Indian railways are one of the biggest railway systems in the world and it surely one of the most crowded in the world due to the population that lives there and the popularity of the railway system in India. Here are some interesting facts about Indian railways.
1. As we have said this is one of the largest networks in the world, i.e. it is the largest one if we count that it is regulated and operated by one government and it is on the third place if we count its length which is 127,760km. There are 7,172 stations and 9991 trans that are in function and they have 8421 million passengers every year.
2. The two biggest platforms in the world are in the possession of Indian railways, one in Kharagpur, 2,733 feet, and the biggest one in Gorakhpur, 4,430 feet.
3. Its significance to the world is very big, and this is the reason why Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Indian Mountain Railways have been added to the UNESCO’ World Heritage site list.
4. It needs to be added that Indian railways also possess some of the most luxurious trains in the world, such as: Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, Palace on Wheels in Rajasthan, The Golden Chariot in Karnataka and Goa, The Maharajas’ Express and The Deccan Odyssey.
5. The longest travel is 4273km and is taken by The Vivek Express from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari while the shortest one is only 3km long and it goes from Nagpur to Ajni.
6. India also has one peculiarity: it has two stations that are placed on the opposite sides, these are Srirampur and Belapur
source: youtube
7. The biggest number of routes coming from one junction is in Mathura, i.e. seven of them.
8. In terms of trains themselves, the suspension, in terms of a resonance frequency, is at 72bpm or 1.2Hz since the human body is most comfortable with that one.
9. Indian railways invest a lot of the money they earn, i.t. 94% of the earned money is invested.
10. There is one peculiarity located in Nagpur, i.e. there is a crossing from which the trains go in all directions, i.e. East, West, South and North.
11. The biggest railway bridge is located in India over the Chenab River and it is 1,315m long. It is expected that the bridge would be operational soon.
12. Another interesting thing is the fact that the biggest tunnel in India is the railway one and it is located in Jammu and Kashmir and its length is 11.25km.
13. There are a lot of crowded junctions in India but the busiest one is surely Howrath in Kolkata since it has 974 trains stop there every day.
14. Since trains are crowded, the Indian railways included fans and lights to make more comfortable. However, in order to prevent thieves from stealing them, they used the ones that have 110 volts and not the ones that have 220 volts.
15. Indian Railways also have its mascot, and it was officially presented in 2002, on the 16th April. It is an elephant called Bholu and National Institute of Design was responsible for making it.
source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
16. One of the oldest locomotives in the world that still works is located in India. Its construction was finished in 1855 and it had a short retirement period from 1909 to 1997 when it was put back into use. It runs on a steam engine and its maximum speed is 40kmh. Its route is in Delhi and Alwar.
17. Since Indian railways is a huge system it surely employs a lot of people. It is actually one of the biggest employers in the world by having 1.4 million people working for it.
18. Even though people may think that Indian railways may be outdated, we need to mention that one of the first computer reservations in the industry actually started in 1986 in India, i.e. in New Delhi.
20. In order to raise awareness, Indian railways made a locomotive dedicated to the Red Ribbon campaign on the 1st December 2007. Since trains are the big part of Indian lives and culture, it is not surprising that they have eight museums dedicated to railways and trains, and they are: Delhi, Pune, Kanpur, Mysore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ghum and Tiruchirappalli with the one in Delhi being the biggest on the continent.