Indian Railways
| Indian Railways
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | State railway |
| founding | 1947 |
| Seat | New Delhi |
| management | Dinesh Trivedi (Minister of Railways - Ministry of Railways) |
| Number of employees | 1.33 million (2014) |
| sales | 22.5 billion USD (2014) |
| Branch | Railway companies |
| Website | www.indianrailways.gov.in/ |
Indian Railways, abbreviated IR , in Hindi भारतीय रेल ( bhāratīya rel , Bharatiya Rel ) is the state-owned Indian railway company. As a state railway , it operates most of the nationwide rail transport and the Kolkata Metro . Indian Railways transports over eight billion passengers and over a billion tons of freight annually. Every day there are about 12,000 passenger trains used by 23 million travelers and 7,000 freight trains carrying three million tons of cargo. Indian Railways, along with China Railways , Russian Railways and North American Railways, is one of the only rail networks that transport more than 1 billion tons of goods by rail every year. The railway company is one of the world's largest employers with 1.3 million employees.
history
India's first train ran between Bombay and Thane on April 16, 1853 . It belonged to the Great Indian Peninsular Railway , a private railway company which had received the concession from the East India Company to build the first railway in Asia. Just four decades later, the railway network built up by private companies with the help of the British colonial administration linked all the important parts of the country with one another. By 1860, the route network had expanded to 1,350 kilometers.
Most railway companies were in poor financial condition. This was due to the high construction costs for the broad gauge lines and the low operating income, which repeatedly made subsidies from the colonial government necessary and thus also affected their financial situation. Lord Mayo , who was Viceroy of India from 1869 , tried to bring the situation under control by starting to nationalize the private railway companies and promoting the construction of meter- gauge lines. In 1880 the route network had grown to 14,977 km, in 1900 to 36,188 km.
In 1947, after the transfer of power from England and the division of British India into India and Pakistan , the railway network also had to be divided. In 1951, the various railway companies that had existed up to that point were transferred to the current structure of Indian Railways. From the 1960s, the conversion of meter-gauge lines into broad-gauge lines began.
organization
Indian Railways is based in New Delhi . In addition to the 16 regional companies (English: " Zonal Railways ") and the company that operates the Kolkata Metro, the company also includes its own production facilities for the construction and maintenance of rolling stock, as well as its own engineering offices, research units and training centers. Indian Railways also holds stakes in several companies that operate in the railroad sector.
Regional companies
| Surname | Abbr. | Headquarters | founding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Railway | NO | Delhi | April 14, 1952 |
| North Eastern Railway | NER | Gorakhpur | 1952 |
| Northeast Frontier Railway | NFR | Guwahati | 1958 |
| Eastern Railway | HE | Kolkata | April 1952 |
| South Eastern Railway | SER | Kolkata | 1955 |
| South Central Railway | SCR | Secunderabad | 2nd October 1966 |
| Southern Railway | SR | Chennai | April 14, 1951 |
| Central Railway | CR | Mumbai | 5th November 1951 |
| Western Railway | WR | Mumbai | 5th November 1951 |
| South Western Railway | SWR | Hubballi Dharwad | April 1, 2003 |
| North Western Railway | NWR | Jaipur | October 1, 2002 |
| West Central Railway | WCR | Jabalpur | April 1, 2003 |
| North Central Railway | NCR | Prayagraj | April 1, 2003 |
| South East Central Railway | SECR | Bilaspur | April 1, 2003 |
| East Coast Railway | ECoR | Bhubaneswar | April 1, 2003 |
| East Central Railway | ECR | Hajipur | October 1, 2002 |
The Konkan line , which began operating on January 26, 1998, is not operated by a regional company, but by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited , a public company owned by Indian Railways and the adjacent states.
Production plants
Indian Railways' manufacturing operations are used to build and maintain the rolling stock.
