Overview of Indian Railways
Profit wise, the Railways of India in the financial year 2011-12 had earned 104,278.79 crore (US$20.8 billion) which consists of 69,675.97 crore (US$13.9 billion) from freight and 28,645.52 crore (US$5.71 billion) from passengers tickets. It is interesting to know that Indian Railways has the world’s fourth largest commercial employer by number of employees with more than 1.4 million employees. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. As per the stats of March 31, 2011 the total length of track used by Indian Railways was about 114,000 km (71,000 mi) while the total route length of the network was 64,215 km (39,901 mi). About 33% of the route-kilometer and 44% of the total track kilometer was electrified on 31 March 2011.
History of Indian Railways
Likewise the rich historic past of India, the history of Indian Railways is also very interesting and it dates back to the mid-19th century. Till 1850 there was nothing in the name of railway in India. The British East India Company after its foothold in the country introduced the railway in the year 1853. The first train ran between Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane (fora distance of 34 km) on 16 April 1853 at 3:35PM. From 1857 onwards, a British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton led the work of railways expansion in India. In the month of June in 1867 the Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch line of the East Indian Railway was opened.
Brereton was also the main person behind linking the Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway that inturn resulted into a combined network of 6,400 km (4,000 mile). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta in the late 1800s. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and at the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that “it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system”.
By the year 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km (9,000 mi), mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896 sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways. In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and soon various independent kingdoms began to have their own rail systems.
In 1901, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally invested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 to 1929 was a period of economic boom, there were 41,000 miles of railway line serving every district in the country. Following the Great Depression, the company suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Trains were diverted to the Middle East and the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops. By 1946 all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were 42 rail systems. In 1951 the systems (many of which were already government-owned) were nationalized as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world.
Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Flying Rani introduced in 2005 while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars.
Organizational structure of Indian Railways
Railway Zones – For smoothing functioning the Indian Railways is divided into many zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. In the year 1951 the number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight followed by nine in 1952. In the year it increased upto 16 railway zones then to 17 in the year 2010. Each zonal railway of Indian Railways is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. As of now there are 68 divisions of Indian Railways.
Each of the 17 zones of Railways is headed by a General Manager (GM) who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM). The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial and safety branches report to the respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control individual stations and the train movement through the track territory under their stations' administration.
Other subsidiaries of Indian Railways - The Indian Railways has a number of subsidiaries that exist as independent organizations but comes under the control of the Railway Board for electrification, modernization, research and design and training of officers, each of which is headed by an officer of the rank of General Manager. Besides these, a number of Public Sector Undertakings, which perform railway-related functions ranging from consultancy to ticketing, are also under the administrative control of the Ministry of railways.
As of now there are 12 public undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, which are as follows:
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)
Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited
Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC)
Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)
Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES)
Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL)
Railtel Corporation of India Limited (Rail Tel)
Mumbai Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (MRVNL)
Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)
Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL).
Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
Technical details of Indian Railways
Track and Gauge – The Indian Railways has four size gauges for plying of trains including passenger, express and freight carrying trains. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h (47 to 99 mph). The track and gauges sizes operated by Indian Railways include:
(i) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
(ii) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
(iii) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge
(iv) two narrow gauges, 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft) .
In the present time the Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways, which is 54,600 km of route-kilometer (85% of entire route-kilometer of all the gauges). In some regions with less traffic, the meter gauge (1,000 mm/3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) is common, which is about 9,000 km (5,600 mi) of track length (7.9% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 7,500 km of route-kilometer (11.6% of entire route-kilometer of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges had a total of 2,400 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track.
Coaches: Indian Railways offer general bogies (seating), chair car coaches, sleeper coaches and air-conditioned coaches for travel in various trains. Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers.
