What are some amazing facts about The Indian Railways, that most people don't know?

 Inserting a fact which only a few people know:

Indian railways is running single compartment train from Bobbili to Saluru it is called Rail bus in East Coast railway Zone in visakhapatanam division. Total 3 rail buses are present.

This was inside seating

Drive cabin: in Rail Bus drive cabin at both ends.

Manufactured BY Bharat Earth Movers Ltd

You can see timing of rail bus.

pic credit: Rugada Manikanta (మణికంఠ రుగాడ)

Grammatical Edit: User-11654848706922803741

Some other things

1. Indian railway uses only 2% of power of total generation of power.
2. Electric engine in railway always uses only rare pantograph irrespective direction of moving. Because if they use front one if any damage occurs then damage parts of may damage rare one and we can use rare at that time.
3. The transmission of 25000KV is combination of R Y B terminals. Some part R terminal then Y then B it will repeat through out the line. While changing from one terminal to other they stop power supply of engine for couple of seconds.

What are some amazing facts about the Indian Railways?

 

This train is so special that it has made it to the ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and the question asked was not for Rupees 5000, 10000, or 50000. It was asked as a question for a whopping Rupees. 25 Lakh. The contestant couldn’t manage to answer though.

Presenting to you India’s shortest running passenger train with a huge fan following and loyal commuter base, ‘The Legendary Ait-Konch Shuttle’!!!!

The Ait-Konch Shuttle is a train that runs with just 3 coaches and covers a distance of 13.68 kilometers in 35 minutes, at a sluggish pace of 30 Kilometers per hour. Sounds interesting? What is more interesting is the history behind this.

Konch and Ait are two tiny towns in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and comes under the Jalaun district. The crumbling 15 km road ride from Konch to Ait is a daunting one for bones, young and old. Tempos charge Rs 20 for each passenger and arrive at the destination in one hour.

The train made its first run around 1901-1903, even before the Railway Board was constituted in 1905. Introduced by Britishers, the shuttle was meant to ferry goods and passengers as Konch was a big market for cotton, forest produce, and ghee. The cotton was sent to Manchester for weaving.

When the government decided to discontinue its services in 1997, thousands squatted on the railway line in protest. The railways tried to reason with them and a Rail Bus was sent to Konch to replace the shuttle. But the shuttle remained the locals’ first and only choice.

Three months later, the train was back on track. Since the shuttle was running a loss, with the fare only Rs 2 per head, local traders bought 200 tickets daily to help boost the revenue.

Post-Covid Pandemic, the train has now been restarted as ‘Unreserved Special’ and the ticket is now costing Rs.30/- which was Rs.10/- before.

Nearly 400-500 passengers travel on the train every day. There is no halt on the way but a passenger can flag it down with a wave, or request the guard to let him alight when his village nears. Students and traders from adjoining villages take it to travel to Konch, which is the tehsil headquarters and also has several educational institutions. It is not surprising to find a marriage party traveling by it. Or a railway employee on a joyride.

It continues to run on a loss though….

Here are some glimpses of it.

What are some of the most interesting facts about Indian railways?

 

What are some of the most interesting facts about Indian railways?

Have a look at the above picture.

A blue board on the electric pole is showing 113/5.

Means it is 113 kms from certain point(probably counted from a main junction)

And the 5 denotes pole number in 113-114 km block. This is the fifth pole.

So how it can be used?

You can find out the speed of the train when you are in train using this numbering.

We are always eager to know the train speed when the train is in its full speed.

So open stopwatch in your phone. So when train crosses the pole 113/1 start the stopwatch. Stop it when it crosses 114/1.

So note down the seconds. Divide this from 3600(total seconds in an hour).

If your watch shows 36 seconds;

3600/36= 100 kms.

So your train is moving at 100 KMPH.

Next technique:

Look at the picture again.

The signal pole has with four splits.

One to the right and 3 to the left.

If only yellow is shown without any display in the split signals, then the train not taking any turn( means no track change).

If the right split signal with yellow is displayed then train is turning to the right.

