Indian Railway Management Service
In 1951, the Indian Railways was established by the amalgamation of 42 different railway companies operating in the country, spanning a total of 55,000 km (34,000 mi). The railway network across the country was reorganized into six regional zones in 1951–52 for administrative purposes, which was gradually expanded to 18 zones over the years.
The first steam operated railway operated in 1837 in Madras with the first passenger operating in 1853 between Bombay and Thane. In 1925, the first electric train ran in Bombay on DC traction. The first locomotive manufacturing unit was commissioned in 1950 at Chittaranjan with the first coach manufacturing unit set-up at Madras in 1955.
Indian Railways runs various classes of express, passengers and suburban trains. In 2018–19, it operated 13,523 trains on average daily covering 7,325 stations and carried 8.44 billion passengers. Indian Railways also operates different classes of rail freight transport. In 2022–23, it operated 8,479 trains on average daily and transported 1418.1 million tonnes of freight. Indian Railways operates multiple classes of rolling stock, manufactured by self-owned coach-production facilities. As of March 2023, Indian Railways' rolling stock consisted of 318,196 freight wagons and 84,863 passenger coaches. As of December 2023, Indian Railways had 10,238 electric and 4,543 diesel locomotives amongst others.
History
1832–1899
In 1832 the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made. In 1835, a railway track was constructed between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837. It was hauled by a rotary steam engine imported from England and was used for ferrying granite.
The Madras Railway was established in 1845 and the Great Indian Peninsular Railway was incorporated in 1849. Temporary railway lines were built such as the railway line at Dowleswaram built at by Arthur Cotton to supply stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River in 1845 and the Solani aqueduct railway, built by Proby Cautley in Roorkee to transport construction materials for an aqueduct over the Solani river in 1851. In 1852, a steam locomotive imported from England was tried at Byculla. In 1853, the first passenger train on 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge ran for 34 kilometres (21 mi) between Bombay and Thane which had 14-carriages carrying 400 people, hauled by three steam locomotives: the Sahib, Sindh and Sultan.
The Thane viaducts, the first railway bridges, were built over the Thane creek when the Mumbai-Thane line was extended to Kalyan in May 1854. Eastern India's first passenger train ran 39 km (24 mi) from Howrah, near Kolkata, to Hoogly on 15 August 1854. The construction on the first main line in the South between Royapuram in Madras and Arcot started in 1853, which became operational on 1 July 1856. On 24 February 1873, a horse-drawn 3.8 km (2.4 mi) tram opened in Calcutta between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat street. On 9 May 1874, a horse-drawn tramway began operation in Bombay between Colaba and Parel. In 1879, the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway was established which built railway lines across the then Hyderabad State from Kachiguda. In 1877, an Ajmer built F-1/734 Steam Locomotive became the first indigenously built locomotive in India. In 1897, lighting in passenger coaches was introduced with Jodhpur Railway, the first to introduce electric lighting as standard fixtures.
1900–1999
The first railway budget was presented in 1924. On 3 February 1925, the first electric train ran between Bombay and Kurla, hauled by a SLM electric locomotive on DC traction. In 1925, the first Electric Multiple Units (EMU) were introduced in Bombay with 1500 V DC units imported were from Cammell Laird and Uerdingenwagonfabrik. Chennai suburban railway started operating in 1931 with a single metre gauge line from Chennai Beach to Tambaram. In the period between 1925 and 1944, the management of the railway companies in the British presidencies and provinces were taken over by the Government.
In 1950, there were about 42 different railway companies operating about 55,000 km (34,000 mi) tracks across the country. These railway companies were amalgamated in steps to form a single entity named as Indian Railways. In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for re-organizing Indian Railways into six regional zones with the Southern (14 April 1951), Central (5 November 1951), and Western (5 November 1951) zones being the first to be created. In 1952, fans and lights were mandated for all compartments in passenger trains and sleeping accommodations were introduced in coaches. The first diesel locomotive used in India was fabricated by North British Locomotive Company in 1954.
The first locomotive manufacturing unit at Chittaranjan was commissioned in 1950. The first rail coaches were manufactured in India from 1956 when the Integral Coach Factory was established at Madras. In 1956, the first air-conditioned train plied between Howrah and New Delhi. In 1957, Indian Railways adopted 25 kV AC traction with the first runs beginning in December 1959 with the WAM-1 locomotives. The first containerized freight rail transport began between Bombay and Ahmedabad in 1966. In 1969, the Government of India announced the introduction of a new express train capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h (75 mph) in the railway budget and the first Rajdhani Express was flagged off from New Delhi to Howrah in March 1969. In 1974, Indian Railways endured a 20-day strike. The first metro rail was introduced in Calcutta on 24 October 1984.
