Important Question Answers and Notes on Indian Railways

  • Indian Railways is Asia's largest and the World's second largest railway system under single management.
  • The biggest public sector undertaking and the largest single employed in India : Indian Railways
  • Indian Railways is the second biggest electrified railway system in the World after Russia.
  • Indian Railways operate in three different gauges
    • Broad Guage (1676 metre width)
    • Metre Guage (1 metre width)
    • Narrow Guage (0.762 metre and 0.610 metre)
  • The first train service in India : Bombay to Thane
  • The first railway service was introduced in : 1853 April 16
  • The railway was introduced in India by : Lord Dalhousie
  • The first electric train in India : Deccan Queen (was introduced in 1925 between Kalyan and Pune).
  • Indian Railways was nationalised in : 1951
  • Total Number of Railway zone is ; 17
  • Total Number of Railway divisions is : 67
  • In 1991, Indian Railways introduced the world's first hospital on wheels to provide medical aid in rural areas called : Life Line Express (Jeevan Rekha)
  • The first private train in India : Palace on Wheels
  • The luxurious train that services through the tourist centres of Rajasthan  Palance on Wheels
  • Mass Rapid Transit System was introduced in 1995 in : Chennai
  • Railway Staff College is at : Baroda
  • The online reservation system launched by the State Bank of India (SBI) : e-Rail
  • Indian Railways has converted the number of trains into 5 digit from : December 20, 2010
  • First railway station in India : Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Mumbai)
  • The railway station which got place in world Heritage site by UNESCO is : Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus 
  • Former name of Shivaji Terminus : Victoria Terminus Station
  • The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
    • It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1999.
  • The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge railway in Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
    • UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as a World heritage site : July 2005
  • The Kalka-Shimla Railway is a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh
  • Indian Railway museum : Chanakyapuri (Delhi)
  • Highest railway station in India : Ghum Railway Station (Darjeeling)
  • World's longest railway platform : Gorakhpur Station (Uttar Pradesh 1350 meters)
  • The longest distance travelling train in India : Dibragarh Kanyakumari Vivek Express
    • It joins Dibrugarh Town in Assam, North-East India to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu which is Southernmost tip of mainland India. It travels distance of 4286 kms in 82:30 hrs (almost 4 days)
  • The train passes through most number of states : Mangalapuram - Jammu Tawi Navayug Express
  • The state in India which have no railway : Meghalaya
  • Computer Railway Reservation System was introduced by the Indian Railways in 1988,
  • The World's working steam locomotive engine : Fairy Queen (Fairy Queen runs in India for tourism promotion).
  • Indian Railways celebrated its 150th anniversary on : April 16 2002
  • The Mascot of Indian Railways : The elephant called Bholu which represents the work of a guard
  • The largest Railway zone : Northern Railway
  • The headquarters of Indian Railways : Baroda House (New Delhi)
  • The Luxurious train that services through the tourist centres of Maharashtra : Deccan Odyssey
  • The train that services through the tourist centres of Gujarat and Rajasthan : Royal Orient train
  • Train connecting popular tourist destinations in Karnataka and Goa : Golden Chariot
  • The latest most luxurious train in India : Maharajas (Mumbai - Delhi)
  • The luxury tourist train launched in January 2009 following the success of the Palace on wheels : Royal Rajasthan on wheels
  • Passenger train service connecting New Delhi with other state capitals introduced in 1969 : Rajdhani Express.
  • The train service started to commemorate the centenary of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru's birthday in 1988 : Shatabdi Train
  • Shatabdi Train was first operated from New Delhi to Gwalior, later extended to Jhansi and then finally to Bhopal.
  • The tourist train connecting historical Buddhist pilgrim sites : Buddha Parikrama Express.
  • Budha Parikrama Express was introduced in : 1999
  • The train service connecting historical Sikh Pilgrim sites : Guru Parikarma Express
  • India's fastest train : Gatimaan Express between New Delhi and Agra (It travels at a maximum speed of 160 per hour) introduced in June 2014.
