Railway Engineering

History of Indian Railways

Introduction
In the year 1832 the first Railway running on steam engine, was launched in England. Thereafter on 1st of August, 1849 the Great Indian Peninsular Railways Company was established in India. On 17th of August 1849, a contract was signed between the Great Indian Peninsular Railways Company and East India Company. As a result of the contract an experiment was made by laying a railway track between Bombay and Thane (56 Kms).

 On 16th April, 1853, the first train service was started from Bombay to Thane.
 On 15th August, 1854, the 2nd train service commenced between Howrah and Hubli.
 On the 1st July, 1856, the 3rd train service in India and first in South India commenced between Vyasarpadi and Walajah Road and on the same day the section between Vyasarpadi and Royapuram by Madras Railway Company was also opened.

Subsequently construction of this efficient transport system began simultaneously in different parts of the Country. By the end of 19th Century 24752 Kms. of rail track was laid for traffic. At this juncture the power, capital, revenue rested with the British. Revenue started flowing through passenger as well as through goods traffic.

Organizational structure Railway zones
Indian Railways is divided into several zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952 and sixteen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions. Each of the sixteen 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).

Zonal railways details

Subsidiaries of Indian Railways
There also exist independent organisations under the control of the Railway Board for electrification, modernization, research and design and training of officers, each of which is headed by an officer of the rank of general manager. A number of Public Sector Undertakings, which perform railway-related functions ranging from consultancy to ticketing, are also under the administrative control of the Ministry of railways.

There are fourteen public undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways:
 Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL)
 Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)[24]
 Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)
 Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL)
 Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)
 Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited
 Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC)
 Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL)
 Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC)
 Railtel Corporation of India Limited (Rail Tel)
 Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (RITES)
 Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)
 High Speed Rail Corporation of India (HSRC)
 Burn Standard Company
 Braithwaite and Co. Ltd

About Admin MC3

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