Indian Railways

Also called: Railways · Topic: Transport and Communication in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 7 "Lifelines of National Economy"; Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"

Meaning

Indian Railways is India's national rail system. It carries both goods (freight) and passengers, it is one of the largest rail networks in the world, and it is India's largest government undertaking (a business run by the government). It began in 1853 with the 34 km Bombay (Mumbai)–Thane line. NCERT gives its route length as 67,956 km (2019-20) and lists 17 zones. The new South Coast Railway zone, effective from 1 June 2026, takes the number of zones beyond NCERT's 17 [9].

It matters because it moves bulk goods (coal, iron ore, cement, foodgrains) cheaply over long distances. It also links farms, mines, ports and cities, which helps both industry and farming.

Explanation

How the network is built and measured

• Route kilometre (rkm): the length of the line on the ground, however many tracks run side by side.
• Total route length: 67,956 km (NCERT, 2019-20).

• The broad gauge route alone reached 70,142 rkm in 2024-25 [4].

• Why railways matter:

• They carry bulk goods cheaply over long distances.
• They carry large crowds of passengers across the country.
• Gandhi said the railways brought people of different cultures and languages together. This helped the national movement.

Gauges and Project Unigauge

• Gauge is the distance between the two rails of a track.
• A wider gauge carries heavier loads at higher speeds.
• But it costs more to build.

Gauge	Width	Length (NCERT, 2019-20)	Where
Broad gauge (BG)	1.676 m	63,950 km	Main trunk lines across the plains and peninsula
Metre gauge (MG)	1.000 m	2,402 km	Old branch lines not yet converted
Narrow gauge (NG)	0.762 m or 0.610 m	1,604 km	Mostly hills: Darjeeling, Kalka–Shimla, Nilgiri, Matheran

• Standard gauge (1.435 m) is also an official category. It is used mainly by metro systems [4].
• Project Unigauge converts metre and narrow gauge lines into broad gauge.
• The problem: where gauges change, goods must be unloaded and put on another train. This causes delay, damage and cost.
• The fix: with one single gauge, trains run straight through.
• The result: faster, cheaper and better-linked freight and passenger traffic.

• Broad gauge grew from 63,950 km (2019-20) to 70,142 rkm (2024-25) [4], mostly through new lines and gauge conversion.

• Heritage hill lines are kept as narrow gauge because they are valuable for tourism and history.

Zones (how the network is run)

• A railway zone is a large administrative unit. A General Manager runs it from a headquarters (HQ), and each zone is split into smaller divisions.
• NCERT lists 17 zones.
• South Coast Railway (SCoR):
• It was announced in February 2019 with its HQ at Visakhapatnam, and the Union Cabinet approved it the same month [7].
• It has four divisions: Guntakal, Guntur, Vijayawada and a new Visakhapatnam division [8][9].
• 7 February 2025: the Cabinet approved splitting the old Waltair division. About 410 km, including the Palasa–Visakhapatnam–Duvvada route, stays in SCoR as the Visakhapatnam division. The name "Waltair" was dropped because it is a colonial name [8].
• A gazette notification made the zone effective from 1 June 2026 [9].

Electrification (from steam to electric)

• Railway electrification means running trains on electricity from overhead wires (overhead equipment, OHE) instead of burning coal or diesel.
• Engines changed in three stages: steam (coal) → diesel → electric.
• Progress:
• 99.2% of broad gauge was electrified by late 2025, far ahead of the UK (39%), Russia (52%) and China (82%) [2].
• More than 33,000 rkm was electrified between 2019 and 2025. That is over 15 rkm a day [5].
• 14 zones and 25 states/UTs reached 100%. Only 5 states had work left: 574 rkm, or 0.8% of broad gauge [3].

• By March 2026, 69,873 rkm was electrified (99.6% of broad gauge), up from 21,801 rkm in 2014 [4].

• Why it matters:

• Diesel use fell by 178 crore litres in 2024-25, a 62% cut since 2016-17 [6]. This means less imported oil.
• Lower emissions support the target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 [5]. Net-zero means emissions are balanced by what is removed or offset.

Where it occurs

• Dense network: the Northern Plains (Punjab to West Bengal, the Indo-Gangetic plain)
• Level land makes lines cheap and quick to build.
• High population density gives plenty of passengers, and rich farming gives plenty of goods to carry.

• The one difficulty: wide rivers (Ganga, Yamuna, Ghaghara, Kosi, Brahmaputra) need long, costly bridges.

