Indian Railways has various public sector undertakings (PSUs) and other organisations under its purview:
Indian Railways also has multiple bodies and undertakings under its purview such as:
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Commission of Railway Safety (CRS)
Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COMW)
Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE)
Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS)
Passenger Amenities Committee
Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA)
Railway Protection Force (RPF)
Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB)
Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB)
Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO)
Infrastructure and operations
Locomotives
The first trains in the 1800s were hauled by imported steam locomotives. In 1877, the first locomotive was built in India. Electric locomotives were introduced in 1925 and diesel locomotives later in 1954. By 1990s, steam locomotives were phased out and are currently operated only on mountain railways and on heritage trains. Locomotives are classified by track gauge (broad/metre/narrow/narrower), motive power (electric/diesel/battery), function (passenger/goods/mixed), power rating (x1000 HP) and model in a four or five letter code. The locomotives may be Longer Hood Front (LHF), where the driver cabin is behind the hood of the engine or Short Hood Front (SHF), where the cabin is located towards the front. Multiple units (MU) are propelled by locomotives integrated with train-sets. In 2015, the first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered MUs were rolled out by ICF. In 2018, the semi-high speed self-propelled Vande Bharat train-set was rolled out from ICF. Locomotives are manufactured by five owned manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and BHEL. As of 2021, 37% of the trains were operated by diesel locomotives and rest mostly by electric locomotives. As of November 2025, Indian Railways had 10,675 electric, 4,397 diesel, and 16 steam locomotives in its inventory.
Passenger coaches
The early rail coaches were based on a prototype by a Swiss company and were termed as ICF coaches after Integral Coach Factory (ICF), the first coach manufacturing unit in India.
These coaches, manufactured from 1955 to 2018, were largely in use till the early 2010s. From the late 1990s, the ICF coaches were replaced by safer and newer LHB coaches designed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany. In the late 2010s, Indian railways started upgrading the coaches of select trains from LHB to Tejas coaches with enhanced features and the introduction of trainsets with specialised coaches such as Vande Bharat. As of 31 March 2024, Indian Railways had 91,948 passenger coaches, including 65,016 conventional, 12,229 EMU and 1,681 DMU coaches. Coaches are manufactured by five manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and public sector companies BEML and BHEL. The coaching stock have unique five or six digit identifiers. Till 2018, the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last three digits indicating the class. In 2018, the numbering system was changed with the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last four digits indicating the sequence number.
Multiple units
In the 1960s, electric multiple units (EMU) were developed for short-haul and suburban rail transit. On regional short-distance routes, mainline electrical multiple unit (MEMU) and diesel electrical multiple unit (DEMU) trains are run. These train sets run in formation of 6, 9, 12 or 15 coaches and a three-car set is typified by a motor coaches and two passenger coaches. These train-sets are self-propelled with capability for faster acceleration or deceleration. In 2018, Indian Railways also rolled out semi-high speed self-propelled train sets with modified coaches for inter city trains.
Goods wagons
Indian Railways hauls various cargo and operates specialised rolling stock for cargo. There are 243 types of rolling stock used for cargo operations including covered wagons, boxcars, flat wagons, flatbeds, open wagons, hoppers, containers, automobile carriers, defense vehicle carriers and tankers. The freight cars can carry loads ranging from 10 to 80 tonnes per car depending on the configuration. A new wagon numbering system was adopted in Indian Railways in 2003. The requirement of wagons was previously exclusively met by Bharat Wagon and Engineering with the procurement and manufacturing done by various public and private sector companies in the 2020s. In 2025, Indian Railways announced the implementation of an artificial intelligence based technology aimed at detecting unlocked doors in freight wagons during transit.
Others
Apart from standard passenger classes, the Indian Railways has other specialized coach types used for dedicated functions. These include accident relief medical vans, brake vans, generator cars, inspection carriages, military cars, pantry car and parcel vans. These may be dedicated self-propelled units or attached to train-sets.