| Surname | Abbr. | Headquarters | function | founding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chittaranjan Locomotive Works | CLW | Chittaranjan | Construction of electric locomotives | 1947 |
| Diesel Locomotive Works | DLW | Varanasi | Construction of diesel locomotives | 1961 |
| Integral Coach Factory | ICF | Chennai | Construction of passenger coaches | 1952 |
| Rail Coach Factory | RCF | Kapurthala | Construction of passenger coaches | 1986 |
| Rail wheel factory | RWF | Yelahanka | Manufacture of wheelsets | 1984 |
| Diesel Loco Modernization Works | DMW | Patiala | Overhaul of diesel locomotives | 1981 |
Other units
| Surname | Abbr. | Headquarters | function | founding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Organization for Railway Electrification | CORE | Prayagraj | Electrification of railway lines | 1979 |
| NF Railway (Construction) | Maligaon | Construction of railway lines in the seven northeastern states of Assam , Tripura , Meghalaya , Manipur , Nagaland , Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram . | 1979 | |
| Central Organization for Modernization of Workshops | COFMOW | Delhi | Modernization of production units and maintenance systems | 1979 |
| Indian Railway Project Management Unit | IRPMU | Delhi | Purchase of signaling and telecommunications equipment | |
| Indian Railways Organization For Alternate Fuels | IROAF | Delhi | Management of projects to convert internal combustion engines to alternative fuels | |
| National Academy of Indian Railways | NAIR | Vadodara | Training of management staff | 1930 |
| Research Designs and Standards Organization | RDSO | Lucknow | Research, Development and Standardization Office | 1957 |
| Center for Railway Information Systems | CRIS | Chanakyapuri | Development and support of IT systems for the railways | 1986 |
Holdings
Indian Railways has interests in the following state-owned companies:
| Surname | Abbr. | Headquarters | function | founding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braithwaite & Co (India) Ltd | BCL | Kolkata | 100% subsidiary of Indian Railways, which is active in steel construction , crane construction and freight car construction | 1913 |
| Burn Standard Company Limited | BSCL | Kolkata | Manufacturer of freight wagons and castings that emerged from the merger of the nationalized Burns & Co. with the Indian Standard Wagon Company | 1976 |
| Bharat Wagon and Engineering | BWEL | Kolkata | Manufacturer of freight wagons, the result of the merger of the two manufacturers Arthur Butler & Co. Ltd in Muzaffarpur and the freight car production of Britannia Engineering Co. Ltd. originated in Mokama . | 1978 |
| Container Corporation of India | CONCOR | Delhi | Society for container transport with own terminals | 1988 |
| Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited | DFCCIL | Delhi | Company for the planning, construction and operation of freight transport routes. | 2006 |
| Ircon International Limited | IRCON | Delhi | Originally named Indian Railways Construction Company, an international construction company for the construction of railway infrastructure, highways and bridges . | 1976 |
| Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation | IRCTC | Delhi | Travel agency and catering company that also sells Indian Railways tickets on the Internet. | 1999 |
| Indian Railway Finance Corporation | IRFC | Delhi | Finance company for Indian Railways projects | |
| Konkan Railway Corporation Limited | KRCL | Navi Mumbai | Society for the planning, construction and operation of the Konkan route . which is equally owned by Indian Railways and the states of Maharashtra , Goa , Karnataka and Kerala . | 1990 |
| Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation | MRVC | Mumbai | Company for the expansion of the S-Bahn system in Mumbai. Indian Railways owns 51% of the company and Maharashtra state 49%. | 1999 |
| RailTel Corporation of India Limited | RCIL | Gurgaon | Company for the operation of a broadband telecom network | 2000 |
| Rail India Technical and Economic Services | RITES | Gurgaon | Consulting company for the transport sector | 1974 |
| Rail Vikas Nigam Limited | RVNL | Delhi | Company to develop rail connections between the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, as well as to the most important ports | 2003 |
| Center for Railway Information Systems | CRIS | Delhi | Company operating the IT infrastructure of Indian Railways | 1986 |
| Rail Land Development Authority | RLDA | Delhi | Real estate company for the use of Indian Railways' land reserves | 2006 |
Route network
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The Indian Railways network had a route length of 65,030 kilometers in 2014/15, of which 22,224 kilometers (34%) were electrified. Almost 90% (58,177 km) is in Indian broad gauge (1676 mm or 5½ feet), 8% (5,334 km) in meter gauge, the remainder (2,297 km) in the even narrower gauges 762 mm (2 feet 6 inches) and 610 mm (2 feet) laid out. In the 1980s, almost half of all lines were laid out in meter gauge , a large part of which was converted into broad-gauge lines as part of the as yet unfinished Project Unigauge (German "Project Unit Track ").
The route network serves 7112 train stations.
The main main routes are called the golden square that connects the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Both the edges of the square and the diagonals Delhi – Chennai and Mumbai – Kolkata have a high volume of traffic. These lines, with a total length of 10,122 km, form the backbone of Indian Railways. Although they only make up 15% of the route network, they handle 55% of all rail freight traffic. The broad-gauge trunk network was created between 1853 and 1874 and was operated by different companies. In order to relieve the existing routes between Howrah and Delhi (Eastern Corridor), as well as between Mumbai and Delhi (Western Corridor), new, freight-only routes are being built, which should go into operation in December 2019. The project is called Dedicated Freight Corridor , or DFC for short .
Broad gauge
Most of the route network is laid out in Indian broad gauge (abbreviated BG for English " Broad Gauge ") with a gauge of 1676 mm, which corresponds to 5 feet and 6 inches in the British system of measurement . The gauge was set by Lord Dalhousie in 1853 on the recommendation of the British civil engineer Frederick Walter Simms . The measure lies between the two gauges that were common in England at the time, the standard gauge and the Brunel broad gauge . The decision in favor of a wider gauge than the standard gauge was justified with a lower position of the center of gravity of the vehicles so that they sway less while driving and cannot be blown over by the crosswind .
