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     Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km (71,000 mi) of track over a route of 65,000 km (40,000 mi) and 7,500 stations. As of December 2012, it transported over 25 million passengers daily (over 9 billion on an annual basis). In 2011, IR carried over 8,900 million passengers annually or more than 24 million passengers daily (roughly half of which were suburban passengers) and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. In 2011-2012 Indian Railways earned 104,278.79 crore (US$18.98 billion) which consists of 69,675.97 crore (US$12.68 billion) from freight and 28,645.52 crore (US$5.21 billion) from passengers tickets.

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalized 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 and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty four states and three union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Indian Railways is the world’s ninth largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.4 million employees. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 229,381 Freight Wagons, 59,713 Passenger Coaches and 9,213 Locomotives. The trains have a 5 digit numbering system as the Indian Railways runs about 10,000 trains daily. As of 31 March 2012, 22,224 km (13,809 mi) (34%) of the total 65,000 km (40,000 mi) km route length was electrified.^[4] Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.

History

The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1849, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km (4,000 mi). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Mumbai 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 Indian guaranteed railways.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 Mumbai, 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 1905, 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 and 1929 was a period of economic boom; there were 41,000 miles 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 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the British in their war. By 1946 all rail systems had been taken over by the government.

Organisational structure

Railway zones

Indian Railways is divided into several zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952 and sixteen in 2003.^[9][10] 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.^[3][11]

Each of the sixteen zones 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.

Zonal railways details

Recruitment and training

Staff are classified into gazetted (Group ‘A’ and ‘B’) and non-gazetted (Group ‘C’ and ‘D’) employees.^[13] The recruitment of Group ‘A’ gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it.^[14] The recruitment to Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB).^[15] The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralized training institutes.

Production units

CLW made WAP-5 30022(CLW made WAP-5 locos don’t have fluted body shell) rests at Bhopal

WDP4 Diesel Locomotive Baaz which is now at New Jalpaiguri

Indian Railways manufactures much of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components at its six manufacturing plants, called Production Units, which are managed directly by the Ministry. Popular rolling stock builders such as CLW and DLW for electric and diesel locomotives; ICF and RCF for passenger coaches are Production Units of Indian Railways. Over the years, Indian Railways has not only achieved self-sufficiency in production of rolling stock in the country but also exported rolling stock to other countries. Each of these six production units is headed by a General Manager, who also reports directly to the Railway Board. The six Production Units are:-

Other subsidiaries

There also exist independent organizations 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. 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.

There are eleven public undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways,^[16] viz.

• Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL)
• Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)^[17]
• Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)
• Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)
• Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited
• Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC)
• Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL)
• Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC)
• Railtel Corporation of India Limited (Rail Tel)
• Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES)
• Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), that has constructed and operates Delhi Metro network, is an independent organisation not connected to the Indian Railways. Similar metro rail corporations in other cities (except Kolkata Metro in Kolkata) are not connected to the Indian Railways.

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