Indian Railways (IR) is a State owned national transporter, and responsible for rail transport in India. It is the fourth largest railway network in the world comprising 119,630 kilometres (74,330 mi) of total track and 92,081 km (57,216 mi) of running track over a route of 66,687 km (41,437 mi) with 7,216 stations at the end of 2015-16. We bring you some interesting facts about the Indian Railways.

1. Highest Rail Bridge

The Chenab Bridge is a railway steel and concrete arch bridge under construction between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in India. When finished, the bridge will span the Chenab River at a height of 359 metres (1,178 ft) above the river, making it the world’s highest rail bridge. Chenab bridge that is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower.

2. Railway Staff

Indian Railways is the 7th largest employer in the world. It has approximately 1.5 million employees.

3. Route Relay Interlocking System

New Delhi station entered Guinness book of world records for having the world’s largest route relay interlocking system.

4. Passenger Load

Indian Railways (IR) carries over 25 million passengers daily which is perhaps more than the entire population of Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania put together. Annually Indian Railways ferries 7.2 billion passengers (nearly 6x India’s current population).

5. Railway Track

Indian Railways has spread the track so big that the earth can be rotated one and a half.

6. Fastest train

Gatimaan Express is India’s first semi-high speed train that runs between Delhi and Agra. It operates at a maximum speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) and is currently the fastest train in India. The train takes 100 minutes to cover the 188 km (117 mi) journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Agra Cantonment railway stations which gives the average speed of 113 km/h (70 mph).

7. Slowest train

Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger which runs at a speed of 10kmph, 15 times slower than fastest running train. Since this train runs in hilly region there are speed limits to comply. The one that comes close is Pratapnagar-Jambusar passenger, with a maximum speed of 12km/h and an average speed of 11km/h. It takes 4 hrs for a journey of 44 km.

8. Trains with most stops

The record for maximum number of stops by an Express/Mail train is held by 13049 Howrah – Amritsar Express 115 halts, followed by Delhi – Howrah Janata Express 109 halts and Jammu Tawi – Sealdah Express 99 halts.

 

9. Longest run by a train

15905 Vivek Express from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari travels a distance of 4273 km, making it the longest run in terms of total time and distance in Indian Railways.

 

 

10. Longest Platform

Gorakhpur Junction railway station became the world’s longest railway platform, after inauguration of the remodelled Gorakhpur Yard, with a stretch of around 1.34 kilometres (0.84 mi).

 

 

11. Least punctual train

12516 Guwahati – Trivandrum Express is said to be the most unreliable long-distance train in the country. The charted journey time is 65 hours and 5 minutes, but the average delay on a trip is about 10-12 hours.

 

 

12. Longest station name

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta on the Arakkonam-Renigunta section near Chennai.

 

 

13. Shortest station name

Ib, near Jharsuguda in Odisha and Od, near Anand in Gujarat.

 

 

 

14. Longest non-stop travel

12269/12270 Chennai Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express train covers a distance of 680 km without a single stop. It holds the record of being the fastest train between Chennai Central and Hazrat Nizamuddin covering the 2174 km in 27 hours and 55 minutes when compared to the Chennai Rajdhani which takes 28 hours and 15 minutes.

 

 

 

15. One station in two states

The railway station of Navapur is built in two states; one half of it is in Maharashtra and the other half is in Gujarat. Even a train which halts at Navapur Railway station is stationed half in Maharashtra and half in Gujarat.

 

 

 

16. Longest Tunnel

The country’s longest tunnel is Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel 11.215 km that was completed in December 2012 in Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel is yet to become functional railway route. Karbude on Konkan Railways, which is 6.5 km in length previously held the title for the longest tunnel in India.

 

 

 

17. Salary

Loco-pilots (train drivers) are paid more than an average software engineer. Salaries are the tune of Rs. 1 Lakh per month and more.

 

 

18. Rail Museum

The National Rail Museum in Delhi set up in 1977 is a one of the unique museums in Asia. Sprawled over an area of 11 acres the museum has collections like antique steam engines, locomotives, models, carriages, photographs among other things. There are live exhibits as well as working and non-working models. The added attraction is the toy train which runs across the museum.

 

 

19. Total Number of Trains

Indian Railways runs as many as 19,000 trains every day. Some 12,000  trains are for passengers and 7,000 for freight.

 

 

20. Number of railway stations

Indian railway stations are the symbolic and one of the most prominent landmark for people of India. Total number of railway stations in India is estimated to be between 8,000 and 8,500 and fourth largest employer in the world, employing over a million people.