I had the wonderful opportunity to lecture in India in November 2007. What an exciting and diverse country! The people are wonderful and the food is beyond description. A good friend of mine was kind enough to take time to take me railfanning for a day. The poor guy had no interest in trains. The temperature was around 100 degrees (it was a cool time of the year!), but the humidity was low. So honestly, being from Ohio, it was not uncomfortable. The rail system in India was inherited from when the British ruled India. The first tracks were laid in the 1850s and the entire system is amazing. It is quite efficient and the system moves millions of people each day. We started in Mumbai ( Bombay) and traveled about 100 miles into the interior. In some of the small villages, I was probably the first American many of these people had seen. The Indian people are very friendly and really like Americans and admire America. They love to have their pictures taken and often will walk up and ask for you to take their picture. If government corruption could be curtailed, India would explode into this 21st century. I have nothing be admiration for the country and especially the kind people. I hope you enjoy the pictures from my day of railfanning in India.
Railroads were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalized into one governmental agency, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways operates both long distance and suburban rail systems. The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country; the routes cover a total length of more than 39,500 miles.
As of 2008, Indian Railways ownes about 225,000 wagons (rolling stock), 45,000 passenger coaches, 8300 locomotives and runs more than 18,000 trains daily,which includes about 8,984 passenger trains and 9,387 freight trains. Indian Railways transports over 17 million people per day! This huge railway system is organized into 17 different zones.
Along side of steam engines, electric locomotives were first used in 1908. By 1985, all steam had been replaced with either electric or diesel electric locomotives. The first diesel locomotives were manufactured by EMD and ALCO, but today, locomotives are manufactured by Indian companies. There are four (4) different track gauges used in India, but the most common is broad gauge, which is 5'6" (opposed to standard gauge used in North America, which is 4'8 1/2").