Indian Railways/Overview

History Overview thumb|Credit: Mainaksinghabarma. The Indian Railways 18-star logo. Indian Railways is the state-owned railway company of India. It owns and operates the country's rail transport system. Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. The first passenger train ran on 16th April 1853 between Boribunder and Thane. Since then, Indian Railways has been growing continuously. After independence in 1947, India inherited a weak rail network. About 40 per cent of the railway lines were in the newly created Pakistan. Many lines had to be rerouted through Indian territory. New lines had to be constructed to connect important cities such as Jammu. At the time of independence, there were 42 separate railway systems. This included 32 lines owned by the former Indian princely states. These systems spanned a total of 55,000 km. In 1951, these systems were nationalized as one unit called Indian Railways. In 1952, it was decided to replace the existing rail networks by zones. A total of six zones came into being in 1952. On 6 September 2003, six further zones were made from existing zones for administration purpose. One more zone was added in 2006. The Indian Railways now has 17 zonal Railways. Indian Railways is also one of the world's largest rail networks. It has 64,015 route kilometers of route lengths. As on 31st March 2009, the route length of Indian Railways covered 64,015 kms with running track length of 86,937 kms. The total trackage including yards and sidings stood at 113,115 kms. Indian Railways is the fourth-largest network in the world. It spans over 1.2 lakh km across the country. Administratively, the Indian Railways have been divided into sixteen zones. Each zone is headed by a General Manager. These zones are further sub-divided into divisions. Each division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager. Locomotives thumb|270x270px|Credit: Kishlay RF. This locomotive is named 'Pratham'. It is India's first WDP-4D locomotive. Indian Railways primarily operate a fleet of electric and diesel locomotives. Steam locomotives are operated on mountain railways and on heritage trains. As of February 2026, Indian Railways had 13,569 electric and 4,169 diesel locomotives. Indian Railways uses three prime classes of locomotives. These are Electric, Diesel and Steam locomotives. They are built at CLW (Chittaranjan), DLW/DMW (Varanasi/Patiala) and preserved at heritage sheds. Post-2020, the national transporter has switched to 100 per cent electric traction on broad gauge routes as part of Mission Net-Zero. The locomotives have a naming system. Most of the diesel locomotives operating on broad gauge are 'WDM-2' series. Here 'W' stands for Broad Gauge, 'D' stands for Diesel, and 'M' stands for 'Mixed' service. The naming system includes codes like WDM for Wide diesel mixed, WDP for Wide diesel passenger, WDG for Wide diesel goods, and WDS for Wide diesel shunter. Starting in 2002, for diesel passenger, goods, and mixed locomotives, the series digit identifies the horsepower range of the locomotive. The digit '3' is for locomotives with over 3000hp but less than 4000hp. The digit '5' is for locomotives over 5000hp but less than 6000hp. Passenger Trains thumb|331x331px|Credit: ActStuffOGWiki. An ICF Utkrisht passenger rake. (Belagavi - Mysuru - Bagalkot) Indian Railways runs many types of passenger trains. These include local trains, express trains, and premium trains. The locomotives and coaches determine the type of service. Electric locomotives are used for most passenger services now. The WAP series locomotives are mainly used for passenger trains. The WAP-4, WAP-5, and WAP-7 are common passenger locomotives. The WAP-4 has 5,000 bhp and was in production from 1994 to 2015. The railway network connects all parts of India. It carries millions of passengers every day. It also transports goods across the country. The system has grown from the first train in 1853 to a vast network today. The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19th October 1875. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had a route mileage of about 9000 miles.