  • Long distance non stop trains run by the Indian railways : Duronto Express
  • India's slowest train : Nilgiri Express (speed 10km/hr)
  • The AIDS/HIV awareness campaign train by the Indian Railway : Red Ribbon Express
  • The train service that connects important historical and educational places in various parts of the country : Janam Bhoomi Gaurav
  • The train service started to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda : Vivek Express
    • Vivek Express runs between : D.Brugarh in Assam and Kanyakumari
  • The train service started to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Mother Theresa : Mother Express
  • The exhibition train service started to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindra Nath Tagore : Sanskrit Express
  • First superfast train in India : Delhi-Howrah Rajadhani Express
  • First Double Decker express train in India : Howrah - Dhanbad
  • First Ac Double Decker express in South India : Chennai - Bangalore
  • An education tourist train connecting important places related to freedom movement : Azadi Express (introduced in 2014)
  • The train service introduced in railway budget 2014 to set up cabins equipped with computers, printers, internet and refreshment in a few coaches of selected trains : Office on Wheels
  • The service provided to train passengers to file FIR from any places during or after travel  Zero FIR.
  • The monthly magazine of Indian Railways : Indian Rail
  • Longest Rail Bridge in India : Vembanad Rail Bridge
    • It connects Edappally and Vallapadam in Kochi
  • The name given to Railways drinking water Project : Railneer
  • India;s longest railway tunnel : Pirpanjal tunnel in J&K (11 Kms)
  • The train that runs between Delhi (India) and Lahore (Pakistan) : Samjhauta Express
  • The train connecting karachi (Pakistan) and Jodhpur (India) : Thar Express
  • The train that connect India's Kolkata and Bangladesh Dhaka : Maitree Express
    • It has been revived on April 14, 2008 after being closed for 43 years.
  • Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Headquarters : New Delhi
  • IRTC was incorporated on September 27, 1999
  • It handles catering, tourism and online ticketing operation of the railway.
  • The most expensive luxury train in the world : Maharaja Express
    • It is operated by IRCTC
    • It covers more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India.
  • Fourth Rail manufacturing factory will be set up in Palakkad, Kerala on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
    • It would use Japanese Technology for the first time in India to roll out lighter coaches consuming less fuel.
  • First Railway Minister : John Mathai
  • First Women Railway Minister : Mamta Banerjee
  • First Woman Station Master in India : Rinku Sinha Roy
  • India's First woman passenger train driver : Surekha Yadav on Mumbai Central Railway
  • The Konkan Railway, the 760 km rail system. It links Mangalore with Roha in Maharashtra.
  • Konkan railway started functioning in : 1998 January 26
  • Konkan railway was built under the leadership of : E Sreedharan
  • E Sreedharan is popularly known as : Metro Man
  • First chairman and MD of Konkan railway : E Sreedharan
  • States through which Konkan railway pass : Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka
  • The service of Konkan railway where loaded trucks are directly carried by railway wagons to their destination : RoRo (Roll on Roll off)
  • Headquarters of Konkan Railway : Belapur (Navi Mumbai)
  • First Metro Rail in India : Calcutta (opened 1984-85)
  • The Second Metro Rail system was built in : New Delhi (2002)
  • The Metro Known as Namma Metro : Bangalore Metro
  • Namma Metro was inaugurated on : October 20, 2011
  • Mumbai Metro Rail Project was stated in : June 8th 2014
  • India's first Public Private Partnership (PPP) Metro Project (in which the three phases. The Construction, Operation and Maintenance were given to private players) : Mumbai Metro
  • The first Metro train to be built in Inida : Movia
  • Metro railway in Kerala under construction : Kochi Metro (Aluva-Pettah, Ernakulam)
  • The name of Kochi metro project : Komet
  • India's first fully privately funded metro project : Gurgaon's Rapid metro
    • It started functioning from : November 2013
  • The cities in Kerala proposed for the light metro project : Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode
  • First monorial in India : Mumbai
  • Mumbai monorail was started in : 2014 February 1