Meter gauge
Meter gauge lines (abbreviated MG for English " meter gauge " ) emerged in 1873 as a complement to the wide-gauge rail network. Originally, Lord Mayo's gauge was set at 3 feet and 3 inches, which corresponded to the wishes of the locomotive factories and allowed the experience gained with the Cape Gauge to be used. Furthermore, this was the narrowest track where four passengers could sit next to each other in a third-class compartment . Because the Indian colonial administration at the time of introduction of the narrow-gauge railways the transition to the metric unit system provided for, the track width of 3 feet and 3 were 3 / 8 inch determine what in fact is one meter.
The proportion of meter gauge on the Indian route network is steadily decreasing due to the conversion to broad gauge routes. In 2012, the largest meter gauge networks were in Gujarat , Uttarakhand , Assam , Rajasthan , Tamil Nadu and Bihar .
Narrow gauge
In India, only gauges that are smaller than one meter are referred to as narrow gauge ( NG for Narrow Gauge ). Two different gauges are used, which were used wherever there was either so little traffic or the terrain was too difficult to build a meter-gauge route. The lines do not form a coherent network.
2 feet 6 inches (762 mm)
The first line in this gauge was the Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway, which emerged from an ox-powered taxiway and could be operated with locomotives from 1873, although these were not used regularly in the first few years. Many lines in this gauge were rebuilt or canceled. A larger network can be found around the city of Dabhoi in Gujarat.
The 762-mm tracks in the Kangra Valley and after Shimla are not umgespurt .
2 feet (610 mm)
This gauge was first used for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in 1881 , and is also used by the Matheran Hill Railway . These tracks are not part of Project Unigauge .
Rolling stock
Indian Railways owned 254,006 freight cars , 68,558 passenger cars and 10,773 locomotives in 2014/15 , of which 43 are steam locomotives , 5016 electric locomotives and 5714 diesel locomotives , which are located in 71 depots (English: " Shed s"). 9319 (almost 15%) of the passenger cars have air conditioning.
At the time of British colonial rule, locomotives were mostly supplied by British locomotive factories. Only a few companies in Germany, Canada, Japan and the USA appeared as additional suppliers. Individual locomotives were built in the railway company's own workshops. It was only after India gained independence that its own locomotive industry emerged.
The first passenger coaches built in India came from the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, which from 1955 onwards, with the help of Wagon Schlieren from Switzerland, manufactured passenger coaches in a self-supporting design similar to the light steel coaches of the SBB. From 2000, wagons based on drawings by Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) were manufactured, which could reach higher speeds.
passenger traffic
Indian Railways carried nearly 8.4 billion travelers in 2014, with the rail transporting 1.16 trillion passenger kilometers. Indian Railways had a share of 10% of the total modal split for passenger transport in 2011 , with 90% being accounted for by road transport. The share of the railway goes down sharply with the expansion of the roads. For 2016 only a share of 8% is predicted.
Local transport
Electric multiple units and diesel multiple units are used for local transport . Large metropolitan areas such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata have S-Bahn systems with their own tracks, but the trains also use long-distance tracks because the gauge and power system are the same. The trains often run every few minutes in the city, in the suburbs and in the region at longer intervals and often irregularly.
Car classes
Most trains have three classes of car:
- General Compartment - very affordable car class that makes up most of the train.
- First Class - about twelve times more expensive than General Compartment, there are fewer passengers in this class. The compartment has red diagonal stripes on the roof edge.
- Ladies Compartment - special women's compartment to enable women traveling alone to travel safely. The compartment has green diagonal stripes on the roof edge.
In some trains there are load compartments that are used by market drivers. There are additional car classes in suburban traffic in Mumbai.
The local trains do not have air conditioning . The doors of the trains are usually open and are only pushed shut by the passengers when it is raining heavily. Even with empty trains, passengers often stand in the open doors while the train is in motion to let the wind cool them down.
Train types
The following types of train are used in local transport:
- MEMU - Abbreviation for Mainline Electric Multiple Unit , German "electric multiple unit for main lines". These trains run together with the long-distance trains on the main routes, similar to the regional train in Germany.
- EMU - Abbreviation for Electric Multiple Unit , German "electric multiple unit ". Similar to the S-Bahn, these trains run in the suburbs of large cities, sometimes on tracks that are separate from the main line.
- DMU - short for Diesel Multiple Unit , German " diesel multiple unit ". These trains run on the non-electrified routes, but sometimes also under the contact wire.
Long-distance transport
Long-distance train travel can take a long time due to the low average speeds and long distances. Many trains travel over 24 hours, some up to four days. Most long-distance trains only have sleeping cars. The journey is usually made without changing trains via a direct connection from the start to the destination station.
