Indian Railways - a Perspective

Indian Railways is one of the largest systems in the world. It is also one of the very few railway systems in the world generating operating surpluses. With a modest beginning in India on April 16, 1853, when the first wheels rolled on rails from Bombay to Thane, the Indian Railways has emerged today as the main vehicle for socio-economic development of the country. Rail transportation has a number of favourable characteristics as compared to road transportation. It is six times more energy-efficient than road and four times more economical. The social costs in terms of environment damage or degradation are significantly lower in rail. Rail construction costs are approximately six times lower than road for comparable levels of traffic. It is the only major transport mode capable of using any form of primary energy. Contributing to Modern Market Economy Since its inception, the Indian Railways has served to integrate the fragmented markets and thereby, stimulating the emergence of a modern market economy. It connects industrial production centres with markets and with sources of raw materials and facilitates industrial development and link agricultural production centres with distant markets. It provides rapid, reliable and cost-effective bulk transportation to the energy sector, to move coal from the coal fields to power plants and petroleum products from refineries to consumption centres. It links places, enabling large-scale, rapid and low-cost movement of people across the length and breadth of the country. In the process, the Indian Railways has become a symbol of national integration and a strategic instrument for enhancing our defence preparedness. The Indian Railways contributes to India's economic development, accounting for about one per cent of the GNP and the backbone of freight needs of the core sector. It accounts for six per cent of the total employment in the organised sector directly and an additional 2.5 per cent indirectly