Important Question Answers and Notes on Indian Railways

Indian Railways is Asia's largest and the World's second largest railway system under single management.
The biggest public sector undertaking and the largest single employed in India : Indian Railways
Indian Railways is the second biggest electrified railway system in the World after Russia.
Indian Railways operate in three different gauges

Broad Guage (1676 metre width)
Metre Guage (1 metre width)
Narrow Guage (0.762 metre and 0.610 metre)

The first train service in India : Bombay to Thane
The first railway service was introduced in : 1853 April 16
The railway was introduced in India by : Lord Dalhousie
The first electric train in India : Deccan Queen (was introduced in 1925 between Kalyan and Pune).
Indian Railways was nationalised in : 1951
Total Number of Railway zone is ; 17
Total Number of Railway divisions is : 67
In 1991, Indian Railways introduced the world's first hospital on wheels to provide medical aid in rural areas called : Life Line Express (Jeevan Rekha)
The first private train in India : Palace on Wheels
The luxurious train that services through the tourist centres of Rajasthan Palance on Wheels
Mass Rapid Transit System was introduced in 1995 in : Chennai
Railway Staff College is at : Baroda
The online reservation system launched by the State Bank of India (SBI) : e-Rail
Indian Railways has converted the number of trains into 5 digit from : December 20, 2010
First railway station in India : Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Mumbai)
The railway station which got place in world Heritage site by UNESCO is : Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Former name of Shivaji Terminus : Victoria Terminus Station
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.

It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1999.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge railway in Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.

UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as a World heritage site : July 2005

The Kalka-Shimla Railway is a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh
Indian Railway museum : Chanakyapuri (Delhi)
Highest railway station in India : Ghum Railway Station (Darjeeling)
World's longest railway platform : Gorakhpur Station (Uttar Pradesh 1350 meters)
The longest distance travelling train in India : Dibragarh Kanyakumari Vivek Express

It joins Dibrugarh Town in Assam, North-East India to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu which is Southernmost tip of mainland India. It travels distance of 4286 kms in 82:30 hrs (almost 4 days)

The train passes through most number of states : Mangalapuram - Jammu Tawi Navayug Express
The state in India which have no railway : Meghalaya
Computer Railway Reservation System was introduced by the Indian Railways in 1988,
The World's working steam locomotive engine : Fairy Queen (Fairy Queen runs in India for tourism promotion).
Indian Railways celebrated its 150th anniversary on : April 16 2002
The Mascot of Indian Railways : The elephant called Bholu which represents the work of a guard
The largest Railway zone : Northern Railway
The headquarters of Indian Railways : Baroda House (New Delhi)
The Luxurious train that services through the tourist centres of Maharashtra : Deccan Odyssey
The train that services through the tourist centres of Gujarat and Rajasthan : Royal Orient train
Train connecting popular tourist destinations in Karnataka and Goa : Golden Chariot
The latest most luxurious train in India : Maharajas (Mumbai - Delhi)
The luxury tourist train launched in January 2009 following the success of the Palace on wheels : Royal Rajasthan on wheels
Passenger train service connecting New Delhi with other state capitals introduced in 1969 : Rajdhani Express.
The train service started to commemorate the centenary of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru's birthday in 1988 : Shatabdi Train
Shatabdi Train was first operated from New Delhi to Gwalior, later extended to Jhansi and then finally to Bhopal.
The tourist train connecting historical Buddhist pilgrim sites : Buddha Parikrama Express.
Budha Parikrama Express was introduced in : 1999
The train service connecting historical Sikh Pilgrim sites : Guru Parikarma Express
India's fastest train : Gatimaan Express between New Delhi and Agra (It travels at a maximum speed of 160 per hour) introduced in June 2014.
Long distance non stop trains run by the Indian railways : Duronto Express
India's slowest train : Nilgiri Express (speed 10km/hr)
The AIDS/HIV awareness campaign train by the Indian Railway : Red Ribbon Express
The train service that connects important historical and educational places in various parts of the country : Janam Bhoomi Gaurav
The train service started to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda : Vivek Express

Vivek Express runs between : D.Brugarh in Assam and Kanyakumari

The train service started to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Mother Theresa : Mother Express
The exhibition train service started to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindra Nath Tagore : Sanskrit Express
First superfast train in India : Delhi-Howrah Rajadhani Express
First Double Decker express train in India : Howrah - Dhanbad
First Ac Double Decker express in South India : Chennai - Bangalore
An education tourist train connecting important places related to freedom movement : Azadi Express (introduced in 2014)
The train service introduced in railway budget 2014 to set up cabins equipped with computers, printers, internet and refreshment in a few coaches of selected trains : Office on Wheels
The service provided to train passengers to file FIR from any places during or after travel Zero FIR.
The monthly magazine of Indian Railways : Indian Rail
Longest Rail Bridge in India : Vembanad Rail Bridge

It connects Edappally and Vallapadam in Kochi

The name given to Railways drinking water Project : Railneer
India;s longest railway tunnel : Pirpanjal tunnel in J&K (11 Kms)
The train that runs between Delhi (India) and Lahore (Pakistan) : Samjhauta Express
The train connecting karachi (Pakistan) and Jodhpur (India) : Thar Express
The train that connect India's Kolkata and Bangladesh Dhaka : Maitree Express

It has been revived on April 14, 2008 after being closed for 43 years.

Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Headquarters : New Delhi
IRTC was incorporated on September 27, 1999
It handles catering, tourism and online ticketing operation of the railway.
The most expensive luxury train in the world : Maharaja Express

It is operated by IRCTC
It covers more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India.

Fourth Rail manufacturing factory will be set up in Palakkad, Kerala on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

It would use Japanese Technology for the first time in India to roll out lighter coaches consuming less fuel.

First Railway Minister : John Mathai
First Women Railway Minister : Mamta Banerjee
First Woman Station Master in India : Rinku Sinha Roy
India's First woman passenger train driver : Surekha Yadav on Mumbai Central Railway
The Konkan Railway, the 760 km rail system. It links Mangalore with Roha in Maharashtra.
Konkan railway started functioning in : 1998 January 26
Konkan railway was built under the leadership of : E Sreedharan
E Sreedharan is popularly known as : Metro Man
First chairman and MD of Konkan railway : E Sreedharan
States through which Konkan railway pass : Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka
The service of Konkan railway where loaded trucks are directly carried by railway wagons to their destination : RoRo (Roll on Roll off)
Headquarters of Konkan Railway : Belapur (Navi Mumbai)
First Metro Rail in India : Calcutta (opened 1984-85)
The Second Metro Rail system was built in : New Delhi (2002)
The Metro Known as Namma Metro : Bangalore Metro
Namma Metro was inaugurated on : October 20, 2011
Mumbai Metro Rail Project was stated in : June 8th 2014
India's first Public Private Partnership (PPP) Metro Project (in which the three phases. The Construction, Operation and Maintenance were given to private players) : Mumbai Metro
The first Metro train to be built in Inida : Movia
Metro railway in Kerala under construction : Kochi Metro (Aluva-Pettah, Ernakulam)
The name of Kochi metro project : Komet
India's first fully privately funded metro project : Gurgaon's Rapid metro

It started functioning from : November 2013

The cities in Kerala proposed for the light metro project : Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode
First monorial in India : Mumbai
Mumbai monorail was started in : 2014 February 1