There are major differences in punctuality between the various train types. The highest quality trains are called the Rajdhani Express and usually reach their destination on time even after several hours of travel. Over shorter distances, such as Mumbai– Pune or Delhi– Agra , day connections are offered with the Shatabdi Express trains, which only have seated cars .
The long-distance trains have a name in addition to the train number . They run no more than once a day on any route, sometimes only once a week. What is unusual for European standards is the length of the long-distance trains, which can consist of up to 24 cars. The energy supply is under the contact line by generator car at both ends of the train, the passenger car with a three-phase AC - train line supplied with a voltage of 380 V.
Car classes
On Indian long-distance trains, travelers are offered a confusing number of different car classes , which are shown on the ticket with a code.
The abbreviation AC in the class name stands for Air-Conditioned (German for " air conditioning "). There are significant price differences between the classes: a First Class AC ticket costs around six times as much as a Sleeper Class ticket. The ticket prices for the higher quality express trains depend on demand.
Not all trains carry all car classes. In the night trains, First Class AC is the highest class of car, where the passenger has the most space with only 18 passengers in one car. Unreserved is the lowest class of car in which sometimes up to 300 passengers share a car. Most passengers with a seat reservation travel in Sleeper Class . The non-air-conditioned First Class is only available in some trains in southern India.
The cars of the classes with air conditioning (AC) have tinted glass panes in the windows, which have good soundproofing against the noise. The wagons of the other classes mostly have barred lowered windows, which usually stay open in the warm season.
In the following list of carriage classes, those that are used on most trains are shown in bold in the Code column . Car classes in seated cars are only offered in day trains.
| class | code | Furnishing | image | Price Mumbai - Ahmedabad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Class AC | 1A | Air-conditioned sleeping car with lockable two and four-bed compartments |
|
1940 INR |
| Executive Anubhuti | EA | Air-conditioned seating car with two seats on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. Passenger entertainment system with LCD screens in the backrests. Only offered on some high-quality Shatabdi Express day trains . Hindi : अनुभूति Anubhuti , German 'good' . |
|
|
| Executive class | EC | Air-conditioned seating car with two seats on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. Only offered in the high-quality Shatabdi Express day trains . |
|
1930 INR |
| AC 2-tier sleeper | 2A | Air-conditioned couchette car with four-bed compartments on one side of the aisle, on the other side two beds one above the other in the longitudinal direction of the car. The corridor is separated from the beds by curtains. |
|
1150 INR |
| First class | FC | Non-air-conditioned sleeping car with lockable two- and four-bed compartments. Only offered in a few trains. | 950 INR | |
| AC 3-tier sleeper | 3A | Air-conditioned couchette car with six-bed compartments on one side of the aisle, on the other side two beds one above the other in the longitudinal direction of the car. The beds have not been separated from the corridor by curtains since 2014. |
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|
815 INR |
| AC 3-tier high capacity |
3H | Air-conditioned couchette car with six-bed compartments on one side of the aisle, on the other side two beds one above the other in the longitudinal direction of the car. Facility arranged very closely so that as many passengers as possible can be transported per car. Only offered in a few trains. | ||
| AC 3-tier economy | 3E | Air-conditioned couchette car with six-bed compartments on one side of the aisle, on the other side three beds one above the other in the longitudinal direction of the car. No curtains between the corridor and the beds. The car class is only offered in the Duronto Express and the Garib Rath Express . | ||
| AC chair car | CC | Air-conditioned seating car with three seats on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. |
|
665 INR |
| AC chair car high capacity |
HC | Air-conditioned seating car with three seats on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. Particularly small seat spacing so that more passengers can travel per car. Only offered in a few trains. | ||
| Sleeper class high capacity |
SH | Beds for sleeping at night, seats during the day. There are more seats than sleeping places. Particularly close arrangement so that there is space for many passengers. Only offered in a few trains. | ||
| Sleeper class | SL | Non-air-conditioned couchette car with six-bed compartments on one side of the aisle, on the other side two beds one above the other in the longitudinal direction of the car; no curtains between the corridor and the beds |
|
315 INR |
| Second sitting | 2S | Non-air-conditioned seating car with three seats on either side of the aisle |
|
180 INR |
| Unreserved | UR | Non-air-conditioned seating car with three seats on either side of the aisle, which can be used without reservation |
Regardless of the carriage class, passenger coaches generally have four toilets - three of which are squat toilets and one is a sit-down toilet.
In the moving trains sell hawkers in the non-air-conditioned car classes drinks, edibles, toys and cosmetics, as well as goods offered by the platform through the open window of the car at stops. The dealers usually have no access to the air-conditioned car classes and cannot offer the goods from the platform because of the fixed windows in the air-conditioned cars.