In the above case train is turning to the left.

If left most split signal is displayed then the train is diverting to the third track from the main line.

How can this be used?

This can be used to guess the platform. In small stations train stops only for a minute. Its difficult to get down with your luggage. This helps you move your luggage quickly. To use this you need to have prior idea of the station. Google maps aerial view can also help you to count the tracks and see the expected platform.

EDIT: Many commented that they did not understand the second trick. Let me explain that with picture. This trick will not be helpful in very big stations like Secunderabad, Nizamudin etc. But most of the stations have less platforms and easy to guess. Thank you for the upvotes.

EDIT 2:

The maximum speed of the train is determined by the speed limit marked on each compartment. The above image shows that this bogie can go up to maximum speed of 110 KMPH.

So the maximum speed of the train will be the least of all the bogies. For Garibrath it is 130 and Rajdhani bogie it is 160.

Look at the image, a chain circled in green colour.

This chain is used to unlock the pressure which occurs when some one pull the chain to stop the train. The loco pilot or the guard has to walk up to the coach to unlock and allow train to move.

Edit 3:

I listed some techniques to get a confirmed rail ticket.

Kommina Sivanand's answer to Indian Railways: What are some good deals or tricks when you book train reservation tickets?

What are some amazing facts about the Indian Railways?

 

• When did the first train run in India? The customary answer to this question is 3:35pm on April 16th, 1853, when a train with 14 railway carriages and 400 guests left Bombay's Bori Bunder for Thane, But, In 1835, a short experimental line was laid near Chintadripet. This appears to have been a practice run of sorts for the Red Hill Railroad line. Construction on this line began in 1836. This line was intended for the carriage of granite stone. It was opened in 1837.

• Indian railways is fourth largest railways in world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre (41,861 mi) as of March 2017 and 121,407 kilometres (75,439 mi) of total track which approx 4 times of the equatorial circumference of Earth .
• Due to COVID-19 Indian railways for the first time in 167 years in suspended its all passenger trains operation. Now the railway network has decided to convert as many as 20,000 old train carriages into isolation wards for patients as the virus spreads. The railway already operates 125 hospitals across the country.

• Kolkata metro is the only metro in the country to be controlled by Indian Railways, all the other rapid transit metro system in country are operated by separate local authorities.

• ICF Chennai a manufacturer of rail coaches owned and operated by indian railways set a new record producing 2,503 coaches in the fiscal year 2017–2018. It became the world's largest railway coach manufacturer, rolling out 3,262 coaches in the fiscal year 2018–2019,

• You will be surprised to know that ice was used to keep the AC trains cool. The first Indian air-conditioned train was Frontier Mail which was introduced in 1934. Earlier, the AC coaches of the train were kept cool by using ice blocks. These were replenished at several halts along the line. A battery operated blower constantly blew air into these receptacles, and the cold air entered the insulated cars through vents.

• Indian Railways consumes about 13.8 billion units of electricity annually, close to two per cent of the country’s total power production. The Railways’ locomotives also consume 2.6 billion litres of diesel annually. (figures are old)
• Kalka Mail is currently the oldest running train in the history of Indian Railways. It recently completed its 153 years of journey this year and continues to move forward. The train began its operation in 1866 as the “East Indian Railway Mail” with 01 Up and 02 Down number plates.

• Indian Railways is the biggest landowner in the country. The railway ministry reportedly has more land under it than Goa or Delhi. The Indian Railways owns approximately 4.77 lakh hectare of land as of March 3, 2018, the ministry of railways has revealed in reply to an RTI query filed by this correspondent.
• The Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Quazigund-Baramulla Railway line is the biggest project in the construction of a mountain railway since independence. From Jammu to Baramulla, length of the new rail line is 345 km. It passes through the young Himalayas, tectonic thrusts and faults.
  Udhampur-Katra section is 25 km long and involves about 11 km of tunneling, 9 important/ major bridges, 29 minor bridges and 10 ROB/RUBs in addition to about 38.86 lac cum of earthwork. . A mega bridge over river Chenab (1.315 km long) has been planned near Salal village for this project This bridge will have a steel main arch to cross the Chenab gorge and a viaduct with steel girders on concrete piers. The rail height from the river bed will be 359 mts. which will make it the tallest railway bridge in the world. The main arch will have a span of 465 mts. across river Chenab which gives another distinction to this bridge being the longest single span railway arch bridge in the world.

