railways

• Indian railway system is the main artery of the country’s inland transport.
• Railways are considered as the backbone of the surface transport system of India.
• It promotes national integration by bringing people together.
• It also promotes trade, tourism, education etc.
• Railways help in the commercialization of the agriculture sector by facilitating the bulky movement of perishable goods.
• Its role in transporting raw materials to industries and finished goods to markets is invaluable.
• Indian railways network is the largest in Asia and second largest in the world.
• For operations and management, the Indian Railways is organized into 17 zones.

Zone	Headquarters
Northern Railway	New Delhi
North-Western Railway	Jaipur
North-Central Railway	Allahabad
North-Eastern Railway	Gorakhpur
North-East Frontier Railway	Guwahati
Eastern Railway	Kolkata
East coast Railway	Bhubaneswar
East-Central Railway	Hazipur
West-Central Railway	Jabalpur
Central Railway	Mumbai (VT)
Western Railway	Mumbai (Churchgate)
Southern Railway	Chennai
South-Central Railway	Secunderabad
South Eastern Railway	Kolkata
South-Western Railway	Hubball
South East Central Railway	Bilaspur
Konkan Railway	Navi Mumbai

• Broad gauge (1.676 meter width)

• Meter gauge (1 meter width)

• Narrow gauge (0.762 meter width)

• Light gauge (0.610 meter width)

• The first sub-urban railway was started in 1925 in Mumbai.

• Gatiman Express is the fastest operational train in India.

• This train connects New Delhi and Agra and touches 160 km/h.

Metro Railways in India

• There are 8 cities with metro rail connectivity in India.
• They are Kolkata (West Bengal), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Delhi, Bengaluru (Karnataka), Gurgaon (Haryana), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Kochi (Kerala).
• The metro in Kolkata is the first one in India.
• It is also called as Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS).
• As of November 2022, India has 810 km of operational metro lines and 381 stations.