Indian railways-Lifeline of the mass

What led to the Emergence of the railways in

India?
The novel plan for the introduction of a rail system, transformed the whole
history of India. Increase in trade, high population, large distance
transportation, sale of goods and services across the nation felt the need to
set up such a facilitator which could sort these problems out and along with
that add to the benefits of the nation as well. Following are some of the
reasons that made us bring railways into existence :-

 High population – The high rate of

increase in population led to the
migration and immigration of people
from one part of the nation to another
for employment and other purposes .
Hence the number of people commuting
accordingly was always high which could
not be handled by ships or by carts that
were used in earlier days.
 (…contd.)
 Covers a large area :-In the same way, traveling from one part of the country
to the another was very cumbersome as it consumed a lot of time and
manpower. It also increased the expenses relate to it. Hence railways
proposed to cover a large area connecting north and south and east and
west of the nation.

 Daily transportation: The daily commuters who travelled on local basis

founded it difficult to commute through ships and carts as that was not only
slow but very delayed.
(…contd)
 Time saving :- Railways were assumed to be a faster mode of transportation
in compared to the others that were available to the common mass those
days.
 Frequent :- The frequency of railways was more in comparison to the other
mode of transportations.
 Goods and services :-Not only the people, but the need of railways was also
felt in case of transportation of the goods and services .
(…contd.)
 Source of revenue to the government :

The government also had chances to

have gains from the railways in many
ways . It could prove to be a great
source of income to the government.
Railways came into being :-

Considering the felt necessity of the railways, the need to set up a rail
transport system came into being. Hence, the following things happened:-

 In 1844, the then Governor-General of India, Lord Hardinge, allowed private

entrepreneurs to set up a rail system in India.
 The first train in India became operational on 1851-12-22, and was used for
the hauling of construction material in Roorkee.
 This network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km (9,000 miles) by 1880,
mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras
and Calcutta
 Further, a Railway Board was constituted in 1901.
 For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a tidy profit. In
1907, almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government.
 Government took control of railways in 1920. At the time of
independence in 1947, a big chunk of the railways went to the then newly
formed Pakistan.
 Gradual emergence as the lifeline of the mass
 Traveling made easier : Railways certainly made traveling easier by
connecting maximum areas and bringing down the distance.
 Frequent : The frequency of rails increased with every proposed plan.
Hence its usage also increased
 Generated employment : Rail transportation system is such a huge area
that it needed a large number of people to handle its operations. Hence, it
automatically led to an opening towards employment generation.
 Easy movement of goods and services : Goods and services could be easily
transported to any part of the country on rail as it could afford heavy
weights. Hence, production people also encouraged the use of railways.
 Cheaper : As compared to the facilities that it provides, rail fares are very
much lower in comparison to airplane fares. Hence, it is easily afforded by
the poor people who contribute almost 60% of our population.
 Consistent: Railways provided the mass with consistent facilities which
always tend to improve with the passage of time.
 Facilitated interstate trade : Due to the removal of the transportation barrier
through rail, interstate trade was encouraged to a high extent.
(…contd.)
 Water n sanitation problems during journeys was also sorted out by the
railways as it was all provided under one roof and bore no extra cost.
 Employment was generated to a very large extent. Railways provide
employment in many ways apart from the staffs that it recruits, from its
manufacturing to its establishment, in catering, to the local vendors, etc.
 Not only for the common mass, but the railways also proved to be very
beneficial industrial sector dealing in iron and steel. The manufacturing of
rail required a heavy amount of iron and steel products. Hence, it also
encouraged the interests of the iron and steel producers leaving them make
more profits.
 Also, Government earned heavy revenues from the railways. Though the
investment in railways is huge, but at the end of the day, it was the
government who benefited from the rail. Approximately, 70% of the
countries revenue earned today is through the railways. Hence, the
government also encouraged the evolution of the railways as a mode of
transportation.
 Facilities provided by the Indian railways
Since railways are the largest network of commutation, its facilities are not just
limited to the extent of commutation. Rather, it elongates it coverage to a wider
extent. Considering the need of the people facilitating them with more
relevance and convenience, Indian railways has also undertaken several steps
to empower its people.
 It is the most systematized and convenient way of commutation as it covers very
large areas in shorter span of time saving time and money. In comparison to the
facilities that it provides, it is very cheap and easily affordable even by the people of
lower class.
 It is one of the most easily approachable modes by people of any class of the society.
 The outbreak of e-tickets provided people with the facility to get railway tickets even
by sitting in their homes and hence avoid the longer queues that had to be formed to
get railway tickets.
 Garib rath trains acted as a boon to the lower section of the society as they were now
in a position to afford the facilities of the Air Conditioned coaches at a very low fare.
 Water and sanitation facilities are also provided in the railways which differentiated it
from the other outdated modes of commutation.
(…contd.)
 People are also facilitated by food in the railways specially in the
long route trains.
 Old age and senior citizens have been given the privilege of fare
concession also.
 There are facilities for the ladies also in the ladies quota of the
railways.
 It has been able to control unemployment to a very large extent.
 Commencement of metro rails in different cities has helped avoid
traffic congestions.
 Passengers lifeline (in billions)

6000

5000
Number of passengers

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
1 2 3

Years 1950 - 2000

 Goods (in tones)

600

500

400
Goods

300 Series1

200

100

0
1 2
year 1950-2000
Derailment of the railways in India :-
Indian railways is the biggest and the largest network of communication. It is
one of the most systematic and convenient means of transportation for the
people of any class. Hence, curtailing the services provided by the railways
would paralyze the whole transportation system and would also affect other
areas as well.

