Give a detailed account of the development of railways in India and highlight their importance.

Indian railways network is one of the longest in the world. Indian railways is the largest government undertaking in the country. Its network is the fourth biggest network in the world. The total length of Indian Railways network is 63221 km.

In India the railway system has been divided in 16 zones due to its very large size.

Indian railways has launched extensive programme o converts the metro and narrow' gauge into broad gauge. Moreover, steam engines have been replaced by diesel and electric engines. This step increased the speed as well as the haulage capacity.

Metro rail revolutionised the urban transport system in Kolkata and Delhi.

The following table shows the performance of Indian Railways:

Table : Indian Railways Zone-wise income from passengers and goods (Rupees in lakhs)

Railway Zone	Headquarters	Earnings from Passengers %	Earnings from Goods %	% of Total earnings
Central	Mumbai CST	13.62	8.36	10.07
Eastern	Kolkata	6.18	3.3	4.24
East Central	Hajipur	5.19	7.84	6.98
East Coast	Bhubaneswar	2.27	9.69	7.27
Northern	New Delhi	15.38	8.94	11.04
North Central	Allahabad	6.71	8.76	8.09
North Eastern	Gorakhpur	3.44	1.55	2.17
North East Frontier	Maligaon (Guwahati)	2.34	2.59	2.51
North Western	Jaipur	3.44	3.04	3.17
Southern	Chennai	8.74	3.78	5.4
South Central	Secunderabad	8.45	8.88	8.74
South Eastern	Kolkata	3.23	7.86	6.36
South East Central	Bilaspur	1.7	8.91	6.56
South Western	Hubli	3.5	2.27	2.67
Western	Mumbai (Church Gate)	12.16	7.32	8.9
West Central	Jabalpur	3.62	6.91	5.83
Total		100	100	100

The importance of railways are as followings :

1. They are very useful for carrying heavy goods at long distances as compared to other means of transport.

2. Railways have got for greater capacity for hauling goods them other means of transport. About 4/5 of entire goods traffic. About 4/5 of entire goods traffic in India is carried by railways.

3. They are cheaper than other means of transport.

4. They provide employment to about 1603000 workers as regular employees and 200000 as casual labourers.

5. They link all the capitals of states, important cities and ports and trade centres.

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Give a detailed account of the development of railways in India and highlight their importance.