• Pamban bridge, connecting Rameswaram island to the mainland is an engineering marvel that evokes awe! WIth 143 piers, spanning 2 km between the mainland and the island, it is the second longest sea bridge in India after the 2.3-km Bandra-Worli sea link on Mumbai's western coast. The construction of the rail bridge commenced only by 1911 and it was commissioned on February 24, 1914. But ,In 1964, the bridge survived a major cyclone that flattened Dhanushkodi, a thriving port town. E Sreedharan, the man behind the construction of the Delhi Metro, played a major role in bolstering the bridge within 46 days.

• Konkan Railway runs along the Indian west coast parallel to Arabian Sea and Western Ghats.You can count more than 2000 bridges and 90 + tunnels on this route of 700km.

• Last and the most good thing according to me.Indian Railways has recorded zero passenger deaths in rail accidents in year 2019(first time in history of 166 yrs), making it the national transporter's safest year in history, according to official data.

What are some amazing facts about the Indian Railways?

 Indian Railways, the world’s fourth largest in terms of network, is a lifeline for the 13 million people who use it every day.

Mammoth service

It runs 11,000 trains every day on tracks that spread over 60,000 km in length.

Big boss

It employs close to 1.54 million people, making it the seventh-largest employer in the world, according to Forbes.

Long haul, short haul

A trip on the Vivek Express is like an odyssey. India’s longest-route train runs between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, a distance of 4,286 km with 56 stops and a running time of 82.30 hours. A train between Nagpur and Ajni runs for just 3 km.

Non-stop, full stop

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 most number of stops--115.

Hare & tortoise

The Gatiman Express has become the fastest train in India with top speed of 160km/h, running between New Delhi and Agra. The Nilgiri Express with an average speed of 10 kmph is India’s slowest train.

Least punctual train

The Guwahati-Trivandrum Express is usually delayed by 10-12 hours per trip on its scheduled journey time of 65 hours and 5 minutes.

Spell that

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta on the Arakkonam-Renigunta section near Chennai, is the station with the longest name. Ib, near Jharsuguda in Odisha have the shortest names.

One station, two states

The Navapur railway station straddles 2 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.

Disaster

On June 6, 1981, a passenger train plunged into the Bagmati River in Bihar, killing around 800 people. The accident is among the deadliest-ever rail accidents in India.

Image courtesy- google

What are some amazing facts about the Indian Railways?

 If I'll tell you that Railway books a seat every year for a person who has left this world several years ago, you will definitely think that I am kidding, but wait..... This is fact.

New Jalpaiguri(Popularly known as NJP which is its station code) of Northeast frontier Railway every year witness a booking in the name of a person who sacrificed his life in supreme service to the nation.

Yes...... You guessed it correct (if you have ever been to Sikkim or particularly Nathu la ) I am talking about Baba Harbhajan Singh, Every year on 11 September, a jeep departs with his personal belongings to the nearest railway station, New Jalpaiguri, from where it is then sent by train to the village of Kuka, in the Kapurthala district of the Indian state of Punjab. While empty berths on any train of the Indian Railways are invariably allocated to any waitlisted passenger or on a first-come-first-served basis by the coach attendants, a special reservation for the Baba is made. Every year a seat is left empty for the journey to his hometown and soldiers chaperone the Baba to his home.

Isn't it surprising?

Hold on some more surprising things are there: -

At the age of 22 when youths are busy about their romantic life and family, He was defending Indian boundaries at inhospitable high altitude terrain of Eastern Himalaya, and gave supreme sacrifice to the nation.

He is revered as the "Hero of Nathula" by soldiers of the Indian army, who built a shrine in his honour. He was accorded the status of saint by believers who refer to him as the "Baba" (saintly father).

