INDIAN RAILWAY Apr-14, 1951 -   Southern Railway formed  -  On this day, the Southern Railway was formed in India; it was the first zonal railway to be formed.  Founded on April 16, 1853 Railways inaugurated in India with first train from Bombay to Thane. On this day, the Indian Railway started functioning when the first passenger train of 14 carriages moved from Boree Vunder in Bomaby to Tanna in Thane. This train was moved by three locomotives, named Sultan, Sindh and Sahib. And this day was declared a public holiday. Presently transporting over 25 million passengers per day (i.e. 1.30 times the whole world's population per year) Indian Railways is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the government of India through the Ministry of Railways.   It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km (71,000 miles) of track over a route of 65,000 km (40,000 miles) and 7,500 stations.   In 2011, IR carried over more than 24 million passengers daily (roughly half of which were suburban passengers) and 2.8 million tons of freight daily.   In 2011-2012 Indian Railways had revenues of INR111984.89 crore equal to US$20 billion .    IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges.   It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India.   It also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.   Indian Railways is the world's ninth largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.4 million employees.   The trains have a 5 digit numbering system as the Indian Railways runs about 10,000 trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 23,541 km (14,628 mi) (36%) of the total 65,000 km (40,000 mi) km route length was electrified. Apr-14, 1951 -   Southern Railway formed  -  On this day, the Southern Railway was formed in India; it was the first zonal railway to be formed.  February 01, 1977 - National Rail Museum opened on this day in New Delhi. The first of its kind in India It focuses on the rail heritage of India Located in over 10 acres of land with both indoor and outdoor exhibits A toy train offers rides around that site on regular days Click on the following links to see further details: PROFILE     CROSSWORD     QUIZ     VIDEOS