Central Railway, the successor to GIP Railway completed 72 glorious years on its formation day and begins its 73rd year on 5.11.2023. The first train in Asia (and India) ran between Mumbai and Thane on Saturday, April 16, 1853. As the years passed, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway expanded. With the merger of the Indian Midland Railway Company with the GIP Railway Company in year 1900, its frontiers were extended from Delhi in the North, Kanpur and Allahabad in the North-east and Nagpur in the East to Raichur in the South-east. Thus, through connection from Bombay was obtained to almost all parts of India. The route mileage of the G.I.P. Railway was 1,600. (2575 km)
On 5 November 1951, Central Railway was formed by integrating Nizam State, Scindia State and Dholpur State Railways. At present, there are 5 divisions on Central Railway i.e. Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. Central Railway’s network is spread over 4,219 route km in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and has a total of 471 stations.
Central Railway has achieved many firsts in the last 71 years. Some notable achievements among them are: first Shatabdi Express, first Jan Shatabdi Express, first Tejas Express to name a few. Central Railway is at the forefront of continuous development. The originating loading which was 16.58 metric tonnes at the time of formation, has now increased to 81.88 metric tonnes in the year 2022-23. In the year 2023-24, CR achieved 49.02 metric tonnes which is the best ever April-October freight loading. Suburban services have also increased from 519 in year 1951 to year 1850 (Mumbai 1810 and Pune 40) in the year 2023.
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 and fourth lines, electrification, construction of bridges, construction of new stations etc. are being done at a fast pace.
Central Railway has done extensive pre-monsoon works due to which the suburban trains were running in spite of heavy rains. Central Railway has so far completed a record 147.77 km multi-tracking this year. After an unprecedented rainfall and damages on Neral-Matheran section in the year 2019, Central Railway staff has worked on war footing to restore the sections and services resumed from 22.10.2022. CR is committed to provide safe and punctual service to its passengers and customers.
