Indian Railways is the largest public sector organization and the largest national institution of India. With respect to size of operation, Indian Railways got first rank in Asia and second in the whole world.
Advantages of Railways:
India’s first railway line started in 1853 between Mumbai and Thane.
There are three types of railway in India:
(A) Broad Gauge,
(B) Meter Gauge and
(C) Narrow Gauge.
Out of the three, the Broad gauge has the highest capacity to bear load and allow running high power rail locomotives. So, although the meter gauge and narrow gauge railway tracks still exist, the government has converted most them into broad guage. This is a big achievement for Indian Railways. Having one single gauge helps to save a lot of time for transporting goods and passengers. This also saves quite a lot of money.
Railway network is widespread and strong in the states that have flat-plain regions, dense population, industrial development intensive agriculture and rich mineral fields. India has also started Metro Rails in large cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur for travelling within the city. Metro Rail project work has also started between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
Mumbai also has two other forms of rail network namely the Local trains and the Monorail. Konkan Railways has laid down railway tracks through tunnels in the mountainous regions which were highly inaccessible. Indian Railways is considered to be one of the best railways in terms of time, safety and facilities it provides. Indian Railways has modernized very fast and process of modernization continues. The route between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari is the longest railway route in India.
