India’s first train ran 34 km in 1853. Today, the same network moves over 20 million people every single day.
Indian Railways: History, Structure, and Scale Need to Know
- India’s first passenger train ran on 16 April 1853, between Bombay (Bori Bunder) and Thane, a distance of 34 km.
- India’s railway systems were nationalised in 1951, unifying separate companies into a single organisation. This is when the network was first divided into zones for management.
- Indian Railways is run by the Ministry of Railways, through the Railway Board at the apex. Below that sit 18 zones (17 operational), each led by a General Manager, and 68 divisions, each led by a Divisional Railway Manager.
- Indian Railways operates the fourth-largest rail network in the world by route length, at roughly 68,600 km, serving more than 8,000 stations.
- It carries over 23 million passengers and about 3 million tonnes of freight, every single day.
Gauge Unification, Vande Bharat, and Station Modernisation Good to Know
- India once ran three different track gauges: broad, metre, and narrow. Project Unigauge, launched in the 1990s, has converted almost all of this to a single broad gauge (1,676 mm) standard.
- By March 2025, broad gauge covered about 69,500 km, nearly the entire network. Only a few heritage narrow-gauge lines remain.
- The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), founded on 27 September 1999, handles online ticketing, catering, and tourism services for Indian Railways.
- The Vande Bharat Express, India’s indigenously built semi-high-speed train, first ran on 15 February 2019, between New Delhi and Varanasi.
- A Vande Bharat Sleeper version began service in January 2026, starting on the Howrah-Guwahati route, extending the platform to overnight travel.
- Station buildings themselves are being modernised too, under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, redeveloping over 1,300 stations nationwide.
Test Yourself
Technology, Fleet Expansion, and Legal Status Great to Know
- Behind the scenes, Indian Railways’ technology runs through the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), which builds and maintains most of its digital platforms.
- CRIS is adopting a wide range of new technology: AI, machine learning, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, IoT, and AR/VR. These feed uses like delay prediction, waitlist forecasting, route optimisation, and predictive maintenance.
- Indian Railways’ fleet expansion plans include 88 more seating Vande Bharat trains between 2026 and 2030, alongside the new sleeper variant.
- One Station One Product (OSOP) kiosks at railway stations give local artisans and weavers a direct sales point, often for GI-tagged regional products.
- Indian Railways has moved beyond diesel and electric traction too. See IndGeo0097 — India’s First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Train, running on the Jind-Sonipat section.
- Railway land and buildings are Union property, so they are constitutionally exempt from State taxation under Article 285. Courts have upheld this exemption even when Railway land is leased out for commercial use, as in a 2025 Madras High Court case involving a Madurai complex built on Railway land.
Current Affairs
- On 14 August 2026, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed Yatri Suvidha Kendras (Passenger Holding Areas), under construction at Anand Vihar Terminal and Udhna Railway Station. These give unticketed and waiting passengers dedicated space, decongesting platforms ahead of the festival rush. (Source: PIB)
- At Anand Vihar, the Kendra is being built in two phases. Phase-I holds about 4,000 passengers; Phase-II will expand capacity to around 7,000. (Source: PIB)
- At Udhna Railway Station, the Kendra is designed to hold about 15,000 passengers at a time. Both sites will include covered seating, ticketing counters, CCTV, and passenger information systems. (Source: PIB)
- On 7 August 2026, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha that Railways repaid ₹1.93 lakh crore in debt, over the last five years. This covered both principal and interest, owed to its borrowing arm and the Finance Ministry. (Source: Business Standard)
- Of this, about ₹93,000 crore was interest paid since 2021-22, and roughly ₹1 lakh crore was principal repayment. (Source: Business Standard)
- Vaishnaw also said the USBRL all-weather rail link is opening national markets, for Kashmir’s apples, handicrafts, and MSMEs. More rail projects are planned for the region. (Source: The Kashmir Horizon)
- Separately, Railways reported strict food-safety enforcement. Over the last three years, it fined caterers ₹5.13 crore, and issued 54 show-cause notices. (Source: Kashmir Despatch)
- It also terminated 6 catering contracts, and debarred licensees, for repeated food-quality and hygiene violations. (Source: Kashmir Despatch)
