Tag: means of transport and communication

• 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.