advantage of railways under the British
Answers
Railways is the most important form of transport system. In 1953, the first railway line was laid between Mumbai and Thane in 1853.
It was a distance of 22 miles. In 1950, total route length of railway line was 34000 miles. Number of locomotives was 5210 and number of passenger coaches was 19630 and number of wagons was 26000.
Initially, the railways were operated by private companies owned by Englishman. In 1950 Govt. of India had taken over the entire railway system in the country. It is now the biggest nationalised undertaking in Asia and fourth largest in the world.
After the implementation of economic planning, up to 2000-01, freight transport has increased at an annual average rate of 3 percent. In 1950-51, freight transport was f: million tonnes which increased to 557.5 million tonnes at the end of 2003-04. ?3ssenger traffic has increased by 3.5 times. Indian railways have 18 lakh employees 2nd runs 13500 trains daily.