One of the biggest government owned organization of India, Indian Railways called as IR in short is operated by the Ministry of Railways (MoR). Claimed to be one of the biggest Railways of the world, Indian Railways Indian Railways has 114,500 kilometres (71,147 mile) of total track over a route of 65,000 kilometres (40,389 mile) and 7,500 big and small railway stations. Indian Railways has the fourth largest railway network after the United States, Russia and China. As per sources, on daily basis the Indian Railways carry more than 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight.
Profit wise, the Railways of India in the financial year 2011-12 had earned 104,278.79 crore (US$20.8 billion) which consists of 69,675.97 crore (US$13.9 billion) from freight and 28,645.52 crore (US$5.71 billion) from passengers tickets. It is interesting to know that Indian Railways has the world’s fourth largest commercial employer by number of employees with more than 1.4 million employees. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. As per the stats of March 31, 2011 the total length of track used by Indian Railways was about 114,000 km (71,000 mi) while the total route length of the network was 64,215 km (39,901 mi). About 33% of the route-kilometer and 44% of the total track kilometer was electrified on 31 March 2011.
History of Indian Railways
Likewise the rich historic past of India, the history of Indian Railways is also very interesting and it dates back to the mid-19th century. Till 1850 there was nothing in the name of railway in India. The British East India Company after its foothold in the country introduced the railway in the year 1853. The first train ran between Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane (fora distance of 34 km) on 16 April 1853 at 3:35PM. From 1857 onwards, a British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton led the work of railways expansion in India. In the month of June in 1867 the Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch line of the East Indian Railway was opened.
Brereton was also the main person behind linking the Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway that inturn resulted into a combined network of 6,400 km (4,000 mile). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta in the late 1800s. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and at the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that “it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system”.
By the year 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km (9,000 mi), mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896 sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways. In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and soon various independent kingdoms began to have their own rail systems.
In 1901, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally invested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 to 1929 was a period of economic boom, there were 41,000 miles of railway line serving every district in the country. Following the Great Depression, the company suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Trains were diverted to the Middle East and the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops. By 1946 all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were 42 rail systems. In 1951 the systems (many of which were already government-owned) were nationalized as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world.
Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Flying Rani introduced in 2005 while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars.
Organizational structure of Indian Railways
Railway Zones – For smoothing functioning the Indian Railways is divided into many zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. In the year 1951 the number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight followed by nine in 1952. In the year it increased upto 16 railway zones then to 17 in the year 2010. Each zonal railway of Indian Railways is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. As of now there are 68 divisions of Indian Railways.
Each of the 17 zones of Railways is headed by a General Manager (GM) who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM). The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial and safety branches report to the respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control individual stations and the train movement through the track territory under their stations' administration.
Other subsidiaries of Indian Railways - The Indian Railways has a number of subsidiaries that exist as independent organizations but comes under the control of the Railway Board for electrification, modernization, research and design and training of officers, each of which is headed by an officer of the rank of General Manager. Besides these, a number of Public Sector Undertakings, which perform railway-related functions ranging from consultancy to ticketing, are also under the administrative control of the Ministry of railways.
As of now there are 12 public undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, which are as follows:
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)
Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited
Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC)
Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)
Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES)
Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL)
Railtel Corporation of India Limited (Rail Tel)
Mumbai Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (MRVNL)
Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)
Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL).
Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
Technical details of Indian Railways
Track and Gauge – The Indian Railways has four size gauges for plying of trains including passenger, express and freight carrying trains. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h (47 to 99 mph). The track and gauges sizes operated by Indian Railways include:
(i) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
(ii) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
(iii) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge
(iv) two narrow gauges, 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft) .
In the present time the Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways, which is 54,600 km of route-kilometer (85% of entire route-kilometer of all the gauges). In some regions with less traffic, the meter gauge (1,000 mm/3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) is common, which is about 9,000 km (5,600 mi) of track length (7.9% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 7,500 km of route-kilometer (11.6% of entire route-kilometer of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges had a total of 2,400 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track.
Coaches: Indian Railways offer general bogies (seating), chair car coaches, sleeper coaches and air-conditioned coaches for travel in various trains. Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers.
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