India has one of the most fabulous railway’s systems. It ranks 4thin the world with the length of 66,687 kilometers route after USA, Russia, and China. Nothing connects India’s coastal regions, towns, cities, villages comfort better than Indian Railways(IR). Both suburban and long distance rail systems are operated by it. Though it is an express train or mail trains, an average speed of 51 km/hr is maintained on the running track. It is operated by the Ministry of Railways in India. Railway tracks are mostly built of broad or narrow gauge, some of them are a double track or multiple tracked too.
History of IR
- Red Hill Railway, the first ever train in India was used for transporting granite stones in Madras.
It was built by Sir Arthur Cotton in the year 1837. - It was on 16th April 1853, the first passenger train ran in India for 34 km on 1,676 mm broad gauge track, carrying 400 people. It used 3 steam locomotives namely Saheb, Sindh, and Sultan.
- In the year 1951, IR was re-organized into regional zones as Southern Railway, Western Railway, and Central Railway.
- As on March 2016, 1143 billion passengers were reported traveling via railways and over 8500 stations were listed.
Travel More to Relish the Perks of Indian Railways &Know more about IRCTC
IRCTC or Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation handle the tourism, online ticketing, and catering services of IR. Being the subsidiary of IR, it provides the below facilities:
- The user can book online tickets for train journeys on the portal. It also has the features of ticket cancellation, refund rules, printing ticket, etc.
- Passengers can book their meal on the go. The e-catering facility enables the user to book their favorite meal and also compare the standard menu rates.
- The tourism feature assists in booking the retiring rooms, cabs, bedrolls, and also wheelchairs for the disabled passengers.
- For senior citizens, Aadhaar card authentication services, concession rules for disabled passengers, tatkal ticket booking guide, bank transaction charges details, and International User Registration guides are listed too on the portal for help and guidance.
- For any sort of inquiries, may it be about train between stations, or ticket PNR status, about train fare, or train numbers, all can be easily done on the next generation IRCTC
Not only rail tickets, but IRCTC platform also provides air ticket booking facility too for its users.
Future of Indian Railways
With the passage of time, the rail ticketing on web demands high performance and upgrades in the booking facilities. In the near future, the IR is planning to increase operational efficiency and ensure security more. The facility of Railway Wi-Fi can witness major bandwidth and access point solutions. For registered profilers, direct mailers feature is running now. During peak load hours, smooth, efficient booking and accessibility to the site are also one of the targeted benefits. E-ticketing would be possible using a smartphone application. The system will make use of fraud control tool to bring in transparency in ticketing.
Website: irctc.co.in
IRCTC Facebook: Post and Share on Facebook
IRCTC Twitter: Share on Twitter
IRCTC Customer Care Number: 011 3934 0000
IRCTC Customer Support: Support Team