 The routine lifestyle of the people would be hampered as railways prove to

be the largest and most easily approachable mode of commutation.
 Employment will be lost which will lead to increased number of unemployed
people giving birth to crime and disorder.
 There will be hardly any migration and immigration of people from different
parts of the country due to the inconvenience faced by them while traveling
by other modes of commutation such as ships, carts etc. because other
transportation modes like cars, airplanes etc are not approachable and
affordable by the poor people which we know contribute to the major section
of the society.
(…contd.)
 Trade will be curtailed to a very larger extent as transportation of goods and
services will not be possible in such an easy way by any other mode of
transportation.
 Iron and steel industries will face heavy losses as railways is there major
buyer.
 Indian tourism will be badly affected.
 Government will also face heavy losses as a major part of the revenue will
slip out of the hands of the Government.
 The track kilometers in broad gauge (1676 mm) are 86, 526 kms, meter
gauge (1000 mm) are 18, 529 kms and narrow gauge (762/610 mm) are
3,651 kms. Of the total route of 63,028 kms, 16,001 kms are electrified.

The railways have 7566 locomotives, 37, 840 coaching vehicles, 222, 147
freight wagons, 6853 stations, 300 yards, 2300 good sheds, 700 repair
shops, and 1.54 million work force. Indian Railways runs around 11,000
trains everyday, of which 7,000 are passenger trains.
Passenger Services
 Development of 50 stations as World Class
 Stations include
* CST Mumbai
* Pune
* New Delhi
 375 stations identified as “Adarsh” stations
 Future gifts
 Introduction of Onboard House Keeping Scheme for clean trains.
 Special provision in trains for Physically Challenged and Old
People.
 Doctors on long Distance Trains
 a uniformly priced monthly season ticket of Rs. 25 would be
available free of all surcharges for travel up to 100 kms for members
of the unorganized sector.
 Introduction of 'Only Ladies' EMU train services in Delhi, Chennai
and Kolkata suburban on the pattern of Mumbai suburban.
 "Yuva Trains" dedicated specially for the young generation. These
trains will be introduced between major cities to ensure that the
youth and low income groups can travel at low rates between these
cities.
Safety Measures
Considering there constant need and ensuring the safety of the
passengers, certain safety measures have been planned in order to
facilitate the passengers to make the maximum usage of the railways.
Some of them follows down :-
 Use of various safety equipment like digital ultrasonic flaw detecting
machines and wheel impact load detectors (WILD) for safety
concerns.
 Anti Collision Device (ACD) to prevent incidents of train collisions
will be implemented in three railways Southern, South Central and
South Western Railways.
 Diesel Modernization Works (DMW) is upgrading the existing fleet of
diesel locomotives from existing 2600 HP to 3100 HP and 3300 HP
diesel locomotives
 Acquisition of 1800 wagons.
Internal Projects
 Creation of facilities of setting up cold storage and temperature
controlled perishable cargo centers and its transportation through
public private partnership mode.

 Dedicated Freight Corridor project on the Western and Eastern routes is a

landmark project which will adorn the country like a necklace.
 The freight traffic target for year 2009-10 has been fixed at 880 MT.
 Goods earnings are projected at Rs 58,525 cr.
 Conclusion
Summing up, it can be undoubtedly said that railways emerged as a boom in the
era of the Indian transportation system and economy. It not only provided
tremendous facilities but it also gradually became the lifeline of the mass who
have now become so much dependant on the rail transport that they also feel
paralyzed by a mere thought of absence of the rail transportation system. Apart
from being an employment generator and helping in daily commuting, railways
also acted as a boon to the people below poverty line and the middle class people
who contribute to the maximum population of India. It is feasible and cheaper. It
saves time in comparison to the earlier time taking mode of transportations like
ships and carts. Since air transport is not everybody’s part of cake, in such a case,
it was the rail transport system that changed the whole meaning of transportation.
It has also affected the tourism industry to a large extent by connecting different
areas. It facilitates the tourists to travel a huge part of the country in a very feasible
manner. Not only this, iron and steel products of depreciated value are also reused
by the rail industry making the best possible use of the country’s resources.
(…contd.)
Hence, Indian railways has not only acted as a lifeline of the mass, but
it is also behaved as facilitator to those people for whom traveling is
supposed to be a cumbersome and time taking process. Today, most
of the trading activities are dependant on the rail.