Train types
As with the car classes, Indian Railways also knows a great variety of train types for long-distance passenger transport. According to the frequency of the intermediate stops, a distinction is made between the categories Superfast , Express , Mail and Passenger , although not all trains with the word Express in their name belong to the Express category.
Superfast trains
Trains in this category make the fewest intermediate stops and thus, after deducting the stopping time at the intermediate stations, reach an average travel speed of at least 55 km / h. This category includes:
- Rajdhani Express - the highest quality passenger trains on the Indian Railways network. They connect the capitals of the various states with the state capital New Delhi and only carry car classes 1A, 2A and 3A. Meals are included in the fare. The trains have right of way over all other trains and reach a top speed of 160 km / h. The color scheme is red with a beige window band on the older cars, the newer LHB cars are red with a silvery band below the window.
- Shatabdi Express - are high-quality day trains with a travel time of no more than eight hours. With a top speed of 160 km / h, these are the fastest trains on the Indian route network. They only run seating cars in classes 1A and CC. Compared to the Shatabdi trains, the Swarna-Shatabdi trains offer greater comfort at a higher price. The paint scheme is blue with a beige window band on the older cars, the newer cars based on drawings by LHB are blue with a silvery band below the window.
- Duronto Express - are high-quality night express trains that serve the departure and destination stations without commercial stops. The trains stop at intermediate stations only to exchange staff and take food on board. With a top speed of 140 km / h, the trains reach their destination faster than the Rajdhani Express trains due to the lack of intermediate stops. The colors of the cars are paintings in yellow and green, which are said to come from the Indian politician Mamata Banerjee. The name Duronto comes from the Bengali language and means "restless".
- Yuva Express - are affordable, fully air-conditioned trains designed to appeal to young travelers in particular. On the trains, 60% of seats are reserved for students and low-income travelers between the ages of 18 and 45. Passengers who claim these seats must be able to present a document, both at the time of booking and during the journey, that justifies their age or income.
- Premium Train - are trains with a shortened reservation period of 15 days. The tickets cannot be canceled and there is therefore no waiting list for reservations for these trains.
- Double Decker Express - are day trains with double-decker coaches, the comfort is similar to that of the Shatabdi trains.
- Garib Rath Express - are inexpensive trains that only run in carriage class 3E. Food and bedding are not included in the fare.
- Sampark Kranti Express - are trains that connect several cities in a state with New Delhi. Outside of the state where the train begins or ends, most trains operate with no commercial stops.
- Jan Shatabdi Express - are inexpensive day trains that carry class 1A and 2S coaches.
Other types of trains
- Swarna Jayanti Express - are weekly night express trains that connect various cities with New Delhi.
- Intercity Express - are daily express trains that carry many UR class cars and some 2S class cars.
- Janata Express - are long-distance trains that serve every station along the route. The trains run a large number of UR class cars, the highest class being 3A, and the rolling stock is usually very old. These trains are usually very delayed because of their long travel distance and low priority compared to other trains - six to eight hours are not uncommon.
- Express - general long-distance train with an average cruising speed of less than 55 km / h
- Mail - a general long-distance train with more stops than an express train
Tickets
Tickets for long-distance trains can be booked four months (120 days) before the train departs at the earliest. The period in which advance bookings are possible is called the Advance Reservation Period , or ARP for short . The ARP is shorter for some trains and one year (360 days) for foreign tourists. Between May 2013 and April 2015, the ARP was generally limited to two months in order to make it more difficult for ticket dealers to do business. Some trains are fully booked shortly after they are released for bookings. Critical dates are the Indian holidays such as Diwali , Holi or Durga Puja (the latter especially in Kolkata).
The ticket can be booked either at the counter in a train station or via the Internet. When booking at the counter, an application form for the desired ticket must first be filled out. The ticket seller then makes the booking using the computerized reservation systems introduced in 1985, whereby the Computerized Passenger Reservation System , abbreviated PRS , is used for seat reservations and the Computerized Unreserved Ticketing System , abbreviated UTS, is used for tickets in the UR class.
There are the following types of tickets:
- PRS ticket - ticket with seat reservation issued at a counter
- UTS ticket - ticket issued at a counter without a seat reservation
- I-Ticket - a ticket booked on the IRCTC website and delivered to the traveler by courier service
- E-ticket - a ticket booked on the IRCTC website that you can print yourself
- Tatkal ticket - a ticket intended for short-term trips that can only be purchased the day before the day of travel from 10 a.m. for a surcharge
- Premium Tatkal ticket - a Tatkal ticket that becomes more expensive as the number of bookings increases
Odds
The total number of bookable seats on a train is divided into contingents that are only accessible to certain reservation points and only to certain groups of people. If the quota referred to as the quota at Indian Railways is exhausted, the traveler is placed on a waiting list. Indian Railways has 19 quotas. Only the quotas GN, LD, CK (of which PT is a part) and PH can be booked online.