Some Indian soldiers believe that in the event of a war between India and China, Baba would warn the Indian soldiers of an impending attack at least three days in advance.

Interestingly Chineese troops also believes about the spirit of "BABA" and During flag meetings between the two nations at Nathu La, the Chinese set a chair aside to honor him.

He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra medal for his bravery and martyrdom on 26 January 1969. (The Maha Vir Chakra is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of blazing gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air)

What are some amazing facts about the Indian Railways?

 The Indian Railways is one of the largest railway networks in the world, and it's full of amazing facts that kids will love! Let's take a ride through some exciting railway facts:

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1. 🇮🇳 The Largest Rail Network in Asia

• Indian Railways is the 4th largest railway network in the world, with over 68,000 km of tracks connecting cities, towns, and villages.

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2. 🚄 The Longest Train Route

• The longest train route in India is the Vivek Express, which runs from Dibrugarh (Assam) to Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu).
• It covers 4,233 km in about 80 hours — that's over 3 days of travel!

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3. 🐢 The Slowest Train

• The Mettupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger is the slowest train in India, moving at just 10 km/h as it climbs the scenic Nilgiri Hills.

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4. 🚀 The Fastest Train

• The Vande Bharat Express (also known as Train 18) is India's fastest train, reaching speeds of up to 180 km/h.

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5. 🏔️ Highest Railway Station

• The Ghum Railway Station in West Bengal is the highest station in India, sitting at an altitude of 2,258 meters (7,407 feet) above sea level.

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6. 🌍 UNESCO Heritage Trains

• The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Kalka-Shimla Railway, and Nilgiri Mountain Railway are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their historical importance.

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7. 🚂 The Longest Train Name

• The train with the longest name is the Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta Railway Station in Andhra Pradesh — quite a mouthful!

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8. 🌉 The Longest Railway Bridge

• The Bogibeel Bridge in Assam is the longest rail-road bridge in India, stretching 4.94 km across the Brahmaputra River.

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9. 🧳 Millions of Passengers Daily

• Indian Railways carries over 23 million passengers every day — that’s like moving the entire population of Australia in one go!

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10. 🚋 The Busiest Railway Station

• Howrah Junction in West Bengal is the busiest station in India, with hundreds of trains passing through every day.

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11. 🏆 World’s Longest Railway Platform

• The Gorakhpur Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh holds the record for the world's longest platform, measuring 1.36 km.

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12. 🚨 A Train Without a Station

• The Trivandrum-Nizamuddin Express makes a unique stop at a signal post called Bharatpur (Rajasthan), where no official station exists!

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13. 🥣 Train with a Kitchen on Board

• The Palace on Wheels is a luxury tourist train with a full kitchen serving delicious Indian and international dishes.

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14. 🔋 Electric Trains for a Greener Future

• Indian Railways is rapidly adopting electric trains to reduce pollution and promote eco-friendly travel.

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15. 👷 Largest Employer in India

• With over 1.2 million employees, Indian Railways is one of the largest employers in the world.

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16. 🎨 Color-Coded Trains

• Indian trains use different colors to indicate their purpose: Blue – Express trains Green – Garib Rath (low-cost AC trains) Red – Premium trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi

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17. 🚦 First Indian Train

• The first train in India ran on April 16, 1853, between Mumbai and Thane — a journey of 34 km with 14 carriages and 400 passengers.

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18. 🛤️ The Curviest Track

• The Metupalayam-Ooty track is famous for its sharp curves and thrilling bends through hilly terrain.

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19. 🦚 India's Royal Train

• The Palace on Wheels is a luxurious train offering a royal travel experience — it's like a moving five-star hotel!

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20. 🌎 Railways Are Getting Smarter

• Indian Railways now offers Wi-Fi services at major stations, online booking apps, and improved digital services for a better passenger experience.

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🚂 Indian Railways is more than just trains — it’s a journey through history, culture, and innovation. So, next time you board a train, remember — every station has a story to tell!