Indian Railways
Indian Railways(IR) is one of the largest rail networks in the world, in terms of Route KM(RKM) and Tonne KM(TKM) transporting both, the Freight and the Passenger traffic.
IR is an organization fully owned by the Government of India and is managed by the Ministry of Railways.
IR today connects all parts of India and is, verily the lifeline of the nation. The 63000 RKM plus of track is mainly in Indian Broad Gauge (1676 mm)with a small RKM of Metre Gauge (1000mm) and Narrow Gauge (762/610mm) .
IR is organized into 16 Zones and is further sub-divided into 67 Divisions for operations. Further in addition to traditional maintenance facilities of rolling stock, IR runs a number of specialized manufacturing units for locomotives and spares, coaches, cast steel wheels and railway cranes. It also has in its folds a number of construction organizations, Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) and other undertakings linked to Railways.
IR has also helped many countries to develop their own railway systems by providing locomotives, coaches and knowhow.
For more details visit http://www.indianrailways.gov.in
Indian Railway Budget for 2015-16
For Major highlights, please see
For speech of Railway Minister and details about the budget, please see
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_section.jsp?id=0,1,304,366,539
India-France Co-operation in Railways
India and France share a long history of technical cooperation in the field of Railway transport. The Indo French Co-operation began in the early sixties with the Indian Railway electrifying the trunk routes using 25kVAC, 50 Hz power supply, a technology of which SNCF is a pioneer. This resulted in a period of co-operation in the fields of laying of electric lines, designs of substations, ancillary facilities and the manufacture of electric locomotives at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.
This cooperation was thereafter furthered by a Indo-French Protocol for enhancing inter-governmental technical, economic and industrial cooperation in the field of Railways signed in 1988 and later through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Indian Railways and SNCF signed in 2004 .The purpose of this MoU is to strengthen and promote technical cooperation between IR and SNCF and to provide the general framework for cooperation .
A large number of technical deliberations under the aegis of this MoU, have taken place in past, such as training for IR personnel, energy efficiency , station redevelopment, Public Private participation(PPP) and Urban transport .A study titled “Prospective Study on Development of Passenger Railway Links in India” was conducted by SNCF ,which initially evaluated the feasibility of routes for high speed railways .The cooperation with French Railway industry with Indian companies like Alstom is also well established.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for five years was signed by Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Government of India and Mr G. Pepy, Chairman and CEO Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the French National Railways, for Technical cooperation in the field of Railways.
Four areas of cooperation have been identified in the MoU. These are:
- High speed and semi-high speed rail;
- Station renovation and operations;
- Modernisation of current operations and infrastructure;
- Suburban trains.
During the visit of President Hollande to India in February, 2013, a joint statement to strengthen the cooperation in the Railways sector between the two countries, and a Memorandum of Understanding for Technical Cooperation in the field of Railways between Indian Railways and Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the French National Railways were signed. On 24-25 November 2014 Minister of Railways, Shri. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated the Indo-French Rail seminar on ‘High & Semi High Speed, Multimodal stations, Infrastructure & Financing’ in New Delhi.