Since the inception of railways in India during the British Raj, the Indian Railways has grown with the country. It so integral to the country’s people that it has a unique culture of its own that no other railways in the world have. In terms of network, the Indian Railways is the fourth most extensive. It serves as a lifeline to over 13 million people who use it every day. Here are some of the interesting facts about Indian Railways that you should know.
- Massive Service
The total network of tracks is 121,407 km spread across 67,386 km route. Over 13000 passenger trains run between 7349 stations across the country. That is just the passenger trains, other 9200 freight trains add to the massive daily service of the Railways.
- People and Money
IR is the 8th largest employer in the world with 1.308 million people working directly under the company. It generates revenue of 1.874 trillion in a year.
- Long distance and Short distance
The Vivek Express is longest route train in the country; it travels 4,286 km cutting across the country from Kanyakumari to Dibrugarh in 82.30 hours stopping at 56 stations. The train between Nagpur and Ajni is a mere 3km.
- Continuous and Intermittent
The Trivandrum-Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express covers the 528-km distance between Vadodara and Kota in 6.5 hours without any stops. It is the longest ‘non-stop train’ in India. The Howrah-Amritsar Express has the highest number of stops at 115.
- The cheetah and the snail
The New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express is India’s fastest train touching a maximum speed of 150 kmph. The Nilgiri Express with an average speed of 10 kmph is India’s slowest train. Most rains run at an average speed of 54 kmph.
- Punctuality
The Guwahati-Trivandrum Express is usually delayed by 10-12 hours per trip on its scheduled journey time of 65 hours and 5 minutes. The Habibganj Nizamuddin Shan Bhopal express is said to nether most punctual train.
- The long and short names
Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta on the Arakkonam-Renigunta section near Chennai is the station with the longest name. Ib, near Jharsuguda in Odisha, and Od, near Anand in Gujarat, have the shortest names.
- One station, two states
The Navapur railway station straddles two states: one half of it is in Maharashtra and the other half in Gujarat.
- Two stations, one place
Srirampur and Belapur are two different stations in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, but on opposite sides of the same track.
- World Heritage
The Indian Railways is so iconic that two of its elements are listed on the UNESCO’ World Heritage– the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and the Indian Mountain Railways.
- Matching waves
Did you know why you get sound sleep on a train? The natural frequency of the human body is 1.2 Hz. The body is most comfortable at this frequency. The resonance frequency of the suspension of the coaches is designed to be as close as possible to 72bpm or 1.2Hz
- Anti-robbery Plan
All the electric appliances (fans, lights) in rail coaches function at 110 volts instead of the Indian standard 220 volts. It is a very effective counter-measure against thieves!