In 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced. In 1988, the first Shatabdi Express was introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi. Two years later, the first self-printing ticket machine (SPTM) was introduced in Delhi. In 1993, air-conditioned three-tier and sleeper were introduced. In 1995, Chennai MRTS became the first operational elevated railway line in India. Centralized computer reservation system was deployed in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in September 1996, coupon validating machines (CVMs) were introduced at Mumbai CSMT in 1998 and the nationwide concierge system began operation on 18 April 1999.
2000–present
The Indian Railways website went online in February 2000. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was incorporated in 1999 and online ticketing was introduced on 3 August 2002 through IRCTC. In 2015, the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered trains were rolled out. Since 1925, the Railway budget was presented before the Union budget till 2016. The central government approved the merger of the Rail and General budgets from 2017. On 31 March 2017, Indian Railways announced a target of electrifying the entire rail network would be electrified by 2023. In March 2020, Indian Railways announced a nationwide shutdown of passenger service to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in India with the freight operations continuing to transport essential goods. The railways resumed passenger services in a phased manner in May 2020.
Starting in the 2010s, various infrastructure modernization projects have been undertaken including high-speed rail, redevelopment of 400 stations, doubling tracks to reduce congestion, refurbishing of coaches, Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled tracking of trains and modernization of locomotives. In 2018, a semi-high speed self-propelled train-set capable of reaching speeds of over 160 km/h (99 mph) was rolled out from ICF and the Vande Bharat Express was launched in 2019. Indian Railways announced plans to become a net-zero carbon emission railway by 2030 and has implemented rainwater harvesting at stations, reforestation along the tracks, introduction of solar-powered trains, installation of solar and wind power generation facilities, and sustainable LED lighting at all the stations. Indian railways removed all unstaffed level crossings by 2019 with staffed level crossings being replaced by bridges. Other safety projects include the extension of an automated fire alarm system to all air-conditioned coaches and GPS-enabled Fog Pilot Assistance System railway signalling devices. In 2020, Indian Railways allowed the operation of private passenger trains for the first time with the first train flagged off from Coimbatore in June 2022.
Organisation
Structure
Indian Railways is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India. It is headed by a four-member Railway Board whose chairman reports to the Ministry of Railways and act on behalf of the ministry. The organisation is divided into separate verticals traction, engineering, traffic, rolling stock, signalling, materials, personnel, RPF, finance, health and safety.
Indian Railways is divided into 18 administrative zones (17 operational), headed by general managers which are further subdivided into 71 operating divisions, headed by divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers of the respective operating verticals report to the DRMs and divisional heads and are tasked with the operation and maintenance of assets. Station masters control individual stations and train movements through their stations' territory. In addition, there are a number of manufacturing units, training establishments, PSUs and other undertakings under the purview of the Indian Railways.
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Human resources
Staff are classified into gazetted (Groups A and B) and non-gazetted (Groups C and D) employees with gazetted employees carrying out executive/managerial level tasks. As of March 2023, Groups A & B constitute 1.5% of the total workforce, while Group C & D account for 98.5%. 80% of Group-A employees are recruited through Indian Railways Management Service with remaining through promotions.
Group B employees are recruited by departmental promotional exams of Group C employees. Recruitment of Group C employees are through exams conducted by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB) and Group D staffs are recruited by zonal Railway Recruitment Cells (RRC). Indian Railways operates seven centralized training institutes and 295 training centers. It also provides housing, healthcare and education facilities for staff.
Subsidiaries
Indian Railways has various public sector undertakings (PSUs) and other organisations under its purview:
Indian Railways also has multiple bodies and undertakings under its purview such as:
- Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC)
- Central Railside Warehouse Company Limited (CRWCL)
- Commission of Railway Safety (CRS)
- Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COMW)
- Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE)
- Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS)
- Passenger Amenities Committee
- Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA)
- Railway Protection Force (RPF)
- Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB)
- Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB)
- Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO)
Infrastructure and operations
Rolling stock
- Locomotives
The first trains in the 1800s were hauled by imported steam locomotives. In 1877, the first locomotive was built in India. Electric locomotives were introduced in 1925 and diesel locomotives later in 1954. By 1990s, steam locomotives were phased out and are currently operated only on mountrain railways and on heritage trains. Locomotives are classified by track gauge (broad/metre/narrow/narrower), motive power (electric/diesel/battery), function (passenger/goods/mixed), power rating (x1000 HP) and model in a four or five letter code. The locomotives may be Longer Hood Front (LHF), where the driver cabin is behind the hood of the engine or Short Hood Front (SHF), where the cabin is located towards the front. Multiple units (MU) are propelled by locomotives integrated with train-sets. In 2015, the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered MUs were rolled out by ICF. In 2018, the semi-high speed self-propelled Vande Bharat train-set was rolled out from ICF. Locomotives are manufactured by five owned manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and BHEL. As of 2021, 37% of the trains are operated by diesel locomotives and rest mostly by electric locomotives. As of December 2023, Indian Railways had 10,238 electric and 4,543 diesel locomotives amongst others.
- Passenger coaches