Manufacturing
Indian Railways operates various manufacturing units. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), commissioned in 1950, was the first locomotive manufacturing unit in India. The first rail coach manufacturing unit, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) was established at Madras in 1956. Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), commissioned in 1961, is the second locomotive manufacturing unit operated by Indian Railways. BHEL, Patiala Locomotive Works, Diesel Locomotive Factory, Marhowrah and Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura also manufacture locomotives in India. Railway coaches are also manufactured at coach factories at Kapurthala, Raebareli, Sonipat and Latur. Indian Railways also operates three rail wheel manufacturing factories at Bangalore, Bela and Raebareli.
Maintenance
The locomotives are operated and maintained by 40 locomotive sheds. The repair and maintenance of the fleet of other rolling stock is carried out at 294 carriage & wagon repair units across various zones of IR.
Tracks
As of 31 March 2024, Indian railway network spanned 69,181 km (42,987 mi) in route length. With 31,094 km (19,321 mi) of the lines having two or more tracks, total running track length was 109,748 km (68,194 mi), while total trackage (including sidings) was 135,207 km (84,014 mi). The network was built with a variety of gauges, including 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge and 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft) narrow gauge; but a long-term effort, Project Unigauge, aims to convert most of these to broad gauge. As of 31 March 2024, 66,820 km (41,520 mi) or 96.59% of the network was broad-gauge, 1,159 km (720 mi) or 1.68% metre-gauge and 1,202 km (747 mi) or 1.74% narrow-gauge. The broad-gauge network is equipped with long-welded, high-tensile 52kg/60kg 90 UTS rails with prestressed concrete sleepers and elastic fastenings.
Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 80 to 200 km/h (50 to 124 mph), though the maximum speed attained by passenger trains is 160 km/h (99 mph). As of 2025, 23,010 km (14,300 mi) (21.1%) of the tracks are capable of handling speeds of above 130 km/h (81 mph) and 59,800 km (37,200 mi) (56.6%) of the tracks are capable of handling speeds between 110–130 km/h (68–81 mph).
As of January 2026, over 80% of the network (84,244 km) has been upgraded to operate at speeds of up to 110 kmph.
Trunk routes
As of July 2020, there are seven major routes a total length of 11,295 km (7,018 mi) which have been classified as High-Density Network (HDN) routes or trunk routes. These routes are designed for a maximum operational speed limit of 160 km/h, and carry about 60% of the rail traffic. The trunk routes include Chennai–Howrah, Chennai–Mumbai, Delhi–Chennai, Delhi–Howrah, Howrah–Mumbai, Mumbai–Delhi and Delhi–Guwahati.
Electrification
The first electric train ran in Bombay in 1925 on DC traction. In 1928, DC traction was introduced in the suburbs of Bombay by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway between Colaba and Borivali and between Madras beach and Tambaram by the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway in 1931. In 1957, Indian Railways decided to adopt 25 kV AC as its standard. The first 25 kV AC EMUs operated in Calcutta in 1962 and Madras in 1968. Indian Railway uses 25 kV AC traction on all its electrified tracks. In 2017, Indian Railways announced a plan to electrify the country's entire broad gauge rail network by 2023, and would require 30 billion kWh of electricity on an annual basis. As of 31 July 2026, the Indian Railways has electrified 70,143 km (43,585 mi) (99.6%) of the total broad-gauge route length of 70,412 km (43,752 mi).
Cross-border
India shares land border with multiple countries and have rail-links with some of them. Bangladesh is connected to West Bengal with a construction of new rail link connecting Tripura with Akhaura. Two rail links to Nepal exist as of 2021, with a third under construction. There is an existing railink with Pakistan through Attari–Wagah border.
Signaling and communication
Indian Railways uses a range of signalling technologies and methods to manage its train operations based on traffic density and safety requirements. As of 28 February 2025, automatic block signalling is used on a total route length of 5,221 km (3,244 mi) for train operations – concentrated in high density routes, large cities and junctions. Remaining routes are based on absolute block signalling with trains manually controlled by signal men from the signal boxes typically located at stations. Few low density routes still use manual block signalling methods with communication on track clearance based on physical exchange of tokens. In a few sections, intermediate block signalling is provided to further enhance line capacity with minimal investment. As of 31 March 2024, 756 block sections have intermediate block signals. Indian Railways primarily uses coloured signal lights, which replaced the earlier semaphores and disc-based signalling. It uses two-aspect, three-aspect and four (or multiple) aspect color signalling across its network.
