Indian Railways

Indian Railways is the largest railway system in the world. As a mark of privilege for the passengers who travel on a regular basis in the Ac compartment s of the Indian Railways you are entitled for a free ticket or for concession on tickets under the IRCTC Shubh Yatra scheme.

A loyalty program called as SOFT (Scheme for frequent travelers) and also known as the Shubh yatra Scheme entitles frequent Ac class Travelers to loyalty points each time a ticket is booked through IRCTC online. Once you area proud owner of accumulated 500 points in your account loyalty points can be redeemed for free or concessions can be attained for the same.

Under this scheme, if the travel dates fall between April 1 to July 14 and September 16 to January 14, you will earn 4 points on every 100 rupees you have spent for the train ticket. If at all your travel dates fall on January 15 to March 31^st and from July 15 to September 15, you are entitled for 10 points for every 100 rupees that you spent to buy a train ticket.

However there are a few conditions involved to earn loyalty points to redeem them against free or concessional Indian Railways train tickets.

Firstly, you strictly need to book your tickets only at www.irctc.co.in . You need to get yourself registered at IRCTC to apply for Shubh Yatra. Tickets have to be booked only in AC class, except 3-tier AC coaches. Initial membership fee and renewal fee has to be paid to avail the Shubh Yatra facility.

You have to be a traveling member to avail the facility of Shubh Yatra and you can redeem Railway points for your individual fare only Your points get credited to your account after a period of 5 days provided you have not cancelled your tickets.

The loyalty points on your card are valid for a period of 3 yrs from the date of your registration with IRCTC. However, if you fail to renew your membership you lose out on the loyalty points you had collected till date.

Thanks to the growing commuter traffic, Indian railways has registered an all round increase, with increasing demand for better metro network serving suburbs. Rail route is a preferred mode of traveling for most passengers traveling 500kms or more. Intercity trains are competing effectively with airlines and other modes of transportation and are very popular on some short-halt routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Agra, Chennai-Bangalore to name a few.

Of course the millions of people of all income strata from middle-class backgrounds to the hungry- labour agricultural belt have no alternative other than the Indian railways to organize their annual trips back home.

By far the most luxurious way to travel on the main routes on the regular trains is in the privacy of the 2/4 berth air-conditioned (AC) First class, ordinary first class coaches (non AC), though spacious and comfortable do not keep the dust and noise out.

The second-class two tier sleeper is cheaper and also available on many more trains. It has four berth open cubicles facing a common corridor. So it provides the comforts of AC travel as well as the opportunity of getting to meet many other passengers during a long journey.

The super fast fully air- conditioned Rajdhani Express deluxe trains provide the opportunity of experiencing Indian Railways at their very best. More than 16 such trains connect New Delhi, the capital or the “Rajdhani” to all the major cities in the country.

Another quality efficient and comfortable set of trains is the Shatabdi Express. These superfast inter-cities air- conditioned trains provide region wise connection between major cities which do not involve overnight journeys. So they are ideal for quick and comfortable daytime travel.

Till date Indian railways has been have retained their past heritage. Much improvement has also been brought about by continual efforts through growth of technology and education. Indian railways pioneering growth in enhancing economic and socio-economic strata is undeniable. Indian railway tourism industry is growing leaps and bounds.

Mumbai is the proud owner of one of the busiest stations in India. Victoria Terminus was designed by an English Architect, Fredrick William Stevens in the 19^th century. In the year 2004 Victoria terminus gained prominence on the list of the world heritage sites.

The structure of the Victoria Terminus is a mixture of two cultures less under one roof- the English Victorian Gothic Revival blends with the traditional Indian culture and is a unique atmospheric structure created at Victoria terminus and not elsewhere. Victoria terminus was made in a matter of 10yrs to play homage to Queen Victoria and then opened to all.

Victoria Terminus was built in the year 1888 and was built by the Government of India. Victoria Terminus station is one of the most populous stations in the city of Mumbai

and trains cruise from here to witness some of the awesome travel destinations in India.

It was in the year 1996, that it came to be renamed by the State Government of Mahatashtra as Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a famous Maratha king of the 17^th century.

Victoria Terminus is popularly known by its short form VT. Victoria terminus is the headquarters of the Central railways in India from where suburban-harbour as well as long distance trains are operational.

There is a huge structure of Queen Victoria at the dome of the station. A visit to the Victoria Terminus station is an enchanting architectural splendorous experience, which has created a new style of Architecture in Mumbai.

Victoria Terminus has witnessed the most horrendous Terrorist attack in the year 2008.Now with added safety measures 2.5 million commuters still throng the place to commute by electric locomotives, which is the pulse of the throbbing city.

