Posted on: January 5, 2019 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

From time immemorial, the Indian Railways have been serving the people of India in a variety of ways. In fact, as Indians, we are a lot more indebted to the Indian Railways than it is to us. Also, if you look back at history, you will find that it was the railways that stood as a medium where people could exchange words with each other. Back then, railways worked as a meeting ground for people.

Brief history

The Indian Railways were established way back in the year 1853 in the era of the British colonial rule. Today, the Indian Railways stand as the third largest network of the world. Honestly, if you have to define Indianness or get the flavor of India, you must travel by train at least once in your lifetime. According to the book ‘Report on the Ganga Canal’ which is found in the library of IIT Roorke, it says that the very first train was stationed to travel between Roorke and Piran Kaliyar.

Current situation

Coming to another interesting fact about the Indian railways is its digitization method that took place not many years ago. No longer can you call the Indian Railways backdated. Now, you can get the train running status live on your mobile phones! Isn’t that easy? Of course it is! Similarly, there are several other interesting facts about the Indian Railways that you are not aware of perhaps. Why not go through some unknown interesting facts about the Indian Railways! Let’s go!

Interesting and unknown facts

  1. The introduction of the railways in India dates back to the year 1853. It was during the period of the East India Company that the first train was launched. It traveled from Bombay to Thane on 16th April, 1853. Well, this is already a known fact. What you don’t know is that this is not true! The truth behind the introduction of Indian Railways is the journey between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar that was traveled in 1851 on December 22.
  2. When the trains were started, India then was under the British rule. Despite this, the idea of starting trains first came in the minds of the British. The first railroad was constructed by two Indian men, namely Jaganath Shunkerseth and Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. Kudos to these two guys! We all should be grateful to them.
  3. You will be surprised to know that the Indian Railway stands in the second position in terms of the largest railroad in the world. Our Indian trains have the capacity to carry more than 23 million people every day. Well, that’s even more than Australia! Indians, be proud of your nation!
  4. Further, according to the magazine named The Economist, the Indian Railways hold the largest number of employers in the world. Presently, its number of employees account to more than 1.7 million.
  5. The oldest working steam engine run train that is still prevalent in the railway sector is the Fairy Queen. It runs between New Delhi and Rajasthan. This train was constructed in the year 1855 by the British construction firm Kinston, Thompson and Hewitson. The train issued out from the British East Indian Railways.
  6. The Fairy Queen was mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records in the year 1998. It got its name printed in the Guinness Book because of being the oldest locomotive steam engine. Also, it was entitled to an award from Berlin. It was the Heritage Award.
  7. Again, the Guinness Book of World Records holds the name of New Delhi. This is because of it being the largest route. It is named as the world’s Largest Route Relay Interlocking system.
  8. The longest non-stop running train is the Trivandrum to H. Nizamuddin Rajdhani. It covers a distance of 528 kms in just 6.5 hours.
  9. The highest rail bridge in the world is the Chenab railway bridge. It is not only five times taller than Qutub Minar, but also way much taller than the Eiffel Tower! The bridge is located in the Jammu and Kashmir.
  10. The fastest railway network is that of Shatabi express that travels from New Delhi to Bhopal. It runs at a speed of 150km/hr, especially in the Faridabad – Agra area.
  11.  There is an extremely slow train as well. It travels at a speed of just 10 km/hr. It is the Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train.
  12. The train toilets were introduced into it nearly after 50 years of its birth. For the toilets, we owe a special thank you to a passenger named Okhil Chandra Sen. He protested by writing a letter to the railway officer in 1909 regarding the absence of toilets.
  13. On July 31, 2012, there was a massive energy crisis all over India. This led to the collapse of 33 regional grids. As a result, the government too could not supply electricity to the whole nation for long hours.
  14. 9th June 198 saw a deadly train accident. The train got drowned into the river Bagmati in Bihar, taking along with it the lives of almost 800 people.
  15. Next time you travel by train, do not forget to take a look at the four emergency exit windows in a passenger train.
  16. The most unreliable train traveling for a long distance is the Guwahati Thiruvananthapuram Express. Generally, it delays for nearly 10 to 12 hours. 
  17. The mascot of the Indian Railways is a giant elephant of the name Bholu.
  18. The shortest named station is Ib in Orissa while the station with the longest name is Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta in Tamil Nadu.
  19. The official website of the Indian Railways, known as IRCTC, gets hit almost 12 lakhs of times every minute.
  20. World Heritage has declared four Railway sites namely: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Mumbai CST Building, Nilgiri Mountain Railways and Kalka-Shimla Railways. 
  21. The very popular toy train in Darjeeling that is still running there was built by the British Colonial Master of India in 1881.
  22. The railway station of Navapur is divided between Maharashtra and Gujarat.
  23. The Samjukta Express between India and Pakistan was started 40 years back.
  24. The train that expresses concern for HIV and AIDS is known as the Red Ribbon Express.
  25. The first budget of the railway was telecasted in the year 1994.

Conclusion

So many interesting facts in one article… well, that’s too much! Read it fully and have fun!

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