Indian Railways

History

The history of railway transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. The East Indian Railway Company was established 1 June 1845 in London by a deed of settlement with a capital of £4,000,000, largely raised in London. The Great Southern India Railway Co. was founded in Britain in 1853 and registered in 1859. Construction of track in Madras Presidency began in 1859 and the 80-mile link from Trichinopoly to Negapatam was opened in 1861. The Carnatic Railway founded in 1864, opened a Madras-Arakkonam-Kancheepuram line in 1865. The Great Southern India Railway Company was subsequently merged with the Carnatic Railway Company in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company.

A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km (4,000 mi). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. 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 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. By 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, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested 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. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India. In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km (38,040 mi), 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 and 1929 was a period of economic boom; there were 41,000 mi (66,000 km) of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting in 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East. The railway workshops were converted to ammunition workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all railway systems had been taken over by the government.

Organisational structure

The apex management organisation is the Railway Board, also called the Ministry of Railways. The board is headed by a Chairman who reports to the Minister of Railways. The board has five other members in addition to the chairman. The General Managers of the zonal railways and the production units report to the board.

Financial issues

Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹300 billion (US$4.5 billion) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 109% for the period April - Dec in 2016. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹200 billion (US$3.0 billion). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise (0.34¢ US) by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹6.9 billion (US$100 million) by the end of March 2014.

It was estimated in 2014 that over ₹5 trillion (US$74 billion) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.

New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. Between 2004 and 2014, 99 New Line projects worth ₹600 billion (US$8.9 billion) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.

Railway zones

Indian Railways is divided into 17 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and sixteen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.

Each zone is headed by a general manager, 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, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway 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 train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.

The chart below briefly depicts the Indian Railway's zones, Route Km, number of stations and divisions.

Track and gauge

The total track length of network is 115,000 km (71,000 mi) while the total route length of the network is 68,525 km (42,579 mi). About 41,030 km (25,490 mi) or 42% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2016.

Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Indian gauge (a broad gauge) which is wider than the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge; the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft).

Indian gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) (a broad gauge) is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways with 108,500 km (67,400 mi) of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km (36,900 mi) of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges). It is the broadest gauge in operation in the world. The first railway line built in India was broad gauge line from Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) to Thane in 1853.

Urban rail transit lines which serve the urban areas are in 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge. These encompass metro, monorail and trams. As of 2016, lines in operation are Kolkata (Calcutta) tram system, Delhi Metro, Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon, the Bangalore Metro and the Mumbai Metro. These lines are not operated by Indian Railways.

On decreasing routes, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge and narrow gauges are present. These were initially introduced in hilly regions for cost considerations and simpler engineering. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km (2,500 mi) of route-kilometre (6% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges), while narrow gauges have 1,500 km (930 mi) route-kilometre (2% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges), as of 31 March 2016.

Project Unigauge was started in 1991 that seeks to standardise the rail gauges in India by converting almost all of the metre gauge and narrow gauge tracks to broad gauge track. Few metre gauge and narrow gauge tracks on which heritage trains run in hilly regions like Shimla, Darjeeling, Ooty and Matheran would not be converted into broad gauge. Also Urban rail transit lines encompassing metro, monorail and trams will not be converted to broad gauge. The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 94% in 2015 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 4% and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 2% in the same period. As of 31 March 2016, 27,999 route-km of Indian railways was electrified.

Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 80 to 220 km/h (50 to 137 mph), though trains don't really clock speeds of 200 km/h. maximum speed attained by passenger trains is 177 km/h-180 km/h (110 mph). Sleepers (ties) are increasingly made up of prestressed concrete, though metal and teak sleepers are still in use on a few lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal and teak sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers.

Locomotives

Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power, Diesel or Alternating current (Electric), and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.

A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.

Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.

Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.

Goods wagons

The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.

However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.

Passenger coaches

Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.

The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory, Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli; including the new LHB coaches.

Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.

Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.

Freight

Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.

Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains

Wagon types include:

Accommodation classes

Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. From September 2016, the Indian Railways have introduced dynamic fares for all accommodation classes for Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains(accept 1AC and EC classes) in order to shore up revenue. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.

A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.

The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.

At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.

Research and development

Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.

In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.

Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.

In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹9.05 trillion (US$130 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020. Indian Railways is refurbishing 12-15 year old coaches at Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal to enhance passenger amenities and fire safety measures.

Bio-toilets on railways

The bio-toilets, which have been developed by the railways and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), have a colony of anaerobic bacteria, kept in a container under the lavatories that convert human waste into water and small amounts of gases. The gases are released into the atmosphere and the water is discharged after chlorination on to the track. The railways currently uses flush toilets in trains, in which human waste is dumped directly on the track. This makes the environment unhygienic and railway stations an eyesore, apart from the fact that the faecal matter corrodes the tracks.

Southern Railways officials say that except for the first- and two-tier AC coaches of Uzhavan Express, the remaining 34 coaches have been fitted with bio-toilets. "These toilets aim at zero defecation on the ground," says Vinay Srivastava, former director-in-charge of the bio-toilet project who is currently working as director, Ministry of Environment and Forests.

More bio-toilets have been fitted into coaches this yearmore than the total bio-toilets fitted in the last three years. According to an IR source, the number of bio-toilets fitted in passenger train coaches from April to July this year this year was 2,285, against 1,337 bio-toilets fitted during 2012-13, 169 during 2011-12, and 57 during 2010-11.

Locomotive factories

In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (electric locomotive) and at Marhaura (Diesel Locomotive). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹20.52 billion (US$300 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹12.935 billion (US$190 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹146.56 billion (US$2.2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹200 billion (US$3.0 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.

Types of passenger services

Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.

Tourist trains

Other trains

UNESCO world heritage sites

There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:

Recruitment and training

Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The Recruitment of Group 'B' for the following post Section Officers,Junior Engineers,Depot Material Superintendent posts is conducted by Railway Recruitment board. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 21 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.

Indian Railways recruits for lower level positions like ASM, Goods Guard, Clerk, TA, CA, JE, Staff Nurse, Group D etc. through it RRB NTPC (Railway Recruitment Board Non Technical ) examination. For year 2016, the examination was conducted to recruit around 18,000 positions.

Links to adjacent countries

Existing rail links:

Under construction / Proposed links: