India has one of the oldest, busiest and longest rail networks in the world. It would not be wrong to say that the Indian Railways is the backbone of the economy. The railway in the country started serving some 170 years during the British Rule and is a flourishing industry at present. With the upcoming efforts of the current government, it is likely to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years and has a bright future ahead.
Here are 20 very interesting and amazing facts about Indian Railways:
#1. The longest run by a train of Indian Railways is carried by Vivek Express, which traverses a distance of 4273 km between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari. Similarly, the shortest route runs between the stations of Nagpur and Ajni, which lie only 3 km apart.
#2. The longest non-stop travel by an Indian Railway train is a 528 km long stretch between Vadodara and Kota, which is travelled by Trivandrum-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express.
#3. The fastest train in the country is New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express, which reached runs at a commercial speed of 89.87 km/hr and reaches the top speed of 150 km/hr in the Faridabad Agra section. The train completes the journey of 704 km between New Delhi and Bhopal in 7 hours 50 minutes.
#4. On the other hand, the Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train is the slowest in India, with a speed of 10 km/hr. It traverses the hilly areas and has to keep the speed slow for safety reasons.
#5. The Howrah-Amritsar Express is the Indian Railways train which has the maximum number of stops on its route, the number reaching a surprising 115. The Delhi-Howrah Janata Express comes next, with 109 halts on the way.
#6. Lucknow is the busiest station in the country as it gets as many as 64 trains in a day.
#7. The Indian Railways boasts of having the longest railway station in the world, which is located at Kharagpur in West Bengal. The station is 1072.m long.
#8. The Fairy Queen, a locomotive engine which dates back to 1885, is the oldest functioning steam engine in the world and Indian Railways is its proud owner.
#9. India has the fourth largest railway network in the world, following the US, Russia and China in that order. It is 64000 km long.
#10. The Indian Railways has nearly 1.4 million employees on its payrolls, making it the largest employer in the country.
#11. The credit of construction of the first railroad in the country does not go to the British, but two Indians named Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and Jaganath Shunkerseth.
#12. The first computerized rail reservation started in India in 1986 in New Delhi.
#13. As many as 19000 trains are run daily by Indian Railways, out of which 12000 are passenger trains and the remaining are goods trains.
#14. There are a total of 7083 railway stations in India.
#15. Parsik Tunnel near Thane is the first rail tunnel of Indian Railways. It dates back to 1865.
#16. Indian Railways transports nearly 2.5 crore passengers every day.
#17. The Guwahati-Trivandrum Express is the most reliable train in the world.
#18. The Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir is the longest in the country. It is 11.215 km long.
#19. The largest railway museum in Asia is the Rail Museum, which is located in Delhi.
#20. Bholu, the Guard Elephant, is the mascot of the Indian Railways.
Indian Railways has established a great name for itself and is living up to this name.
Santosh Kumar is a Professional SEO and Blogger, With the help of this blog he is trying to share top 10 lists, facts, entertainment news from India and all around the world.