Indian Railways is owned and operated by the Govt of India under the Ministry of Railways
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane.On 16th April 1853, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway ran the first train in India, for twenty-one miles from Bombay to Thane
The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway(GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane
It is one of the world's largest Railway Networkd comprising 115,000 km (71,000 mi) of track over a route of 65,436 km (40,660 mi) and 7,172 stations
Indian Railways is the world's 7th largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.307 million employees as of last published figures in 2013
In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1050.18 million tons of freight
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic
In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of 
1634.50 billion (US$26 billion) which consists of 1069.27 billion (US$17 billion) from freight and 402.80 billion (US$6.3 billion) from passengers tickets
Indian Railways is divided into Several Zones, which are further sub-divided into Divisions.Each of the 17 zones is headed by a general manager who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM).
The number of Zones in Indian Railways increased from 6 to 8 in 1951,9 in 1952 and 16 in 2003
Each Zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of 68 Divisions.
The 17 Railway Zones are -
Southern;Central;Western;Eastern;Northern;North Eastern;South Eastern;Northeast Frontier;South Central;Kolkata Metro;East Central;North Western;East Coast;North Central;South East Central;South Western and West Central
The classes in operation in the Indian Railways
| 1A | First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains. |
| 2A | AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains. |
| FC | First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class. |
| 3A | AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge. |
| 3E | AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare. |
| CC | AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities. |
| EC | Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains. |
| SL | Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach. |
| 2S | Seater class: same as AC Chair car, but with bench style seats and without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved. |
| UR | Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket |
Largest Route
Vivek Express from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari travels 4273 kms
Shortest Run
Train Services between Nagpur and Ajni situated just 3kms apart
Longest Rail Tunnel
The longest rail tunnel in India is the Pir Panjal Tunnel in J&K at a length of 11.25 kms which was completed in December 2012
India's longest 11.21-km tunnel linking Qazigund to Banihal.The tunnel constructed by Hindustan Construction Corporation will reduce
the travel distance between Qazigund and Banihal from 35 km (by road)
to just 17.5 km (by train).
The Pir Panjal tunnel has attained the distinction of being the second longest railway tunnel in Asia.The tunnel section of the track was built at a cost of Rs 1691 crore,
and took seven years to complete. The tunnel was built by NATM (new
Austrian tunnelling method) used for the first time on such a large
scale in India. The tunnel has been made waterproof. It's equipped with
air quality monitoring, ventilation, communication, and fire-fighting
systems.
Banihal - Qazigund total stretch = 17 km
Banihal - Qazigund total stretch = 17 km
The railway tunnel passing through Pir Panjal = 11.21 km (so, nearly 64%
of the total 17 km travel between Banihal-Qazigund is via tunnels).
- See more at: http://risingcitizen.blogspot.in/2013/02/asias-2nd-longest-railway-tunnel-opens.html#sthash.hRAl6loX.dpuf
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