- On freight, full Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) operations and a General Container Traffic push are lifting volumes. Freight loading rose from 1,098 million tonnes in 2014-15, to 1,670 million tonnes in 2025-26. (Source: Kashmir Despatch)
- On 3 August 2026, Railways reported 141.3 million tonnes of freight loaded in July 2026. That is up 9% from 129.7 million tonnes, in July 2025. (Source: PIB)
- Iron ore loading led the growth, up 22.2%. Fertilizers rose 12%, and both coal and food grains rose 11.5% each. Coal supply to power plants specifically rose 20%. (Source: PIB)
- This lifted freight revenue by ₹1,137 crore over July 2025, an 8% rise. East Central and Eastern Railway zones each grew freight revenue by 33%. (Source: PIB)
- Passenger traffic also grew, to 63.35 crore in July 2026, from 62.19 crore a year earlier. (Source: PIB)
- On 1 August 2026, Railways approved a new daily Express service, between Mumbai’s CSMT and Sawantwadi Road. The 510-km route serves the Konkan coast, including Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. (Source: PIB)
- Separately, Railways approved a ₹976 crore multitracking project. It covers 29 km, between Danapur and Fatuha in Bihar, adding third and fourth lines. (Source: PIB)
- This will add 22 more passenger trains and 18 more freight trains daily, plus 5.2 million tonnes of extra annual freight capacity. It also supports a planned 2,120 MW thermal plant, at Chausa in Buxar district. (Source: PIB)
- Railways also extended the daily Ludhiana-Jakhal passenger train, up to Jind. Its journey distance grows from 128 km, to 200 km, with new stops across Punjab and Haryana. (Source: PIB)
- On 26 July 2026, GSV and the Capacity Building Commission wrapped up the 3rd Bharat CPSEs’ Consultative Conclave. (Source: PIB)
- The three-day event, held at GSV Vadodara, focused on project and asset management for Energy and Mining CPSEs. (Source: PIB)
- 39 delegates attended, from firms like NTPC, Coal India, ONGC, and SAIL. (Source: PIB)
- Dr. Mangu Singh, DMRC’s former MD, was Chief Guest at the inaugural session. (Source: PIB)
- On 24 July 2026, the Cabinet approved a ₹1,264 crore rail multitracking project, in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. (Source: PIB)
- The 46-km Ballari-Guntakal 3rd/4th line will connect 99 villages, and add 16.22 MTPA of freight capacity. (Source: PIB)
- Separately, Railways detailed its waste-management push: 13 biogas plants, 171 composting plants, and 8 material-recovery facilities. (Source: PIB)
- Its Clean Train Station Scheme now covers 63 stations, and 2,800 trains. (Source: PIB)
- Railways also expanded CCTV coverage, to 3,215 stations and 13,409 coaches. (Source: PIB)
- All running Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat rakes now carry CCTV cameras. (Source: PIB)
- Separately, Railways piloted AI-based stain detection, in laundries at Pune, Jaipur, and Jodhpur. (Source: PIB)
- On 23 July 2026, Railways approved a ₹440 crore third line, between Nimpura and Midnapur in West Bengal. (Source: PIB)
- The 14.52-km line eases a route running at over 115% capacity, adding 3.52 MTPA of freight room. (Source: PIB)
- On freight terminals, 142 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals are now commissioned, with 310 more approved. (Source: PIB)
- These terminals have mobilised about ₹10,000 crore in private investment so far. (Source: PIB)
- On passenger trains, 162 Vande Bharat (Chair Car) and 2 Sleeper services are now running. (Source: PIB)
- Amrit Bharat trains have also grown, to 72 services nationwide. (Source: PIB)
- 30 June 2026: Indian Railways approved 3 infrastructure projects in a single day, spanning capacity, safety, and communications.
- A ₹499 crore doubling of the 44.40 km Mansi-Saharsa section (East Central Railway, Bihar) — already at 108% line-capacity utilisation, projected to hit 119% by 2028-29. It will add 1.764 MTPA of freight capacity. (Source: PIB).
- A ₹432 crore Electronic Interlocking upgrade at 27 stations/cabins in Eastern Railway’s Asansol Division, replacing relay-based systems on High Density and Highly Utilised Network routes. (Source: PIB).
- A ₹200 crore, 48-fibre Optical Fibre Cable project covering 1,696.2 route km across South Eastern Railway’s Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, and Ranchi divisions. (Source: PIB).
- On 22 June 2026, Indian Railways approved Kavach deployment on 631 route kilometres of East Coast Railway, at a cost of ₹270 crore. (Source: PIB)
- The project covers six East Coast Railway sections, including Haridaspur-Paradeep and Khurda Road-Balangir. Kavach is India’s own Automatic Train Protection system, designed to prevent signal-passing-at-danger and collisions. (Source: PIB)
India’s Passenger Reservation System (PRS) is 40 years old in 2026, and it is being rebuilt for the first time in over a decade.
- 28 July 2026: India’s first direct commercial container freight train reached Nepal, running from Kolkata Port to Biratnagar Customs Yard.