| Quota | code | description |
|---|---|---|
| General quota | GN | Seats that can only be booked by booking offices near the train departure station |
| Ladies quota | LD | Places reserved for women (six berths per sleeping car) |
| Head Office Quota | HO | Seats reserved for Indian Railways managers |
| Defense quota | DF | Seats reserved for members of the Indian Armed Forces |
| Parliament house quota | PH | Seats reserved for members of the Indian Parliament |
| Foreign Tourist Quota | FT | places reserved for foreign tourists |
| Duty Pass Quota | DP | Seats reserved for railway workers on passenger journeys |
| Tatkal quota | CK | Seats reserved for travelers with a Tatkal ticket |
| Premium Tatkal Quota | PT | Seats reserved for travelers with a Premium Tatkal ticket |
| Female (above 45 Year) / Senior Citizen / Traveling alone | SS | Places reserved for women over 45 years of age traveling alone and senior citizens traveling alone (two lower berths per sleeping car) |
| Physically Handicapped Quota | HP | Seats reserved for the disabled (two lower berths per sleeping car) |
| Railway Employee Staff on Duty for the train | RE | Seats reserved for railway workers who work on the train |
| General Quota Road Side | GNRS | for bookings from train stations along the route that are not connected to the PRS |
| Out station | OS | for bookings from booking offices along the route that are not located in train stations and are not connected to the PRS |
| Pooled quota | PQ | Reserved seats for bookings that only cover part of the route of the train |
| Reservation Against Cancellation | RC | Seats reserved for travelers with RAC tickets, with one sleeping place being used as two seats |
| Road side | RS | spaces reserved for trips from the departure station to a station en route |
| Yuva | YU | Places reserved for students and travelers with low incomes between the ages of 18 and 45 |
| Lower Berth | LB | for travelers who have access to the SS quota and places reserved for pregnant women (two lower berths per sleeping car) |
Ticketing
For the actual booking (if you know exactly which class you want to book on which train) there are these booking services:
- IRCTC official booking site of the state railway (not user-friendly)
- Cleartrip.com Private but working booking service for Indian trains (only way to pay for tickets with international MasterCard / Visacard)
- MakeMyTrip.com Another private, working booking service
- The Indrail Pass is available to tourists for journeys on the entire Indian Railways network. However, this has no advantages when it comes to the all-important reservation of seats on trains that are often booked out months in advance.
- Alternatively, if you are already in India, tickets can also be bought directly at the station counter. The process is a bit bureaucratic. There you have to present the ticket seller with an application form for the ticket you want.
Booking status and validity
In any case, a ticket is only actually valid with the booking status "Confirmed" and a fixed car and seat number . Only in the "AC First Class" will the seat numbers be announced by notices at the station on the day of departure. The Internet ticket printed out on the PC can be shown to the conductor, along with a photo ID, who compares the booking number and names with his passenger list. Further documents are not necessary, even if you sometimes hear different things from smugglers at the train station.
With the status “RAC” (Reservation against Cancellation) you have the right to be allowed to ride - but not to a seat or couchette, which can be very uncomfortable when driving at night. "WL" (Wait-List) tickets do not entitle you to take them with you and, in the case of online tickets, are automatically refunded to the booker's credit card.
Food on board
In the Shatabdi Express and Rajdhani Express, a full menu is included in the fare and is served at your seat - in terms of quantity, it is comparable to airplane food.
On other long-distance trains, the train crew sells food at the seat at low prices. Typically, in addition to a tea and coffee seller, vendors who sell freshly prepared dishes also walk through the cart - Dosa , Samosa , Idli , Gulab Jamun and Pakora are on offer. Drinking water in plastic bottles and soft drinks are sometimes sold at lower prices than at the train station.
In non-air-conditioned car classes, hawkers and farmers who sell their fruit also come into the car.
Examples
_Rajdhani_Express_(via_Gaya)_Route_map.png)
Two long-distance trains operated by Indian Railways are presented below as an example. The first is the Howrah – New Delhi Rajdhani Express , one of the flagships of Indian Railways, and the other is the Nagercoil Express as an example of an average express train. Both trains are night trains.