Signals at most stations are interlocked using panel interlocking, route-relay interlocking or electronic interlocking methods that eliminate scope for human signalling errors. Indian Railways uses track circuiting, and block proving axle counters for train detection. As of 31 March 2024, 6,637 stations have interlocked and multi-aspect signalling. Around 99% of key routes have track circuitry or block proving axle counters for automated train detection and Kavach automatic train protection system has been implemented in 1,465 km (910 mi) of tracks. The railways has about 66,179 km (41,122 mi) of optical fiber cable network used for train control, voice and data communication with 7,538 km (4,684 mi) of the route covered by GSM-R based Mobile Train Radio communication. In December 2017, Indian Railways announced that it will implement ETCS Level 2 system for signalling and control on key routes with an investment of ₹120 billion (US$1.2 billion).
Stations
As of 31 March 2024, Indian Railways manages and operates 7,461 stations. Prior to 2017, the stations were classified into seven categories based on their earnings. Since 2017, Indian Railways categorizes the stations by commercial importance into three different categories namely Non Suburban Group (NSG), Suburban Group (SG) and Halt Group (HG). These are further subdivided into subcategories based on their commercial importance (NSG 1–6, SG 1-3 and from HG 1–3). The commercial importance of a station is determined by taking into account its passenger footfall, earnings and strategic importance and these categories are used to determine the minimum essential amenities required by each station.
Services
Travel classes
Indian Railways offers various travel classes on its coaches. For the purpose of identification in passenger trains, coaches in a train-set are assigned an alpha-numeric code. The first letter identifies the coach class and the second letter identifies the coach number. The berths and seats are numbered by an alphanumeric code with the letter(s) identifying the berth/seat type and numbers identifying the position.
Saloon coaches available for chartering are equipped with a bedroom and kitchen and can be attached to normal trains.
Passenger trains
Indian Railways operates various classes of passenger and express trains. The trains are classified basis average speed and facilities with express trains having fewer halts, priority on rail network and faster average speed. The trains are identified by five digit numbers with train-pairs traveling in opposite directions usually labelled with consecutive numbers. Express trains often have specific unique names for easy identification. In 2018–19, Indian Railways operated 13,523 passenger trains on average daily and carried 8.44 billion passengers. India Railways operates various categories of express trains including Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Garib Rath Express, Double Decker Express, Tejas Express, Gatimaan Express, Humsafar Express, Duronto Express, Yuva Express, Uday Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Vivek Express, Rajya Rani Express, Mahamana Express, Antyodaya Express, Jan Sadharan Express, Suvidha Express and Intercity Express.
High-speed rail
Rajdhani Express introduced in 1969 were the first trains to reach speeds of up to 120 km/h (75 mph). Shatabdi Express introduced in 1988, are capable of running at a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). In 2019, Vande Bharat Express was launched with self-propelled EMU train-sets capable of reaching maximum speed of 180 km/h (110 mph) with operational speeds restricted to 130–160 km/h (81–99 mph). A non-air-conditioned semi-high speed train-set hauled by two modified WAP-5 locomotives was launched as Amrit Bharat Express. A high-speed rail line is under construction between Mumbai and Ahmedabad which will become the first true high-speed rail line when completed in 2026.
Mountain railways
Mountain Railways of India refer to three rail lines operated by Indian Railways in hilly terrain. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a 610 mm (2 ft) narrow-gauge railway in the Lesser Himalayas of West Bengal was opened in 1881.
The mountain railways were designated as World Heritage Sites in 1999. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge railway in the Siwalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh started operating in 1903. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge rack railway in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu was opened in 1908 and is the only operational rack railway in India. These railways operate with its own dedicated fleet of locomotives and coaches.
