name of the first train run in india
Rail transport in India The first proposals for railways in India were made in Madras in 1832.[9] The first train in India ran from Red Hills to Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837. It was called Red Hill Railway. It was hauled by a rotary steam engine locomotive manufactured by William Avery. It was built by Sir Arthur Cotton. It was mainly used for transporting granite stones for road building work in Madras.[9] In 1845, a railway was built at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry. It was called Godavari Dam Construction Railway. It was also built by Arthur Cotton. It was used to supply stones for construction of a dam over Godavari.[9] On May 8, 1845, Madras Railway was incorporated. In the same year East India Railway company was incorporated. On August 1, 1849, Great Indian Peninsular Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament. "Guarantee System" providing free land and guaranteed rates of return (5%) to the private English companies willing to work on building railways was finalized on August 17, 1849. In 1851, a railway was built in Roorkee. It was called Solani Aqueduct Railway. It was hauled by steam locomotive called Thomason, named after a British officer. It was used for transporting construction materials for building of aqueduct over Solani river.[9] In 1852, the Madras Guaranteed Railway Company was incorporated.
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]