Howrah – New Delhi Rajdhani Express
The Howrah – New Delhi Rajdhani Express runs daily between the metropolises of Kolkata and New Delhi. On weekdays the train runs via Gaya , on Sundays it runs via Patna . Normally the train left the Howrah Junction Railway Station shortly before 5pm , which can be reached from Kolkata via the Howrah Bridge . On Sunday, the train leaves the station at 2 p.m. due to the three-hour longer journey. The next day, after a 17- or 20-hour journey, the train reaches the station in New Delhi, where it should arrive at 10 a.m. after six stops and a journey of around 1500 kilometers. The train is less than a quarter of an hour late around half of the days, but it can also be up to three hours late. An electric locomotive of the Eastern Railway pulls the train, which consists of twenty LHB cars and reaches a top speed of 130 km / h. Half of the train is reserved for class 3A, the highest car class on the Rajdhani Express is 1A. The cars are lined up as follows:
- Locomotive WAP-7
- Generator car
- Kitchen cart
- nine class 3A cars
- five class 2A cars
- Kitchen cart
- two class 1A cars
- Generator car
Mumbai CST – Nagercoil Express
The Mumbai CST – Nagercoil Express runs every day except Monday between Mumbai and the southern tip of India. On Thursday and Sunday, the train takes a slightly longer route that passes near Chennai, on the other days the train goes via Bangalore . The train leaves Mumbai CST station shortly before 12 noon , where most trains to central and southern India depart. After a 39-hour journey, the train arrives at Nagercoil Junction at 3:30 the next day in the morning. The station is at the point where the Chennai line meets the Mumbai line that runs along the west coast. The train covers a distance of 1867 kilometers and stops at 38 stations. The train can be up to an hour late on the way, but usually arrives at its destination less than a quarter of an hour late. A diesel locomotive from the Southern Railway pulls the train made up of 21 cars built by the Integral Coach Factory and reaches a top speed of 80 km / h. Half of the train is reserved for class 2S, the highest class offered on the train is 2A. The cars are lined up as follows:
- WDM-3A or WDG-4D locomotive
- Half baggage car with class 2S compartment and driver's compartment
- two UR class cars
- five class 2S cars
- Kitchen cart
- six class 2S cars
- a class 2A wagon
- two class 3A cars
- two UR class cars
- Half baggage car with class 2S compartment and driver's compartment
Freight transport
Indian Railways carried over 1 billion tons of freight in 2014, with the rail transporting 667 million net tonne-kilometers. In 2011 Indian Railways had a share of 36% of the total modal split in freight transport , with 50% the largest part was accounted for by road transport, 6% by shipping.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
In addition to the main lines, the Indian State Railways also operate a number of narrow-gauge railways. Three routes have been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The mountain railways in India in the UNESCO World Heritage Site include the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway , the Kalka-Shimla Railway and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway .
Operation on these routes, on which steam trains, among other things, also run, has not changed significantly since the routes were built - regular operation was more or less smoothly transferred to museum operations.
Accidents
| Official accident statistics of the Indian railways | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | Deaths | |||
| 2002 | 1,837 | |||
| 2003 | 2,963 | |||
| 2004 | 2,226 | |||
| 2005 | 3,720 | |||
| 2006 | 4,195 | |||
| 2007 | 4,349 | |||
| 2008 | 4,852 | |||
| 2009 | 3,997 | |||
| 2010 | 3,955 | |||
| Data source: Statistical Year Book, India 2013 | ||||
According to the official statistics of the Indian railways, there was an average of 3500 accidental deaths annually from 2002 to 2010. The number of unreported cases is certainly much higher because not every death is statistically recorded centrally. According to a government study, around 15,000 people in India die each year crossing the tracks and another 15,000 from falling from the roofs of trains or colliding with masts.
For comparison: Deutsche Bahn registered 180 deaths in around 1.3 billion people transported in 2008, of which around 80% were due to unauthorized use of level crossings, staying on the tracks, etc.
In terms of the number of railway accidents, Indian Railways is comparable to the European average. In 2012, there were 194 rail accidents in India, which is 0.2 accidents per million train kilometers traveled. This number is behind Germany (0.13) and the Netherlands (0.17), but ahead of Sweden (0.23).
The worst accident in the history of Indian Railways was the Mansi railway accident , which occurred on June 6, 1981: Seven out of nine cars on a long-distance train fell from a bridge into the Bagmati near Mansi station in the Khagaria district , Bihar . The death toll is estimated between 500 and 800.
Web links
- Indian Railway - Lifeline to the nation ... Indian Government, accessed June 14, 2015 (Official Indian Railways website).
- Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Inquiry. Indian Government, accessed on June 14, 2015 (English, official information page for travelers. Reservations are not possible on this page.).
- India Rail Info. Retrieved on June 14, 2015 (English, privatewebsite builtwith collective intelligence that provides information on the timetable, train composition and the reservation status of trains.).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Indian Railways (Ed.): Indian Railways - Lifeline of the nation . 2014 ( pdf ).
- ↑ a b Indian Railways Statistical Publications 2013-14. Indian Railways, accessed June 2, 2015 .
- ^ V. Gangadhar: A historic 150 years' track record. In: The Tribune. Retrieved June 2, 2015 .
- ^ RR Bhandari: Indian Railways: Glorious 150 years . Ministry of Information and Broadcasting , Government of India, ISBN 81-230-1254-3 , pp. 1-19 .
