Indian railways

The railways of India have probably done more to build the nation than any other country.  Countries like the US, Canada, and Russia might disagree but their railways have ceded dominance to roads and airlines, whereas the growing nation of India still relies on its vast railway network.

The country has committed to fully electrifying the broad gauge network at 25Kv by 31st March 2024, and should reach the target by completing 7-10% every year for the last six years, having largely skipped dieselisation in between.  Work has commenced on a national high speed rail network.

Railways came early to India (1832) and India was an early adopter of electric traction (1925).  India is now second only to Japan in the number of passengers carried (8.4bn vs 24.6bn) , but the average journey is much longer.  Only China, with its well-establish high-speed network, exceeds India's 1.2tn passenger kilometres. (All 2019 figures).

The railways of India were divided into "zones" in 1951.  The Konkan Railway on the coast south of Mumbai fully opened in 1998 and became its own zone.  Nine are fully electrified [August 2023]. The current zones are:

• Central Railway [CR]
• East Coast Railway [ECoR]
• East Central Railway [ECR]
• Eastern Railway [ER]
• Konkan Railway [KRCL]
• North Central Railway [NCR]
• North Eastern Railway [NER]
• Northeast Frontier Railway [NFR]
• Northern Railway [NR]
• North Western Railway [NWR]
• South Coast Railway [SCoR]
• South Central Railway [SCR]
• South East Central Railway [SECR]
• South Eastern Railway [SER]
• Southern Railway [SR]
• South Western Railway [SWR]
• West Central Railway [WCR]
• Western Railway [WR]