Native name
|
भारतीय रेल Bhāratīya Rel |
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State-owned | |
Industry | Railways |
Founded | 16 April 1853 |
Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
Area served
|
India |
Key people
|
|
Services |
Passenger railways Freight services Parcel carrier Catering and Tourism Services Parking lot operations Other related services |
Revenue | ₹1.683 trillion (US$25 billion) (2015–16) |
₹105.05 billion (US$1.6 billion) (2015–16) | |
Owner | Government of India |
Number of employees
|
1.331 million (March 2016) |
Parent | Ministry of Railways through Railway Board |
Divisions | 16 Railways Zones |
Subsidiaries | |
Website |
www indianrailways |
Schematic network map of the Indian Railways
|
|
Map of Indian Railways network with population density
|
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Reporting mark | IR |
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Locale | India |
Dates of operation | 16 April 1853 | –Present
Track gauge |
1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) 610 mm (2 ft) |
Length | 66,687 kilometres (41,437 mi) (route) 92,081 kilometres (57,216 mi) (track) |
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is a state-owned railway company, responsible for rail transport in India. It is owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 92,081 km (57,216 mi) of track over a route of 66,687 km (41,437 mi) and 7,216 stations at the end of 2015-16. In 2015-16, IR carried 8.107 billion passengers annually or more than 22 million passengers a day and 1.101 billion tons of freight annually.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. 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 at several places in India, with assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty six states and three union territories across India, and also has international connectivity to Bangladesh (with Bangladesh Railway) and Pakistan (with Pakistan Railways).