History

16th April, 1853...............The Beginning

The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles (34 Kilometers) from Bombay to Thane.

The idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal and Bhore Ghats inclines first occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, in 1843.

The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14 railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm "amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21 guns."

Present status

Indian Railways (IR) is Asia’s largest and the world’s second largest network under one management, with a separate Ministry and its own annual budget. The key activities of IR are transportation of freight and passengers. The network carried about 18 million passengers and 2 mt freight every day on the network of 63,332 km. Broad Gauge (BG) is the primary gauge for the freight movement. Meter Gauge (MG), which was far more significant earlier, is being increasingly converted to BG

Organizational structure

Indian Railways is a department owned and controlled by the Government of INDIA. The Railway Ministry is headed by Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Union Minister for Railways and assisted by two Ministers of State for Railways, Mr.R.Velu and Mr.Naranbhai.J.Rathwa. Indian Railways is administered by the Railway Board, which has six members and a chairman.

Indian Railways is divided into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways is 16 . Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-seven divisions.

Railway Production Units

The Indian Railways manufactures a lot of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components.

Production Units, the manufacturing plants of the Indian Railways, are managed directly by the ministry. The General Managers of the PUs report to the Railway Board. The Production Units are:

Ø Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan

Ø Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi

Ø Diesel-Loco Modernization Works, Patiala

Ø Integral Coach Factory, Chennai

Ø Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala

Ø Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore

The Indian Railways is a the single largest organisation in terms of employees in the world.

Indian Railways is the lifeline for the country.........