- ^ Engines of Change: The Railroads that Made India . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, ISBN 978-0-275-98564-6 , The Decision to Break Gauge ( Google Books [accessed June 20, 2015]).
- ↑ Undertakings and other Organizations. (PDF) Indian Railways, 2012, accessed June 2, 2015 (English).
- ↑ Braithwaite. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ Burns Standard Company Limited. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ↑ Bharat Wagon & Engineering Co. Ltd. In: www.bharatwagon.bih.nic.in. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ Container Corporation of India Ltd. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ↑ a b DFCCIL. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ↑ IRCON. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ↑ Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ↑ Rites. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 20, 2015 ; accessed on June 13, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Statistial Summary - Indian Railways. (PDF) Indian Railways, accessed April 12, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Track route / kilometers. (PDF) In: indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved June 2, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Yearbook for Railway History . German Society for Railway History eV, 1985, ISBN 3-922657-44-3 .
- ↑ 'Dedicated freight corridors will free up 70% of Railways' carrying capacity'. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ The Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism, 1850-1940 . Oxford University Press, USA, 1988, ISBN 978-0-19-802178-0 ( Google Books [accessed June 20, 2015]).
- ^ A b c d Tracks Across Continents, Paths Through History: The Economic Dynamics of Standardization in Railway Gauge . University of Chicago Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-226-68509-0 , pp. 196 ( Google Books [accessed June 20, 2015]).
- ^ Government of India (Ed.): Infrastructure Statistics 2014 . New Delhi 2014, table 10, p. 53 ( pdf ). pdf ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ IRFCA Indian Railways FAQ: Production Units and Workshops. Integral Coach Factory, Perambur. In: www.irfca.org. Retrieved June 13, 2015 .
- ^ National Transport Development Committee (ed.): Trends in Growth and Development . New Delhi 2014, table 2.5, p. 37 ( pdf ).
- ↑ a b A guide to the various classes of travel | Train Stuff in India. In: trainstuff.in. Retrieved June 4, 2015 .
- ^ A b Accommodation Classes in Indian Railways. In: Indian Railway Passenger Reservation Inquiry. Retrieved June 3, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Travel Classes in Indian Trains. In: Trainman. Retrieved on August 12, 2020 .
- ^ Railways removes curtains from AC III tier, cites safety reason. In: Times of India. April 1, 2014, accessed June 4, 2015 .
- ↑ Train travel in India - a beginner's guide. In: www.seat61.com. Retrieved June 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Sleeper Class details & photos. In: IndiaMike.com. Retrieved June 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Andy Keller: On the train through northern India to pilgrimage sites on holy rivers . In: Globetrotter (ed.): Globetrotter magazine . Spring, 2009 ( pdf ). pdf ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e What's the difference between Shatabdi Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Rajdhani Express, a Duronto Express, the Golden Chariot and Garib Rath Express in Indian Railways? Retrieved June 8, 2015 .
- ^ Ministry of Railways (ed.): Time Limit for Advance Reservations . New Delhi 2015 ( pdf ).
- ^ Reduction of railway ARP will act as a deterrent for touts. In: Indian Express. April 27, 2013, accessed June 15, 2015 .
- ^ Quotas in Indian Railways. In: Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Inquiry. Retrieved June 15, 2015 .
- ↑ Regarding quota percentage in counter booking. In: travel.stackexchange.com. Retrieved June 15, 2015 .
- ↑ Ladies Quota to ensure hassle free traveling in Trains. (No longer available online.) In: Railways Reservations. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015 ; accessed on June 15, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Howrah - New Delhi Rajdhani Express (via Gaya) (PT) / 12301. In: India Rail Info. Retrieved June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Akshay Gupta: 12301 Kolkata Rajdhani Express. YouTube, February 6, 2011, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Mumbai CST-Nagercoil Express (Via KJM) / 16339. In: India Rail Info. Retrieved June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Sandip Kambli: 16339 Mumbai CST-Nagercoil Express. YouTube, October 27, 2014, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ UNECE (Ed.): Transport for Sustainable Development: The case of inland transport . 2015, 8. Modality in inland transport, p. 152 ( pdf ).
- ↑ 19.7 Number Of Persons Killed And Injured According To Nature Of Accidents. (No longer available online.) In: Statistical Year Book. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation ( URL ), 2013, archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; accessed on June 8, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Two euros per corpse: India's poorest recover dead people from train tracks - N24.de. Retrieved June 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Safety report 2008. (No longer available online.) Federal Railway Authority, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Toll From Train Crash Reaches 215 in India . In: The New York Times . June 9, 1981, ISSN 0362-4331 ( webpage [accessed June 10, 2015]).
- ↑ See Stephen J. Spignesi: Catastrophe !: the 100 greatest disasters of all time . Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2004, ISBN 0-8065-2558-4 .