Trains are used for traveling on long distances on land. They can transport hundreds of people and their luggage. There are two kinds of trains passenger trains and goods trains. Passenger trains carry only people. Goods train have open or closed wagons for carrying goods like food grains, iron, coal etc.

If you want to travel by the passenger train you very much would begin by wanting to know the seats availability and also the train fare for your choice of destination. To check the Indian railways seat availability information you need to go to the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation inquiry page to check the availability of the seats in the train you wish to travel on particular date.

You will need to enter the first few characters of the originating station against the option of Source Station Name. When you have added information about the choice of originating station you will need to enter the class details in which you wish to travel. You can check the seat availability for all classes for your choice of destination and date of travel.

You have an easy option to browse the calendar icon to check the correct day and date of travel and departure before actually making your bookings. Lastly when you are actually through with all the cross-checking on the calendar you will need to enter the journey date in the first column and month in the second column.

You will need to click on the icon stating give details. You will find all the list of trains to make selection of your choice on it. As per your preferences click the train for which you want to check the seat availability and click get availability icon.

You will finally get the seat availability information for the train and date you have inquired for along with its fare.

Indian Railways has been constantly working towards providing facilities for the convenience of long distance travelers, domestic and international tourists and for intercity travelers.

A handy guide, Trains at a Glance has been designed by Indian Railways every year to help you know the timings of all the mail/ express trains which are operated by the Indian railways.

However the book fails to mention all details about the stoppages of the train, only main station stoppages have been indicated. All the stations appearing from the journey by a particular train are mentioned in a neat alphabetical order.

Important stations that have various destination stations are listed under them. The table numbers of all the trains are mentioned alongside the destination stations. The trains which connect these stations are also mentioned for your reference along with their nos.

If at all the destination stations are not mentioned under it, the train number too is mentioned against the originating station itself. We should then go to the most relevant table and choose the most convenient train.

Another method is, if you are aware of the train number of the train you intend to travel using the Train No Index you can easily locate your train no and go to the mentioned table no given alongside for further convenience.

If you are aware of the train name then to it is easy to locate your train No and go to the table no given alongside. Passengers who are traveling can easily locate your starting station and the route further on towards your point of destination. The numbers along the routes indicate the no of the train.

Indian Railways has been making efforts to show accurate services schedule in this time table but at times they can be randomly changed without any prior notice to its travelers.

The lifeline called the Indian railways which are more than 150 yrs old still needs to develop more to provide basic dignified service for its precious customers – the passengers who still hope and are waiting for quality services to be provided to them.

Indian railways can qualify for an easy mover of goods and parcels but definitely they need to work harder to provide sociably pleasing passenger service. Due to laid back attitude by commuters as well as Indian railways concerned official’s, journey by Indian Railways train is an unpleasant experience though convenient as it is the cheapest mode of transportation.

The unattended urinals, mounts of garbage, tobacco stained coaches, stray animals on platforms and beggars are in access and need quick corrective action to be taken on account of Railways.

There have no doubt been sudden developmental changes like introduction of new trains; new routes etc which have largely helped commuters of Indian railways but mostly due to all these developments the core problem of Hygiene and maintenance of trains’ has remained unattended.

Millions of passengers commute by Indian Railways, the sheer volume of the amount of users also makes it difficult for the concerned administration to manage the mounting challenge. To help in such as situation individual commuter should take corrective responsibility of his or her actions, at least then there would be hope rather than respite of being able to get dignified rail travel.

Ironically the concerned promising leaders have gained laurels for being able to generate revenue through this mode of transportation. But in due course the same promising leaders have failed to provide a dignified hygienic service to its commuters.

We do not want to be treated like herd of cattle. We just want more quality hygiene prone services.

Indian railways are substantially growing in their network of trains and routes for its end no of millions of travelers commuting by them. The only issue that remains untouched is the sorry state of the toilets in the long-distance trains.

The trains like Shatabdi Express and Rajdhani express too lack basic facilities of having decent toilets for use by the passengers. The open disposal system of disposing the waste down the holes of the pots adds to the poor sanitation conditions that already exist in the Indian Railways.

The disposed sewage when gets thrown out of the trains when the trains are in motion add to the atmospheric pollution. Moreover when the trains are not in motion and the toilets are being used by commuters the stink and the foul smell left behind on the tracks when the train moves adds to the plight of the commuters waiting for their respective trains on the platform.

The open disposal system has made the hygienic conditions pitiful. Most of all the filth gets washed away with the rains in to the nearby villages, rivers and lakes adding to the environmental problems.

