Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India that operates India's national railway system. As of 2023, it manages the fourth largest national railway system by size with a running track length of 104,647 km (65,025 mi) and route length of 68,426 km (42,518 mi) of which 60,451 km (37,563 mi) is electrified. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer.
Southern Railway (SR) is one of the eighteen zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. The origin of the Southern Railway can be traced back to the Madras Railway formed in 1845. Southern Railway was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway. Southern Railway maintains about 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations.
The 12123 / 12124 Deccan Queen is a daily Indian passenger train service operated by the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways connecting the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Introduced on June 1, 1930, the Deccan Queen was India's "first superfast train, first long-distance electric-hauled train, first vestibuled train, the first train to have a ‘women-only’ car, and the first train to feature a dining car". The service name comes from the Marathi nickname "दख्खन ची राणी", a popular nickname for Pune. Deccan Queen is currently the fastest train service linking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Pune Junction. It has an average operating speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) including stops, and a top speed of 105 km/h (65 mph). The train's long history and common use as a commuter train has gained it significant popularity, including annual celebrations of its "birthday" on June 1 at Pune Junction. It was hauled by a Kalyan-based WCAM-3 end to end up until June 2022. From June 2022, its upgraded coaches in a new livery are being hauled by a Ajni-based WAP-7.
Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Integral Coach Factory is an Indian manufacturer of rail coaches. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated by the Indian Railways and is the oldest amongst the five rake production units of the Indian Railways. While the facility initially manufactured ICF coaches, it currently manufactures LHB coaches and electric multiple units including the semi-high speed Vande Bharat train-sets.
Indian Railways coaching stock consists of various travel class passenger coaches, freight wagons apart from specialized and dedicated coaching stock for other uses. Indian Railways operates India's railway system and comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. As of 2022, it operates over 8000 trains daily with a inventory of 318,196 freight wagons and 84,863 passenger coaches. The rolling stock is manufactured by five units owned by Indian Railways, four public sector units and one private company.
In Indian Railways, A MEMU is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train that serves short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multiple Unit.
Ananthapuri Superfast Express is an superfast express train running between Kollam Junction and Chennai Egmore via Thiruvananthapuram Central, Tirunelveli Junction, Virudhunagar junction, Madurai Junction, Tiruchchirappalli Junction and Villupuram Junction through the trunk line and chord lines in southern India. It is a daily overnight Superfast Express service.This train is to be converted from ICF coaches to LHB coaches before March 31, 2024..
Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany and produced by rail coach manufacturing units at Kapurthala, Chennai and Raebareli. They have been used since 2000 on the 5 ft 6 in broad gauge network of Indian railways. Initially, 24 air conditioned coaches were imported from Germany for use in the Shatabdi Expresses, following which, the Rail Coach Factory started manufacturing after technology transfer. IR declared that all ICF coaches will be replaced by LHB coaches to provide more safety and comfort. The last ICF Coach was flagged off on 19 January 2018, making way for LHB Coaches to be used for all new coaches to be introduced by Indian Railways in the future.
Double Decker Express are a series of trains started for shorter routes in order to serve more people than a traditional chair car carriage.
The 22909 / 22910 Valsad–Puri Superfast Express is a Superfast Express train belonging to Indian Railways – Western Railway zone that runs between Valsad and Puri in India.
The Vande Bharat sleeper trainset, formerly known as Train-20 is an under development High-speed, long-distance electric multiple unit (EMU) train designed to replace the Rajdhani Express. It is being developed based on existing short-distance Vande Bharat, differing in exterior body, sleeping berths, and onboard amenities due to its long-distance service.
Sri Lanka Railways Class S13 is a Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trainset, built for Sri Lanka Railways by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and imported through RITES, an Indian Railways PSU on a line of credit extended by the Indian Government in 2011. Sri Lanka Railways Ordered for 6 modern state of the art DEMU trainsets in 2017. Class S13 possess AC First, Second and Third Class accommodations. The first trainset of the order arrived Sri Lanka in December 2018.
Vande Bharat Express is a medium-distance superfast express service operated by Indian Railways. It is a reserved, air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services. The train entered commercial service on 15 February 2019.
The 22447/22448 New Delhi - Amb Andaura Vande Bharat Express is India's 4th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the states of New Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
The 22301/22302 Howrah–New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express is India's 7th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata with Siliguri, the largest city in northern West Bengal via Shantiniketan, Malda Town.
The 20833/20834 Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express is India's 8th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The 20701/20702 Secunderabad - Tirupati Vande Bharat Express is India's 12th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The Vande Bharat trainset, formerly known as Train 18, is an Indian Electric multiple unit chair car trainset designed and developed by Indian Railways at its Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The train achieved a maximum speed of 183 km/h (114 mph) during its trial runs but the operational speed of the train is restricted to 160 km/h (99 mph) due to tracks' inability to support such speeds.
The 20631/20632 Mangaluru Central - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express is India's 33rd Vande Bharat Express train, connecting South Karnataka's coastal city Mangaluru (Mangalore) with Kerala's south and state capital Thiruvananthapuram. It is the second Vande Bharat Express in Kerala as well as India's first saffron coloured semi-high speed train. The first Vande Bharat train in Kerala started its service between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram via Kottayam route in April 2023.
A red ICF coach used on an unnamed train
A blue ICF coach used on the Gorakdham Express
A buffers and chain coupler on an ICF coach used on Uttaranchal Sampark Kranti Express
