Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a deparmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. As of 2023, it manages the fourth largest national railway system by size with a track length of 132,310 km (82,210 mi), running track length of 106,493 km (66,172 mi) and route length of 68,584 km (42,616 mi). As of August 2024, 96.59% of the broad-gauge network is electrified. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer.
Shatabdi Express are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways. Shatabdi Express are day trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains run at a maximum permissible speed of 110–150 km/h (68–93 mph) with the Rani Kamalapati–New Delhi Shatabdi Express achieving the maximum permissible speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) between Tughlakabad and Bilochpura Agra.
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 and became the first railway zone created in newly formed India. Southern Railway maintains about 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations. It has the distinction of operating the first railway line in India, which opened for traffic from Redhills to Chindadripettai in Madras on 12 September 1836.
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 one of the fastest train services 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.
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.
The 12653 / 12654 Rockfort Express is a Superfast Express overnight Express rail connecting Tiruchirappalli with Chennai Egmore via Villupuram in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This train serves as the main connectivity to the state capital Chennai city and Tiruchirappalli city along the route.
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.
The Garib Rath trains are a series of no-frills trains operated by Indian Railways to provide air-conditioned train travel at a cheaper rate compared to regular trains. Garib Rath Express trains primarily operate on long-distance routes, connecting major cities and important railway stations across different states in India. These trains are designed to cover extensive distances, often traversing several hundred kilometers in a single journey.
The 12703 / 12704 Falaknuma Express is a Superfast Express train belonging to South Central Railway zone that runs between Secunderabad and Howrah, (Kolkata) in India. It is currently being operated with 12703/12704 train numbers on daily basis. It is The Most Busiest Daily Train On Hyderabad Howrah Route
The 12451 / 12452 Shram Shakti Express is an Indian Railways Superfast train which daily runs non-stop overnight between the cities of Kanpur and New Delhi. It covers the 440 km of distance in 6 hours and has a priority advantage over other trains.
Mysore Junction railway station, re-christened as Mysuru Junction railway station is a railway station on Mysore–Bangalore railway line serving the city of Mysore, Karnataka, India. Previously Mysore was connected to Bangalore by a single-line metre-gauge track. It was later converted into non-electrified broad-gauge line. It has now been converted to a double-line, electrified route.
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 1,676 mm 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.
Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli or MCF Raebareli is a rail coach manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways at Lalganj near Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. The factory is one of the coach production unit of Indian Railways besides the Integral Coach Factory at Perambur, Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab, Marathwada Rail Coach Factory in Latur, Maharashtra and Rail Coach Factory at Sonipat, Haryana. The factory was inaugurated on 7 November 2012. MCF Raebareli is one of the most advanced coach manufacturing unit of the world it is equipped with the many state of the art industrial robots and machines, on result making it require less manpower than other coach manufacturing units of Indian Railways.
The Uzhavan Express is a train route of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways and runs between Chennai Egmore and Thanjavur Junction. The express was introduced on 1 September 2013. It operates daily and covers a distance of 351 km.
The 12019 / 12020 Howrah–Ranchi Junction Shatabdi Express is a Shatabdi category train of Indian Railways that connects the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata with that of the capital of Jharkhand, Ranchi. The train belongs to the Howrah Division of Eastern Railways and runs on all the days, except that on Sundays.
Double Decker Express are a series of trains started by Indian Railways for shorter routes in order to serve more people than a traditional chair car carriage.
Mahamana Express is a superfast express series trains operated by Indian Railways in India. Initially it was started using ICF coaches with substantially improved facilities as compared to other superfast express trains in India. As of October 2024, only two Mahamana Express services use the original upgraded ICF coaches. The others have been converted to regular LHB coaches as in most other trains in India.
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.
Vande Bharat Express is a medium to long-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 and a planned reserved, air-conditioned sleeper service connecting cities that are 800 km (500 mi) to 1,200 km (750 mi) apart. The train was a part of the 'Make in India' initiative by the government and entered commercial service on 15 February 2019.
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.
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
ICF coaches of Chennai Shatabdi