As a commuter, we ourselves should maintain quality standards while using the urinals in long distance trains or else we alone would be the sufferers of the ongoing continuous plight of the depleted condition of the urinals in these long-distance trains.

The existing problem of open air disposal is a grave reason of concern for all living as well as non-living organisms. Railways have toiled hard to give its commuters good transportation facility. But neglecting the issue of environmental degradation and hygiene facilities is a reason of concern for the commuters of Indian railways.

The concerned authorities should look in for options for better eco-friendly technologies to be made available to the commuters of these long distance trains.

One hundred and forty eight years ago, on Saturday 16t April 1853, three stream locomotives named Sultan, Sindh and Sahib, hauled fourteen railway carriages from Mumbai to Thane, taking an hour and fifteen minutes for the 34-kilometre journey. On board were four hundred distinguished guests who naturally did not have to pay their first class fare-a princely sum of rupees two and ten annas (65 paise).

The train bought them bake to Mumbai later that very evening. To mark the occasion the government declared a holiday for all the public offices in Mumbai. Rail travel had arrived in India.

Today the Indian Railways is the largest rail system in the world under a single management. With a network of more than 630000 kilometers, it runs more than 14000passenger and goods trains everyday and transports nearly 11 million passengers daily between thousands of stations across the country.

A wooden structure acted as a terminus when the first train was flagged off at Boribunder, Mumbai. In its place today is one of the most magnificent stations in the world, Victoria terminus or VT, now named Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Many other railway stations which were built before India gained her freedom, such as those at Delhi, Chennai and Lucknow, reflect their imposing colonial heritage. Sadly some of them are now dwarfed by modern concrete structures built nearby.

The invention of the railways has made life comfortable for people of all caste, creed and status. We can now move or transport things quickly, moreover it has reduced the time taken to travel long distances. Today with the invention of the wheels and discovery of new machineries and fuel and constant upgraded quality services offered by the officials traveling is quick, easy and comfortable.

In today’s world of over population Trains are undoubtedly proved as the fastest mode of transportation. However the ride earlier which was pleasurable as well as enjoyable is no longer the same. People tend to use it to reach to their workplaces quickly on a routine basis.

The western and the central zones are the two zones of the Indian Railways which carry millions of passengers to their workplaces to earn their livelihood on a routine basis. The problem of over-crowding in Indian Railways is severe. People get overcrowded filled in each rake like tiny matchboxes. Yet it is impossible to avoid traveling by train as it is the cheapest and the fastest mode of commuting.

One can clearly observe the stress when the train is about to arrive at the platform as each commuter wants to find its way in the cramped compartments inside the train. People learn to master the art with practice and it’s with continued practice and dedication that you can achieve a place to stand in a corner in the compartment if not to sit.

The other problem that surfaces while traveling in these local trains is that it is clearly mentioned not to hang from the gateways of the compartments as it is indeed risky and can prove fatal to the life of the commuter. It is dangerous and has often risked lives in the past but commuters even though aware dangle on the gateways due to lack of sitting space and tend to ignore the risk involved in dangling on the doors.

Simply it has become a habit of few to dangle on the gateways of the train for lack of proper breeze inside the compartments. It is high time that the concerned officials take notice of the horrendous experience that the commuter has to go through each day to reach their destinations.

A proper railway system with a few basic amenities to take care of the prestigious commuters is a must. Let’s hope for a more efficient service for the passengers soon.

Majority of the population living in the metro city of Mumbai travels by local trains. Indian railways local train is the lifeline of Mumbai. Local trains in Mumbai are the most important means of transport for the ever-growing population in the city.

Local Trains are the cheapest and most convenient modes of travel within city limits. Mumbai’s Suburban railway system is divided in to Central and Western zones for passenger’s convenience and for smooth running and maintenance and service of the trains in their respected zones.

Nearly millions of passengers travel locally in local trains on a daily basis to reach their places of work which is more than half the capacity of the people in Indian Railways itself.

The suburban Railway system of Mumbai witnessed its first train between Mumbai and Thane in the year 1853.The suburban railway stem is the oldest Railway system in Asia. It is a boon to People in Mumbai. It is considered to be one of the cheapest and quickest mode of transportation by mostly all the people in Mumbai. Local trains have largely helped to reduce the traffic congestion on the roads.

Indian railways are conveniently used by all classes of people and age groups. Students mostly use it to travel to far of colleges in town where as the general public uses it to travel to their places of work.

Local trains are well known for being overcrowded. Only for a few hours during the afternoons the trains do not seem to be crowded. The local trains are the cheapest and the fastest way to get in to the town from the suburbs or voce-versa. You just got to act smart and safe. Enjoy your journey.