Interesting unknown facts about Indian Railways

A quick info of the unknown facts about Indian Railways

Most people know that with many other momentos that Britishers left India, one of the most prominent ones is the Indian Railways. After the independence nearly 70 years ago, many milestones were achieved by railways in India. Here are unknown facts about Indian Railways :

Let’s have a look at few of the milestones achieved by the Indian Railways:

1. Indian Railways which started its services in the country 161 years ago on April 16th, 1853, is today the largest rail network in Asia. It is also the second largest railway network in the world
2. After being nationalized in 1951, Indian Railways today serves over 23 million passengers on a regular basis which is almost equivalent to moving the entire population of Australia.
3. With 1,15,000 Km length of railway track and world’s largest route relay interlocking system, Indian railways has always secured a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.



4. More than 12,600 passenger trains and around 7,421 freight trains carrying 3 million tons of freight everyday run on the railway tracks of India.
5. Indian Railways also has the privilege of running world’s oldest functioning steam engine, The Fairy Queen between New Delhi and Alwar, Rajasthan, which gained the network another spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
6. According to economist after the US Department of Defense, the Chinese Army, Wal-Mart, China National Petroleum, State Grid of China and British Health Service, Indian Railways is the largest employer of the world with over 1.4 million employees on roll at the moment.
7. Running over the distance of over 11.2 Km, Pir Panjal that links Kashmir Valley and Banihal in Jammu is the longest tunnel of Indian Railways.
8. Indian Railways is determined to build world’s tallest railway bridge to link Kashmir Valley over the Chenab River in the coming years.

Indian Railways has also been one of the major reasons for India’s Modernization. So, let us not throw what the network has achieved through the past years and remember that Indian Railways is a very important part of every Indian citizen’s life and we should be proud of it.