when was the first train started in india
History of rail transport in India India's first railway proposals were made in Madras in 1832.[1] The Red Hill Railway, the country's first train, ran from Red Hills to Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837. It was hauled by a rotary steam-engine locomotive manufactured by William Avery. Built by Arthur Cotton, the railway was primarily used to transport granite stone for road-building work in Madras.[1] In 1845, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway was built at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry. Also built by Cotton, it supplied stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River.[1]
Indian Railways Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is a State owned national transporter, responsible for rail transport in India. It is owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is the third largest railway network in the world comprising 119,630 kilometres (74,330 mi) of total track[4] and 92,081 km (57,216 mi) of running track over a route of 66,687 km (41,437 mi) with 7,216 stations at the end of 2015-16.[2] In 2015-16, IR carried 8.107 billion passengers annually or more than 22 million passengers a day and 1.101 billion tons of freight annually.[2] As of the end of 2015-16, of the total 68,525 km (42,579 mi) route length, 28,327 km (17,602 mi) or 45% were electrified and 28,371 km (17,629 mi) or 37% were double or multiple line routes.[5] The railway network is predominantly a broad gauge network. Small stretches of the network use metre and narrow gauges. All the electrified lines use 25 kV AC electric traction.[2]