Indian Railways is the largest railway system in the world under a single management

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  The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains on the Indian Railways everyday, equals three & half times the distance to moon
  
  
  
  
  
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  The first train on Indian soil ran between Bombay and Thane on the 16th of April 1853
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR has about 63,028 route kms. of track
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR employs about 1.55 million people
  
  
  
  
  
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  It carries over 13 million passengers & 1.3 million tones of freight everyday.
  
  
  
  
  
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  It runs about 14,300 trains daily
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR has about 7,000 railway stations
  
  
  
  
  
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  The longest journey on the IR is from Jammu Tawi (North) to Kanya Kumari (South), a distance of about 4,751 kms. covered by Himsagar Express in about 66 hours
  
  
  
  
  
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  The longest platform in the world is at Khragpur and is 2,733 ft. in length.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Nehru Setu on river SONE is the longest Railway bridge
  
  
  
  
  
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  The longest tunnel is KARBUDE on Konkan Railways, which is 6.5 kms in length.
  
  
  
  
  
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  India’s first railway bridge is the Dapoorie Viaduct” on the
  Mumbai-Thane route.
  
  
  
  
  
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  India’s first Rail Tunnel is Parsik Tunnel.
  
  
  
  
  
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  India’s first ghats covered by the Rail lines are Thal & Bhore ghats
  
  
  
  
  
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  Calcutta Metro is the 1st and only underground railway system in India
  
  
  
  
  
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  Computerized Railway Reservation system started at Delhi in 1986
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR's first electric train ran on 3rd Feb 1925 between Bombay VT and Kurla.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Toilets on trains were introduced in 1891 in 1st class and in 1907 in lower classes
  
  
  
  
  
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  42 Railway companies operated in the country before independence
  
  
  
  
  
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  FAIRY QUEEN (1855) is the oldest locomotive in working order
  
  
  
  
  
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  The manufacture of steam locomotives in the country stopped in 1972
  
  
  
  
  
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  Diesel Locomotives are manufactured at Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi
  
  
  
  
  
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  Electric Locomotives are manufactured at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan
  
  
  
  
  
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  Coaches are manufactured at ICF/Chennai, RCF/Kapurthala and BEML/Bangalore
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR's fastest train is the Bhopal Shatabdi Exp., which runs at speed upto 140 Kmph
  
  
  
  
  
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  1sr AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, AC Exec., Chair Car, First Class, Sleeper & IInd Ordinary are the various classes of travel on the IR.
  
  
  
  
  
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  IR's only Rack & Pinion system type of line is from Mettupalayam to Conoor.
  
  
  
  
  
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  At present Indian Railways are having 16001 route Kms. of track under over head electric traction.
  
  
  
  
  
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  The national Rail Museum at New Delhi was set-up in 1977