Don’t Miss your Train!
India beckons you to a new adventure, an adventure through varied
landscapes, cultures and histories. Be a part of the scintillating diversity
that is India and feel the joy of unravelling mysteries and discovering the
simple pleasures of life. The most pleasant mode of travelling through India
is by train.
The Indian Railways- the second largest railway system in the world, has
over 62,300 km of track laid between 7,000 stations and over 11,000
locomotives. Today, it offers diverse tourist routes, magnificent hotels on
wheels with five-star services and Indrail passes, ideal for extensive
trouble free tours across the country.
Can you hear the whistle? Can you hear the chug chug on the railway tracks?
Can you feel the rhythm of the moving train? Then hurry, don’t miss
your train!
History Of Indian Railways
There is no better way to witness India, than to view the changing scenes
from a carriage window of a train. Though British laid most of the 38,525
miles (62,000-kms) of track, it was assumed the end of colonial rule in
India, marks the beginning of travel as you please.
The first train run in India took place on April 16th, 1853, when a train
with 14 railway carriages and 400 guests left Bombay's Bori Bunder for
Thane, with a 21-gun salute. It was hauled by three locomotives: Sindh,
Sultan, and Sahib. The journey took an hour and fifteen minutes to complete.
This, however, was just the first commercial passenger service in India. In
fact, a steam loco, Thomason, was already in use for hauling construction
material in Roorkee for the Solani via duct in 1851.
The second locomotive to arrive in India was Falkland (named for a governor
of Bombay), used by the contractors of the GIPR for shunting operations on
the first line out of Bombay that was being built. It later became GIPR loco
#9. A third locomotive, Vulcan, is said to have been used by the GIPR for
material hauling and shunting duties in 1852 as well.
The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station for Hooghly, a
distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. This was the first section of
the East Indian Railway that was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the
beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent.
In south the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway
Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of
63 miles. In the North a length of 119 miles of line was laid from Allahabad
to Kanpur on 3rd March 1959. The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura
Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19th October, 1875. These were the small
beginnings which in due course developed into a network of railway lines all
over the India. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had a route mileage of
about 9,000 miles.
INDIAN
RAILWAYS
