Indian Railways

• Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853from Mumbai to Thane
• Indian Railways Nationalized in 1951
• The country’s first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway
• The Indian railway system is the largest in Asia and fourth in the world based on rail transport network size after the USA, China, and Russia
• It is a single undertaking in the country
• It has the second biggest electrified system in the world after Russia
• The number of stations at present is in between 8000 to 8500
• The total length of the Indian railway is 115,000 km
• At present Indian railway have 9549 locomotives 55,339 passenger services  vehicle 6560 other coaching vehicles and 239321 wagons
• Indian Railways is divided into 17 zones, which are further sub-divided into 68 divisions
• Each zone is headed by a general manager.

At present, it is one of the largest and busiest railway networks in the world, transporting over 1.8 crore passengers and more than 20 lakh tonnes of freight daily. It is the world's largest employer, with more than 14 lakh employees. 

Indian Railways is the largest public sector employer and undertaking in India.

Railways also make it possible to conduct multifarious activities like business, sightseeing, pilgrimage along with transportation of goods over longer distances. 

D. Allahabad

Train moving between Varanasi to chennai often covers stations like Satna, Katni, Jabalpur , Itarsi, Nagpur, Balharshah , Warangal, Hydrabad , Ongole etc.

D. Varanasi

Major cities on the route of Delhi Kolkata are :

1. Aligarh
2. Tundla
3. Kanpur
4. Allahabad
5. Mughal Sarai
6. Gaya
7. Dhanbad

B. Gorakhpur

The North Eastern Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur. The North Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 by combining two Railway systems the Oudh and Tirhut Railway and Assam Railway and the Cawnpore-Achnera Provincial State Railway of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. The Cawnpore-Barabanki Railway was transferred to the North Eastern Railway on 27 February 1953.

The gauge of the railway track is a clear minimum distance between the inner sides of two tracks. There broadly three types of gauge in India. They are 

The Ganga plain is characterized by flat, uniform topography and a very high population density, making it ideal and profitable for railway construction.

The Northern Railway zone serves the northern part of India, including the Jammu and Kashmir region.

• Frist underground metro rail was started in the year 1984 in Kolkata.  The rail served on a single line only, between Esplanade and Netaji Bhawan.
  
• In 2010 Kolkata underground metro railway was added to the present 16 railway zones and hence making Indian railway zones into 17.
  

Suburban rail is defined as a rail service between a central business district and suburbs that carry a large number of people on a daily basis. They usually have nine coaches or sometimes twelve to handle rush hour traffic.

Mumbai suburban rail is very developed. It is spread over 465 kilometres with 2342 trains carrying about 7 million people daily.

The busiest railway junction in eastern India is the Howrah junction railway station. It is the largest, oldest and busiest railway junction in eastern India with 23 platforms. It is located on the left bank of Hooghly River. A total of 274 passenger trains pass through this station making it the busiest railway station of India.

Construction of railways are influenced by a number of factors. Some of them are :

• Economic conditions: laying of railways is highly dependent on economic conditions of the country because it involves huge budget to lay and maintain railways. 
  
• Relief conditions play an important role in every developmental step including railways. 
  
• Distribution of population is another important influential factor because railways are laid keeping in mind the distribution of population. 
  

The only factor that do not influence is climatic conditions because irrespective of climatic conditions railways are laid and used by people.

Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express are express train services in India.

• Rajdhani and Shatabdi express trains are passenger trains and the fastest trains.
  
• Shatabdi express trains run short to medium distances while Rajdhani express covers long distances connecting metropolitans of the country.
  

The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand.
Railways were essential for colonial trade and for the movement of
imperial troops. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890,
about 25,500 km of track had been laid. In 1946, the length of the
tracks had increased to over 765,000 km. 

Kanpur, Allahabad (Prayagraj), and Gaya are major stations on the main Delhi-Kolkata trunk route. Varanasi is located on a branch line off the main route.

The railway network in Kashmir falls under the jurisdiction of the Northern Railway zone.

The headquarters of the North Eastern Railway is located in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

• Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is the only manufacturer of rail coaches located in Chennai.
  
• Integral Coach Factory. Started in 1952, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is a factory for rail coaches located in Perambur, a suburb near Chennai.

The Deccan Queen is a famous train that connects Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST) in Mumbai to Pune.

The Railway Staff College, now known as the National Academy of Indian Railways, is situated in Vadodara, Gujarat.

The Golden Temple Mail (formerly Frontier Mail) runs between Amritsar and Mumbai Central.

The headquarters of the Northeast Frontier Railway is located at Maligaon, near Guwahati, Assam.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a UNESCO World Heritage site and continues to operate steam locomotives.

Railways significantly reduced the time and cost of transporting bulk goods over long distances compared to traditional methods.

Jhansi is located on the North Central Railway route, not on the Western Railway line between Mumbai and Delhi.

The first passenger train in India ran between Bombay (Bori Bunder) and Thane on April 16, 1853.

Track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track. Based on the width of gauge, it is classified into the standard gauge, minimum gauge, broad gauge, meter gauge, narrow gauge, medium gauge, etc. Metro rail is a rapid transit high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas

The Vivek Express, running between Dibrugarh and Kanniyakumari, is currently the longest train route in India by distance and time.

Coal accounts for the largest share of freight traffic in terms of volume for Indian Railways.

The South Central Railway headquarters is in Secunderabad, not Chennai (which is the headquarters of the Southern Railway).

The North Indian plains are favored for railway expansion due to flat terrain, high population density, and agricultural productivity.

Indian Railways is the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, following the US, China, and Russia.

The standard broad gauge track width in India is 1.676 meters.

• The headquarters of South Eastern Railway zone is in Kolkata. The zone comprises of 4 divisions.
• They are viz. Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur and Ranchi. 

The South-Central Railway zone is headquartered in Secunderabad.

As of March 2017, the IR network spans 121,407 km (75,439 mi) of track length, while the route length is 67,368 km (41,861 mi). So option A is the closest.

The Golden Temple Express runs between Amritsar and Mumbai C.S.T. As we all know that the Golden temple is located at Amritsar. So, the train was named accordingly. Golden temple is the holiest gurudhwara of Sikhism.

A track width of 1.676m is defined as the Broad Gauge in the Indian railway system.

The distribution pattern of the Railway network in the country has been largely influenced by physiographic, economic and administrative factors: The northern plains with their vast level land, high population density and rich agricultural resources provided the most favourable condition for their growth.

Himsagar ( Kanyakumari to Jammu Tawi ) is a train running between Kanyakumari and Jammu. Kanyakumari is located in the state of Tamil Nadu and Jammu is located in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The two cities are located at a distance of 3714kms.

Broad gauge, meter gauge, narrow gauge indicate the width between two rails. The difference in their width is as follows:

• Broad gauge: 1.676 meters.
  
• Narrow gauge: 0.762 meters.
  
• Metre gauge: 1 meter.
  

Indian railways is one of the largest networks in India. It is divided into 16 railway zones and 7112 stations. These are managed and maintained by government of India through ministry of Railways.

The length of the Western Railway network is approximately 6,181 kilometers.

The Rail Wheel Factory, formerly known as Wheel and Axle Plant, is located in Yelahanka, Bengaluru. It is a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways.

The Northern Railway zone has the largest route length among all the railway zones in India. It serves a vast area including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

The first passenger train in India ran between Bombay and Thane in 1853. While some industrial lines existed earlier, the formal railway system is widely recognized as starting in 1853.