Year 1836

    A small piece of rail-line was laid near Chindadripet in Madras, now Chennai.

Year 1844

    Active campaigning for rail-lines near St. Petersburg.

Year 1849

    East Indian Railway (EIR) Company and Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIP) Company granted financial guarantee for construction and operation of rail-lines in India.  Agreements signed.

Year 1850

    Work on rail-lines began in East and West by EIR and GIP Railway    respectively.

Year 1853

    First Railway line from Bombay to Thane was inaugurated on 16^th April 1853 by GIP Railway.

Year 1854

    First Railway line in East from Howrah to Hoogli was inaugurated on 15^th August 1854 by EIR.

Year 1855

    First Railway line in South from Veyasarpadi to Walajah Road opened for traffic on 1^st July 1855 by Madras Railway.

Year 1866

    Calcutta (Howrah) linked with Delhi and Bombay via Allahabad.

Year 1871

    Metre Gauge was chosen as second standard gauge for India.

Year 1872

    First metre gauge line from Delhi to Rewari inaugurated.

Year 1881

    Darjeeling Himalayan Railway opens its line to the hills.

Year 1887

    Victoria Terminus – A new station building and administrative offices of GIP Railway opened in Mumbai.

Year 1890

    Indian Railways Act passed.

Year 1891

    Toilets in third class coaches introduced.

Year 1895

    First Indian built steam locomotive by Ajmer Workshop.

Year 1900

    Welding process of Rails developed.

Year 1902

    Indian Railway Conference Association set up.

Year 1903

    Kalka-Shimla Railway opens for traffic.

Year 1905

    Railway Board assumes office.

Year 1924

    Railway Board reconstituted with Chief Commissioner as President and an ex-officio Secretary to Government of India and two Members.

Year 1930

    Central Standards Office (CSO) under Chief Controller of Standardisation set up to standardize all equipments commonly in use on Railways.

Year 1936

    Air-conditioning introduced in passenger coaches.

Year 1937

    Post of Minister for Transport and Communication created; Railway Board placed under the Ministry.

Year 1947

    India is Independent, Indian Railways separated into two different systems; India and Pakistan.

Year 1950        

    Production of steam locomotives started in Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.

    Year 1950 –Central Advisory Committee for Railways approves regrouping of Indian Railways in to six Zonal systems.

Year 1951

    Formation of Southern, Western and Central Railways.

Year 1952

    Railway Staff College, Vadodara set up.

    Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Madras set up as a production unit for all welded steel, light weight integral coaches.

    Formation of Eastern, Northern and North Eastern Railways.

Year 1954

    Position of Chief Commissioner for Railways renamed as Chairman, Railway Board.

Year 1955        

    Indian Railways Institute for Civil Engineering (IRICEN) at Pune set up.

    South Eastern Railway formed

Year 1956

    Divisional system of administration planned for various Zonal Railways.

    Fully Air-conditioned Trains introduced between Howrah-Delhi and Delhi-Bombay.

Year 1957

    Indian Railways Institute for Signal Engineering and Telecommunication (IRISET) at Secunderabad set up.

    Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow set up after merger of various Standards Committees and CSO.

Year  1958

    North East Frontier Railway formed.

Year 1959

    Post of Member Mechanical created in the Railway Board.

Year 1961

    Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) set up at Varanasi.

    Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) started manufacture of electric locomotives.

Year 1966

    South Central Railway formed out of Central Railway and Southern Railway.

    First container service started between Bombay and Ahmedabad.

Year 1967

    Start of use of Cement Concrete sleepers on Indian Railways.

Year 1969

    New Delhi – Howrah Rajdhani Express introduced.

Year 1973

    Chittaranjan Locomotive Works stops production of Steam Locos.

Year 1974

    Rail India Technical & Economic Services Ltd. (RITES) formed.

Year  1976

    Indian Railway Construction Corporation Ltd. (IRCON) formed.

Year 1977

    National Rail Museum for preservation and promotion of heritage tourism, education and entertainment opened.

Year 1979

    Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) formed.

Year 1984

    First Metro Rail System was introduced in Kolkata.

Year 1985

    Computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) introduced.

Year 1986

    Indian Railways Institute for Electrical Engineering (IRIEE) at Nasik set up.

Year 1987

    Diesel Component Works (DCW) now DMW, Patiala set up.

    Rail Coach Factory (RCF) established at Kapurthala.

Year 1988

    First Shatabdi train introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi.

    Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) established..

Year 1989

    Indian Railway Welfare Organisation (IRWO) set up as a registered society.

Year 1991

    Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) at Chennai inaugurated.

Year 1992

    Unigauge Policy adopted on the Indian Railways.

Year 1998

    Konkan Railway system becomes fully operational.

    Guinness certificate for “Fairy Queen’ of 1855 make – the oldest working steam Locomotive in the world.

Year 1999

    Darjeeling Himalayan Railway declared World Heritage site by UNESCO.

    Guinness Certificate for Delhi Main Station equipped with the World’s largest Route Relay Interlocking System.

Year 2002

    Introduction of Jan Shatabdi Trains.

    East Central (Headquarters {HQ}-Hajipur) and North Western Railway (HQ-Jaipur) become operational on 1^st October.

Year 2003

    East Coast Railway (HQ – Bhubaneswar); South East Central Railway (HQ-Bilaspur)’ West Central Railway (HQ-Jabalpur); North Central Railway (HQ-Allahabad); South Western Railway (HQ-Hubli) opened on 1^st April.

Year 2004

    Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus building inscribed World Heritage status by UNESCO.  Reservation through Internet introduced.

Year 2005

    Nilgiri Mountain Railway declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

    E-ticketing introduce in all trains.

Year 2006

    Introduction of free up-gradation of passengers to higher classes of accommodation since 26.1.06.

    Scheme, allowing private operators to run container trains, launched.

    Garib Rath introduced for common people with the facilities of AC Class at affordable fares.

    Munabao (India) – Khokrapar (Pakistan) rail link was restored on 18.2.06.

Year 2007

    A universal common train enquiry telephone No. 139, introduced throughout the country.

Year 2008

    Highest ever surplus (before dividend) of Rs. 25.000/- crore earned  and highest ever freight loading of 794 million tonnes achieved during fiscal 2007-08.

    First ever train service flagged-off in Kashmir Valley on 11.10.08.

    Agartala, capital of Tripura, a  state of North Eastern  region was linked  with rail network (PIB Features)

*Assistant Director, Press Information Bureau, New Delhi.

RTS/VN