- The 40-wagon train carried a canola consignment, under the revised India-Nepal Rail Transit Protocol. It used the Jogbani-Biratnagar broad-gauge link, inaugurated in June 2023.
- Direct rail movement, without transshipment at the border, is expected to cut transit time, logistics costs, and cargo handling for India-Nepal trade.
- On 22 July 2026, the government detailed Indian Railways’ anti-fraud measures. Since January 2024, over 6.68 crore user accounts have been deactivated for suspicious mobile numbers, email domains, or IP addresses. (Source: PIB)
- In 2025-26 and 2026-27 (till June 2026), Railways lodged 530 suspicious-booking complaints with the National Cyber Crime Portal. It also blocked 13,343 suspicious email domains. (Source: PIB)
- On rail safety, consequential train accidents fell sharply: from 135 in 2014-15, to 16 in 2025-26, to just 2 so far in 2026-27. The Consequential Accident Index dropped from 0.11 to 0.01 over the same period. (Source: PIB)
- Railways’ safety spending rose from ₹39,200 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1,20,389 crore in 2026-27. Electronic interlocking now covers 6,671 stations, and 10,395 level crossing gates are interlocked. (Source: PIB)
- Rolling-stock safety improved too. LHB coach production rose more than 21 times, to 49,366 coaches, between 2014 and 2026, while weld failures fell 93% over the same period. (Source: PIB)
- On recruitment, Indian Railways has hired 5.56 lakh people since 2014 (up to June 2026). This compares with 4.11 lakh in the preceding decade. Recruitment is now underway for 1.61 lakh more vacancies. (Source: PIB)
- On electrification, India has electrified 99.6% of its Broad Gauge network, ranking 2nd globally after Switzerland. Between 2014 and 2026, Railways electrified 48,072 route km. That is more than double the 21,801 route km electrified in the 60 years before 2014. (Source: PIB)
- This cut diesel consumption for traction from 293 crore litres in 2015-16 to 108 crore litres in 2024-25. Rail transport also emits about 89% less CO2 than road transport, per tonne carried. (Source: PIB)
- 19 July 2026: Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) held its 4th Convocation on 17 July 2026, with 121 students graduating across B.Tech. and MBA programmes. Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu was Chief Guest. (Source: PIB)
- GSV awarded its first-ever MBA in Metro Rail Management at this convocation. It also conferred its first-ever Honorary PhD, on E. Sreedharan, the “Metro Man of India,” for his contributions to Indian transportation and infrastructure. (Source: PIB)
- On 14 July 2026, Railways unveiled 8 more reforms under ‘Reform Express,’ taking the total to 17 reforms in a 52-reforms-in-52-weeks push. (Source: PIB)
- A new containerised system for fly ash cuts dust pollution. Railways moved about 13 million tonnes of fly ash in FY 2025-26, out of India’s 340 million tonnes generated annually. (Source: PIB)
- Freight charges for fertilizer, foodgrains, flour, and pulses moved to a simpler per-tonne-per-km structure, replacing dozens of old slabs. All four commodities can now move in containers too. (Source: PIB)
- Wagon design opened up to private industry. Manufacturers can now propose new designs for RDSO to evaluate, instead of relying only on RDSO’s own designs. Oil companies can also now directly own or lease their own petroleum tank wagons. (Source: PIB)
- On 15 July 2026, the Cabinet approved two rail multitracking projects across Odisha and Jharkhand, adding about 145 km to the network. The ₹3,907 crore projects should finish by 2030-31. (Source: PIB, CCEA)
- The two projects, Paradeep-Haridaspur and Rajkharsawan-Dangoaposi, will connect about 1,526 villages and add 44 MTPA of freight capacity for coal, iron ore, and other minerals. (Source: PIB)
- Emergency response network: Indian Railways maintains 177 Accident Relief Trains and 100 high-capacity (140-tonne) breakdown diesel-hydraulic cranes nationwide. It also runs 170 Accident Relief Medical Equipment (ARME) Scale-I units, sometimes called “hospitals on wheels,” and conducted 71 full-scale mock emergency drills in 2025-26, including in the Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar divisions. Vande Bharat coaches each carry 4 Emergency Talk-Back Units and 4 Passenger Emergency Alarm push-buttons, and the integrated “Rail Madad” helpline (139) handles emergency passenger assistance. (Source: PIB)
- Kavach rollout: As of 31 July 2026, Kavach, India’s Automatic Train Protection system, is commissioned on 2,633 route-km. It covers the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. See SciTech0047 — Kavach: India’s Automatic Train Protection System for the full rollout story. (Source: PIB)
- Capacity enhancement: As of 1 April 2026, 514 infrastructure projects are sanctioned nationwide (169 New Lines, 29 Gauge Conversions, 316 Doublings). These cover 40,000 km, at a sanctioned cost of around ₹8.31 lakh crore. Of this, 12,583 km is commissioned, with ₹3,05,253 crore spent so far. (Source: PIB)