• Sparse network: difficult or thinly peopled regions

• Himalaya (J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal): high relief, steep slopes, landslides and few people.
• Western Rajasthan (Thar Desert): sandy plains and shifting sand dunes.
• Gujarat (Rann of Kachchh): swampy, salty marshland.

• Forests of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand: dense forest, rugged plateau and few people.

• Sahyadri (Western Ghats): lines cross only through gaps or passes (ghats).

• Thal Ghat links Mumbai and Nashik.
• Bhor Ghat links Mumbai and Pune.

• Electrification now reaches hard ghat sections such as Sakleshpur–Subramanya Road (Karnataka) [5].

• Peninsular plateau: a moderate network that is thicker around mining and industrial belts.

• Heritage narrow gauge lines: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (West Bengal), Nilgiri Mountain Railway (Tamil Nadu), Kalka–Shimla Railway (Haryana–Himachal Pradesh), Matheran (Maharashtra).
• Zone HQs (selected): Central → Mumbai CST; Northern → New Delhi; East Central → Hajipur (Bihar); East Coast → Bhubaneswar; North Central → Prayagraj; North Eastern → Gorakhpur; NF → Maligaon (Guwahati, Assam); North Western → Jaipur; South Central → Secunderabad; South East Central → Bilaspur; South Western → Hubballi; West Central → Jabalpur; Metro → Kolkata; South Coast → Visakhapatnam.
• Colonial pattern: the British built lines to carry raw materials (cotton, jute, coal, ores) to the ports of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, to serve tea plantations (Assam, Nilgiris), to reach hill stations (Shimla, Darjeeling, Ooty) and to link cantonments (army bases).

Don't confuse with

• Route kilometre vs track length: route kilometre counts the line on the ground only once, even where two or more tracks run side by side.
• Broad gauge (1.676 m) vs standard gauge (1.435 m): broad gauge is the main Indian Railways gauge. Standard gauge is used mainly by metros [4].
• Kolkata Metro vs Delhi Metro: Kolkata Metro (India's first, 1984) is a full zone of Indian Railways. Delhi Metro (2002) is run by DMRC, a joint company of the Centre and the Delhi government.
• South Coast Railway vs East Coast Railway: South Coast has its HQ at Visakhapatnam (new zone, effective 1 June 2026) [9]. East Coast has its HQ at Bhubaneswar (Odisha).

Prelims Hooks

• First line: Bombay–Thane, 34 km, 1853.
• Gauge widths, widest to narrowest: Broad (1.676 m) > Standard (1.435 m) > Metre (1.000 m) > Narrow (0.762 / 0.610 m).
• HQ traps: East Central → Hajipur (not Patna); NF → Maligaon (not Guwahati); South Western → Hubballi; South East Central → Bilaspur; West Central → Jabalpur; North Eastern → Gorakhpur.
• South Coast Railway: HQ Visakhapatnam. Divisions: Guntakal, Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam (the old Waltair). Effective 1 June 2026 [7][8][9].
• Electrification: about 99.6% of broad gauge by March 2026 [4], against China 82%, Russia 52% and UK 39% [2]. Net-zero target: 2030 [5].
• Ghat–route pairs: Thal Ghat → Mumbai–Nashik; Bhor Ghat → Mumbai–Pune.

Mains Points

• Uneven distribution (GS-I):
• Relief (Himalaya, Western Ghats), surface (Thar sand, Kachchh marsh), forests (central tribal belt) and population density make the network dense on the northern plains and thin in the North-East, the hills, central India and Rajasthan.
• Colonial lines, which ran from inland areas to the ports, made this imbalance worse.

• Policy answers: new lines to the North-East and J&K, gauge conversion, and PM Gati Shakti planning.

• Project Unigauge (GS-III, infrastructure):

• One gauge means goods no longer have to be moved between trains, so freight is faster and capacity rises.
• It links backward regions to markets.

• Keeping the heritage hill lines balances development with conservation and tourism.

• Electrification for energy security and climate (GS-III):

• About 99.6% of broad gauge is electrified, and diesel use has fallen 62% since 2016-17 [4][6].
• This cuts oil imports and emissions and supports the 2030 net-zero target [5].
• The full climate benefit depends on getting more electricity from renewable sources.

Related concepts

• Railway zones
• Railway gauges
• Railway electrification
• Metro rail

Read more

• Railways: network, gauges, zones and distribution