they built were really old and had to be replaced by the time of independence,routes had to be redone due to Pak(they got 40% of the lines), and also a lot of the harder parts (like the one above) did not even exist during british times.

 

[Vinayak Tiwari]

The Railways is one massive teeming organization. It is over 150 years old and continues to expand. It helps transport people as well as goods. Yet, it is infamous for its lack of cleanliness and punctuality. It is not surprising then that we take the Railways for granted.

Here are some facts about Railways that will amaze you:

1. The Indian Railways daily carries over 230 lakh passengers on 12,617 trains connecting 7,172 stations across the country. “It is equivalent to moving the entire population of the Australia,” Railway minister, Sadanad Gowda, said in his budget speech.

2. The Railways is a monopoly. It is owned by the government, and there are no private players involved in the daily operations. It also receives all its money as advance payment from its 125-crore customer base. There are no delays in payment. Yet, it is still starved of funds. This is rare for a company which has complete monopoly.


3. India has joined China, Russia and USA in carrying more than 100 crore tonnes of freight in year. The Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying about 30 lakh tonnes (MT) of freight every day, the minister said on Tuesday.

4. Indian Railways has over 13.1 lakh employees. This makes our Railways is the ninth largest commercial employer in the world, according to various media reports.

5. “We have a total track length of 1.16 lakh kilometers; 63,870 coaches; more than 2.4 lakh wagons and 13.1 lakh employees,” Gowda said in Parliament. If the tracks were laid end to end, it could circle the Earth around the equator one and a half times, an India TV report suggested.

6. The Railways has an operating ratio of 94%. This means, it spends 94 paise out of every rupee it earns. The remaining 6 paise is its surplus profit. “This surplus, apart from being meager, is continuously on decline due to non-revision of fare. The surplus, after paying obligatory dividend and lease charges, was Rs 11,754 crore in 2007-08 and is estimated to be Rs 602 crore in the current financial year,” the railway minister said.

7. We have the distinction of owning the longest railway platform in the world, according to various media reports. The 2,733 feet-long platform at Kharagpur in West Bengal is the longest in the world.

8. Yes, the British gave us the Railways. However, reports suggest that the first railroad was actually constructed by two Indians – Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy; not the British.

9. The Delhi main station owns a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world’s largest route relay interlocking system, according to one report. This is the system where multiple tracks are interlocked. It helps divert train movements during periods of high traffic and volumes.

wow.....

 

[indoPunjabi]

The Railways is one massive teeming organization. It is over 150 years old and continues to expand. It helps transport people as well as goods. Yet, it is infamous for its lack of cleanliness and punctuality. It is not surprising then that we take the Railways for granted.

Here are some facts about Railways that will amaze you:

1. The Indian Railways daily carries over 230 lakh passengers on 12,617 trains connecting 7,172 stations across the country. “It is equivalent to moving the entire population of the Australia,” Railway minister, Sadanad Gowda, said in his budget speech.

2. The Railways is a monopoly. It is owned by the government, and there are no private players involved in the daily operations. It also receives all its money as advance payment from its 125-crore customer base. There are no delays in payment. Yet, it is still starved of funds. This is rare for a company which has complete monopoly.


3. India has joined China, Russia and USA in carrying more than 100 crore tonnes of freight in year. The Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying about 30 lakh tonnes (MT) of freight every day, the minister said on Tuesday.

4. Indian Railways has over 13.1 lakh employees. This makes our Railways is the ninth largest commercial employer in the world, according to various media reports.

5. “We have a total track length of 1.16 lakh kilometers; 63,870 coaches; more than 2.4 lakh wagons and 13.1 lakh employees,” Gowda said in Parliament. If the tracks were laid end to end, it could circle the Earth around the equator one and a half times, an India TV report suggested.

6. The Railways has an operating ratio of 94%. This means, it spends 94 paise out of every rupee it earns. The remaining 6 paise is its surplus profit. “This surplus, apart from being meager, is continuously on decline due to non-revision of fare. The surplus, after paying obligatory dividend and lease charges, was Rs 11,754 crore in 2007-08 and is estimated to be Rs 602 crore in the current financial year,” the railway minister said.

7. We have the distinction of owning the longest railway platform in the world, according to various media reports. The 2,733 feet-long platform at Kharagpur in West Bengal is the longest in the world.

8. Yes, the British gave us the Railways. However, reports suggest that the first railroad was actually constructed by two Indians – Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy; not the British.

9. The Delhi main station owns a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world’s largest route relay interlocking system, according to one report. This is the system where multiple tracks are interlocked. It helps divert train movements during periods of high traffic and volumes.

Tons of improvement needed in Indian railways.

 

[Hulk]

Here is a documentary on how some of those hardest lines were built (konkan railways)

It's a common mistake to think that the railways we use today were built by the british. The lines they built were really old and had to be replaced by the time of independence,routes had to be redone due to Pak(they got 40% of the lines), and also a lot of the harder parts (like the one above) did not even exist during british times.

Awesome video

 

[ptltejas]

1. The Indian Railways daily carries over 230 lakh passengers on 12,617 trains connecting 7,172 stations across the country. “It is equivalent to moving the entire population of the Australia,” Railway minister, Sadanad Gowda, said in his budget speech.

The No. is with ticket, people without ticket would increase the no. in some percentage.