Central Railway completes 170 years of glorious pioneering journey

Indian Railways completed 170 glorious years. The first train in Asia (and India) which ran between Mumbai and Thane on April 16, 1853 was flagged off from Boribunder (the place where CSMT presently stands). As the years passed, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway which ran the first train merged with the Indian Midland Railway Company in 1900 and extended its frontiers from Delhi in the North, Kanpur and Allahabad in the North-east and Nagpur in the East to Raichur in the South-east.  

On 5 November 1951, Central Railway was formed by integrating Nizam State, Scindia State and Dholpur State Railways. Presently Central Railway with its 5 divisions i.e. Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune has a network over 4,219 route km in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. CR serves these states through 471 stations.

On February 10, 2023, the Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Hon’ble Prime Minister, from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the same place from where the first train in Asia departed. It is a perfect confluence of heritage and development. From the first train in April 1853 to the most modern train of India, Railways have successfully expanded its network to the huge area in last 170 years. It has definitely come a long way with some of the oldest trains like Punjab Mail are still popular among its passengers even after 100 years.

Central Railway is also at the forefront with achievement of many firsts. Some notable achievements among them are: first Shatabdi Express, first Jan Shatabdi Express, first Tejas Express to name a few. Running the first electric train service in India between Bombay VT and Kurla Harbour on 3rd Feb 1925 laid the foundation of Electrification of Railways and Mumbai’s suburban services which today have become the lifeline of Mumbai city.  

Today, Central Railway has achieved 100% electrification and the suburban network has also steadily increased. Presently Central Railway has five suburban 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. 

The originating loading which was 16.58 million tonnes at the time of formation, has now increased to 81.88 million tonnes in the year 2022-23 which is the best ever. Apart from this, infrastructure works like construction of new railway lines, doubling, construction of bridges, construction of new stations etc. are being done at a fast pace.

The Neral-Matheran Light Railway has also completed its glorious 116 years. The Neral-Matheran railway construction started in 1904 and the two feet gauge line finally opened to traffic in 1907. As a precautionary measure, the line used to be closed during the monsoons but one service runs to open timings. However, shuttle services between Aman Lodge and Matheran were introduced from 29.9.2012, to run even in monsoon. The Neral-Matheran Railway bore the brunt of heavy rains once In 2005 and again in 2019. Central Railway has undertaken several infrastructural works to improve the track and ride in the section. Two services on Neral – Matheran NG line resumed with effect from 22.10.2022. Now, recently AC saloon services are also introduced from 2023 which can be booked with the Chief Booking Supervisor, Neral on request.

From 1853 to the present, Central Railway has always been and will always strive to be the pioneer in providing the best services and is committed to providing a safe, comfortable and convenient journey to its esteemed passengers.