Central Railway completes 70 years

The Central Railway (CR), the successor to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), on Thursday, entered the 71st year of its formation.

To mark the occasion, CR general manager Anil Kumar Lahoti extended his heartiest greetings to railway passengers, users and railway personnel. "The CR is committed to provide safe and punctual service to its passengers and customers in the years to come," he said.

The CR, headquartered in Mumbai, was formed on November 5, 1951, by integrating the Nizam State, Scindia State and Dholpur State Railways with the GIPR. The first train in Asia (and India) ran between Mumbai and Thane on Saturday, April 16, 1853.

At present, there are 5 divisions on Central Railway -- Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune.

Spread over 4,151 route km in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and with a total of 471 stations, the Central Railway network has achieved many firsts in the last 70 years.

Some notable achievements among them are first Shatabdi Express, first Jan Shatabdi Express, first Tejas Express and last year's Kisan Rail to name a few. Central Railway is at the forefront of continuous development.

The originating loading which was 16.58 million tonnes at the time of formation, has now increased to 62.02 million tonnes in the year 2020-21. In the year 2021-22, April-October 41.02 million tonnes achieved its highest ever freight loading. Suburban services have also increased from 519 in 1951 to 1814 in 2021.

Mumbai's suburban services are the lifeline of Mumbai. Central Railway has steadily increased the suburban network and today it has four corridors. The suburban services which started from 3 coaches have gradually increased to 9 coaches, 12 coaches and some services with 15 coaches.

AC suburban services have also been introduced to make travel more convenient and comfortable. Apart from this, infrastructure works like construction of new railway lines, doubling, third line at many places, electrification, construction of bridges, construction of new stations etc. are being done at a fast pace.

Central Railway has also faced many adversities and has come out stronger. Be it the heavy rains, 26x11 terror attack or the grave challenge of Covid-19, our dedicated personnel have worked hard to face and overcome these challenges.

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