Suburban and metro
The first suburban electric trains were introduced in Bombay in 1925. Chennai suburban lines started operating in 1931 and Kolkata in 1957. Later, AC traction was adopted for suburban lines and are currently operated by Multiple Units (MUs) of various configurations. In 1984, Kolkata Metro, the first metro system and the only system operated by Indian Railways was commissioned. Opened in November 1995, Chennai MRTS became the first operational elevated railway line in India. Indian Railways operates suburban railway systems across the cities of Mumbai (suburban), Chennai (suburban and MRTS), Kolkata (suburban and metro), Pune (suburban) and Secunderabad (MMTS) covering six railway zones.
Tourism
Indian Railways offers tour packages through IRCTC. It operates tourist trains and coach services on popular tourist circuits in different regions of the country. It operates luxury tourist trains such as Maharajas' Express, Palace on Wheels, Golden Chariot and Deccan Odyssey, deluxe tourist trains such as Mahaparinirvan Express. It also operates heritage and exhibition trains on special circumstances.
Ticketing and fares
In 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced before which ticketing was done manually. Self-printing ticket machines (SPTM) were introduced in 1988. Centralized computer reservation system was deployed in September 1996. The ticketing network at stations is computerized with the exception of few stations. The Indian Railways website went online in February 2000 and online ticketing was introduced on 3 August 2002 through IRCTC. Indian Railways now provides multiple channels for passengers to book tickets through website, smartphone apps, SMS, rail reservation counters at train stations, or through private ticket booking counters. Reserved tickets may be booked up to 60 days in advance and confirmed reservation tickets will show the passenger and fare details along with berth or seat number(s) allocated to them on the ticket.
In case of no confirmed reservation, a wait-list number is assigned and wait-listed tickets get confirmed if there are cancellations of already reserved tickets. Reservation against cancellation tickets is an intermediate category between the waiting and confirmed lists in sleeper classes which allows a ticket holder to board the train and share a berth. Reserved tickets can be booked by passengers who want to travel at short notice at higher fares through the Tatkal train ticket, where no refund is applicable on cancellation. A valid proof for the purchase of ticket along with photo identification is required to board the train. Unreserved tickets for short distance or unplanned travels may be purchased at stations or through UTS mobile app at any time before departure. Holders of such tickets may only board the general or unreserved coaches. Suburban networks also issue unreserved tickets valid for a limited time or season passes with unlimited travel between two stops for a period of time.
India has some of the lowest train fares in the world, and lower class passenger fares are subsidised. Discounted fares are applicable for railway employees, senior citizens (over age 60), the disabled, students, athletes, patients and those taking competitive examinations. Seats of lower class of accommodation are reserved for women or senior citizens in some trains.
Freight
The first rail operational in Madras in 1837 was used for ferrying granite. The first dedicated commercial freight rail was operated between Bombay and Ahmedabad in 1966. Indian Railways ferries various commodities and cargo to cater to various industrial, consumer, and agricultural segments. Apart from dedicated freight trains, parcels, mail and small cargo are carried on specialized carriages attached to passenger trains. In 2023–24, Indian Railways operated 11,724 freight trains on average daily and transported 1588.06 million tonnes of freight.
Indian Railways has historically subsidized the passenger segment with income from the freight business and prioritized passenger trains on the network. Hence, freight services were unable to complete other modes of transport on both cost and speed of delivery, leading to continuous erosion of market share till the early 2000s. To counter this, Indian Railways established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India in 2006 to construct dedicated freight corridors to reduce congestion, increase speed and reliability and proposed upgradation of existing goods sheds, attracting private capital to build multi-commodity multi-modal logistics terminals, changing container sizes, operating time-tabled freight trains and tweaking with the freight pricing/product mix. End-to-end integrated transport solutions such as roll-on, roll-off (RORO) service, a road-rail system pioneered by Konkan Railway in 1999 to carry trucks on flatbed trailers is extended to other routes.