- Track-laying pace: New-track commissioning has roughly doubled, from 4.2 km/day between 2009-14 to 8.32 km/day between 2014-26. (Source: PIB)
- Speed upgrades: Between 2014 and 2026, the share of track running at 130 km/h or above rose from 6.3% to 22.5%. About 81% of the network now runs at 110 km/h or above, up from around 39.6% in 2014. The Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes are being upgraded further, to 160 km/h, under Mission Raftaar. (Source: PIB)
- Training: Indian Railways trains around 6 lakh employees annually, through Centralised Training Institutes and the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya. This includes joint training programmes with CIL, NTPC, SAIL, DFCCIL, BPCL, FCI, and CWC. (Source: PIB)
- Fire safety: Indian Railways has rolled out multi-layered fire safety measures nationwide. Every coach now carries at least 2 fire extinguishers. Power cars and pantry cars have automated fire detection and suppression systems, plus water-mist extinguishers. Coaches use fire-retardant seats, berths, flooring, and insulation, and carry emergency evacuation windows. Stations have portable extinguishers, fire buckets, and automatic alarms in relay and interlocking rooms. Fire-fighting, first-aid, and disaster-management training is now built into frontline staff modules, covering Station Managers, Train Managers (Guards), Commercial-cum-Ticket Clerks, Loco Pilots, and Assistant Loco Pilots.
- Budget utilisation: Indian Railways had utilised more than ₹1.14 lakh crore till July 2026. That is about 39% of its ₹2.93 lakh crore FY 2026-27 budget grant.
- Rail Neer: Indian Railways operates 19 Rail Neer plants nationwide. Each produces 1 lakh bottles of packaged drinking water daily. A new plant under the PPP model costs about ₹10 crore, excluding land.
- Single all-India licence for Container Train Operators: On 14 July 2026, Indian Railways approved a single all-India licence for Container Train Operators. This replaces the earlier route-wise licence categories. Every operator now pays one uniform, non-refundable registration fee of ₹25 crore, covering all routes nationwide. The concession period can be extended by 20 more years, with no renewal or extension fee. The reform came through an amended model concession agreement, to be formalised by gazette notification. Migration terms vary by the operator’s old category: existing Category I licence-holders can renew or extend for free under the new single licence, while Category II, III, and IV operators pay ₹15 crore to migrate, the difference between the new ₹25 crore fee and their existing ₹10 crore fee, whether they migrate at renewal or earlier.
- PRS was introduced in 1986, developed and maintained by CRIS, also established that year.
- Several milestones followed. See the list below.
- 1990s — the CONCERT network expanded PRS nationally
- 2002 — internet-based booking arrived
- 2014 — Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) launched
- 2025 — the RailOne app and a next-generation PRS were announced
- In August 2026, Indian Railways began a phased migration to this upgraded PRS.
- Between June 2025 and June 2026, PRS booked 65.08 crore reserved tickets. Of these, 89% (57.90 crore) were booked online. PRS now serves about 20.5 lakh passengers a day, with 73% of transactions cashless.
- The current PRS was deployed in 2010, running on Itanium servers with OpenVMS. It handles about 32,000 bookings a minute and 4 lakh enquiries a minute at peak.
- The upgraded, cloud-based system targets 1.5 lakh bookings a minute and 40 lakh enquiries a minute, along with a multilingual interface.
- Several booking reforms have followed too. The Advance Reservation Period was cut from 120 to 60 days. Tatkal booking now requires Aadhaar authentication, since July 2025. OTP verification was added to curb bot and agent-driven bookings. A redesigned IRCTC website entered beta in July 2026.
- IRCTC’s platform now extends well beyond train tickets, into hotel bookings, retiring rooms, lounge access, tour packages, flights, and buses.
- CRIS also runs several other platforms, on both the passenger and operations side. See the list below.
- UTS — unreserved ticketing
- NTES — real-time train status
- RailConnect — the main mobile app
- RailMadad — grievance redressal
- CoachMitra, Rail Sugam, and Rail Rajbhasha — further passenger-facing tools
- FOIS and a Crew Management System — on the freight and operations side
- RailOne, launched in July 2025, had 4.55 crore downloads by 22 July, handling about 9.65 lakh bookings a day. Its AI-based waitlist-confirmation predictions improved from 53% to 94% accuracy.
- RailMadad‘s grievance resolution rate has stayed near-total: 99.98%, 99.99%, and 99.98% across 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 respectively.
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