No matter how much you curse the Indian Railways during your train journeys, it still remains the most prized possession of the country. The mere sight of a train on a railway track takes the viewer to a faraway land. India boasts of having one of the world's largest railway networks, which comprises 115,000 km of track over a route of 7,500 stations. Undoubtedly, the Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country and the journey of life would somehow be colourless without its presence. And with the Indian Railways completing 162 glorious years, we bring you 10 cool facts about the railways you didn't know.
You would be surprised to know that the website of the Indian Railways gets almost 12 lakh hits every minute. Not only this, the website is capable of supporting nearly 5 million threads at one time. Now imagine how many people decide to travel every day.
The slowest train of the Indian Railways is the Mettupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train, which runs uphill at 10 km/hr. This gives you enough time to get off the train, drink a few sips of water and get back onto the train.
The Indian Railways started in the year 1853, and till 1908, there were no toilets in the train. So, to answer nature’s call, passengers would have to wait for the train to stop at the next station. Only after a passenger named Okhil Chandra Sen wrote a hilarious letter to the Indian railways were toilets introduced in the trains.
Four Indian Railways sites have been declared as “World Heritage Sites” by UNESCO. One of them being Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1999), followed by Mumbai CST Building (2004), Neelgiri Mountain Railways (2005) and Kalka-Shimla Railways (2008).
Did you know that if the tracks of the Indian Railways were to be laid out, they could circle the earth for one and a half times?
The Station with the shortest name is Ib in Odisha. Also, the station with the longest name of 29 letters is Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta. It is often used with 'Sri' prefixed.
The oldest functioning steam engine in the world is The Fairy Queen, which plies between New Delhi and Alwar in Rajasthan. It has also been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and has received the Heritage Award from the International Tourist Bureau, Berlin.
The longest tunnel of the Indian Railways is the Pir Panjal, which links the Kashmir Valley with Banihal. The distance of the tunnel is more than 11.2 km.
The total distance that the Indian Railways covers in one day is equal to around three and a half times the distance to the moon
Indian Railways carries over 25 million passengers daily, which is more than the entire population of Australia.
Main Image Credit (here4share.blogspot.com)
Feature Image Credit (indiansforguns.com)