‘Sahib, Sindh and Sultan’ ran with 400 people… when India created history in 1853

Indian Railway First Train: Time 3:30 in the afternoon, date 16 April, year 1853…This was the time when the passenger train ran on the tracks for the first time in India. This train filled with 400 people started its journey from Bori Bunder, Mumbai and took 1 hour. It covered a distance of 34 kilometers in 15 minutes and stopped at Thane at 4.45 pm.

To run the train, three steam engines were ordered from Britain which were named Sultan, Sindhu and Sahib. This passenger train came to be known as Deccan Queen.

Who decided to run trains in India?
When Lord Dalhousie became the Governor General of India in 1848, he decided to run trains in India. For this, an order was given to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company and in 1850, the work of laying the railway line from Mumbai to Thane was started. Finally the time came when the first train was run in the year 1853.

21 gun salute given to the train
This occasion was very special not only for the British government but also for the Indians. Therefore, full preparations were made at the government level to make this occasion memorable and spectacular. It was decided to flag off the new train with a gun salute and in continuation of this decision, the train was flagged off with a 21 gun salute.

The first train was built by British engineer Richard Trevithick, who used steam to power the train engine.

The first superfast train ran in 1969
After the first train ran in the country, the Indian Railways network gradually expanded. Trains started running on three lines: narrow gauge, meter gauge and broad gauge. On March 1, 1969, India’s first superfast train was run on a broad gauge line. This train was run between Delhi and Howrah.

When India was divided into two parts in 1947, the railways were also affected. During this period, more than 40 percent of the newly created networks went to Pakistan. But the development work of Indian Railways continued continuously and the result is that today Indian Railways is the largest railway network in the world.

The result of this is that today the total length of Indian Railways is around 167,018 kilometers (103,783 miles). Talking about the length of the tracks, it is 121,369 kilometers (75,435 miles), while the number of stations is 7,342. About 2.3 crore passengers travel by train every day and about 3.2 million tonnes of freight is transported. Indian Railways connects all 28 states and 8 union territories of India. More than 72% of the people of the country benefit from railway services.

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