Indian RailwaysProfile

Indian Railways

Indian Railways is the life-line of nation providing transportation facility over the length and breadth of country. It’s vision is to provide efficient, affordable, customer-focused, environmentally sustainable integrated transportation solutions and to be the vehicle of inclusive growth, connecting regions, communities, ports and centers of industry, commerce, tourism and pilgrimage across the country.

Civil Engineering infrastructure is the largest static infrastructure of Indian Railways comprising of track, bridges, land, etc. Management of this huge infrastructure has to be done in accordance with the organization’s vision. Civil engineering department of Indian Railways manages and maintains all these infrastructures. Further, it has key role in the area of infrastructure development, technological leap in various fields, high speed travel and development of world class stations.


Track and Bridges

As on 31.03.2020, the route length of Indian Railways covered 67,956 kms with running track length of 99,235 kms. The total trackage including yards, sidings etc. stood at 1,26,366 kms. The table below shows the changing size of IR's electrified rail network over the years.

As on 31.3.2020, the Indian Railways had (in Kms.)
1. Route length 67,956
2. Running Track length 99,235
3. Total Trackage 1,26,366
The following works were carried out during 2019-20
   1. Track renewal 4,500
   2. Construction of New Line 359.71
   3. Gauge conversion from MG/NG to BG 408.50
   4. Track conversion from single to double line 1,458.22

The Network

Indian Railways (IR) is one of the world’s largest rail networks with 67,956 Route Kilometres of route lengths as on 31.03.2020. Out of 67,956 RKMs, BG constitutes 63,949 RKMs (94.10%), MG 2,402 RKMs (3.54%) and NG 1,809 RKMs (2.36%). The growth of its Route length, Running and Track Kms since independence is as follows :-

Year Route kms. Running Track kms. Total Track kms.
1950-51 53,596 59,315 77,609
1960-61 56,247 63,602 83,706
1970-71 59,790 71,669 98,546
1980-81 61,240 75,860 1,04,480
1990-91 62,367 78,607 1,08,858
2000-01 63,028 81,865 1,08,706
2010-11 64,173 87,114 1,14,037
2016-17 66,918 93,902 1,21,407
2017-18 66,935 94,270 1,22,873
2018-19 67,415 95,981 1,23,542
2019-20 67,956 99,235 1,26,366




State-wise Route Kms/ Running Kms./ Total Track Kms.:

Following table shows Route Kms., Running Track Kms. & Total Track Kms. of railway lines across various States/Union Territories at the end of 2019-20.

State/Union Territory Route kms. Running Track kms. Total Track kms.
Andhra Pradesh 3,965 6,075 7,714
Arunachal Pradesh 12 12 26
Assam 2,519 2,702 3,662
Bihar 3,794 5,418 7,663
Chhatishgarh 1,152 2,183 2,914
Delhi 184 346 706
Goa 69 69 111
Gujarat 5,301 6,357 7,938
Haryana 1,703 2,652 3,243
Himachal Pradesh 312 317 376
Jammu & Kashmir 298 366 493
Jharkhand 2,596 4,383 6,296
Karnatka 3,542 4,837 6,083
Kerla 6,083 1,745 2,087
Madhya Pradesh 5,148 8,216 9,702
Maharashtra 5,829 8,712 11,631
Manipur 13 13 18
Meghalaya 9 9 13
Mizoram 2 2 6
Nagaland 11 11 23
Odisha 2,652 4,443 5,506
Punjab 2,265 2,768 3,622
Rajasthan 5,998 8,174 9,190
Tamil Nadu 4,036 5,492 6,836
Telangana 1,828 2,596 3,223
Tripura 265 265 337
Uttrakhand 346 451 528
Uttar Pradesh 8,808 12,957 16,001
West Bengal 4,217 7,624 10,309
Union Territory
Chandigarh 16 18 83
Puducherry 22 22 26
Total 67,956 99,235 1,26,366
# Note: The remaining States/Union Territories have no railway line.



Gauge-wise Details:

Broad gauge, though forming 94% of the route, generated 100% of the freight output (NTKms) and 99.9% of the passenger output (Pkms).
Route length as on 31.03.2020 on each gauge, indicating double/multiple line, single line and electrified route, is given below:

Gauge Single line Double/multiple line Grand Total
Electrified Non electrified Total Electrified Non electrified Total
Broad (1676 mm) 16,036.12 22,878.79 38,914.91 23,292.76 1,741.59 25,034.35 63,949.26
Metre (1000 mm) - 2,402.25 2,402.25 - - - 2,402.25
Narrow (762 mm/610 mm) - 1,604.12 1,604.12 - - - 1,604.12
Total 16,036.12 26,885.16 42,921.28 23,292.76 1,741.59 2,5034.35 67,955.63
%age to total RKMs - - 63.16 - - 36.84 -

Almost, all Double/Multiple Track sections and Electrified Routes are Broad Gauge. Metre and Narrow Gauges are mostly single line and nonelectrified. Between 1950-51 and 2019-20, traffic density (million GTKms. per running track km.) increased from 4.29 to 21.54 on BG.





Bridges:

As on 01.04.2020, IR has 1,50,390 Bridges out of which 702 are important, 12,256 are major and 1,37,432 are minor Bridges. During the year 2019-20, 1,367 Bridges are Strengthened/Rehabilitated/Rebuilt to enhance safety of train operation.





Road Over/Under Bridges:

To improve safety of train operation and reduce inconvenience to road users, level crossings are being replaced by Road Over/Under Bridges/Subways (ROBs/RUBs) in a phased manner based on the quantum of traffic.
During the year 2019-20, 145 ROBs and 1,170 RUBs/Subways have been constructed under cost sharing, railway cost/accommodation works, Deposit/BOT term and by NHAI over Indian Railway.





Level crossings:

Level crossings (LCs) are meant to facilitate the smooth running of traffic in regulated manner governed by specific rules & conditions. Status of level crossings on IR as on 01.04.2020 is as under:

Total number of level crossings 21,323
Number of manned level crossings 20,375 (95.6%)
Number of unmanned level crossings 948 (4.4%)

Indian Railway has decided to progressively eliminate the level crossings for the safety of Road users and train passengers. During the year 2019-20, 1,273 Nos. of manned level crossings have been eliminated. All unmanned Level Crossings on Broad Gauge have already been eliminated.





Land Management:

As on 31.03.2020 Indian Railways (IR) owns about 4.81 lakh hectares of land. About 90% of this land is under Railways’ operational and allied usages such as laying of new lines, doubling, gauge conversions, track, stations, workshops, staff colonies etc. The break-up of the land is as under:-

Description Area
(in lakh hectares)
Tracks and structures including Stations, colonies, etc. 3.67
Afforestation 0.43
'Grow More Food' scheme 0.03
Commercial Licensing 0.04
Other uses like pisiculture 0.12
Encroachment 0.01
Vaccant land 0.51
Total 4.81