A photo exhibition on Indian Railways, tracing its history from the bullock drawn coaches to electric engines was organised at Coimbatore Junction on Thursday.
The expo displayed information on Indian Railways that came into being in 1853 and now functioning with 14 lakh employees and operating 11,000 trains.
Indian Railways has routes christened as Golden Square linking South, West, East and the North. In 1836, the railway recalled its contribution of bringing material for laying the roads in Chennai.
In 1853, the first train was operated between Porbandar and Thane with 14 coaches and travelled a distance of 34 km marking the first train service of the country. Photos show the train drawn by bullocks used by the Royal Gaekwad family.
Railways also recalled one of its flagship trains i.e., the Kanyakumari – Dibrugarh Vivek Express which travelled for 4,200 km over four nights and three days.
Another exhibit said that the train services link various cultures and gives insight into hundreds of languages besides providing passengers with thousands of food varieties. Indian Railways exports coaches to Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, the Philippines, Uganda, Nigeria and Vietnam. Chitharanjan Loco Works started in 1950 produced 2,350 coaches till 1972 and from then it had so far produced 500 electric engines. Diesel Loco Works started in 1961 produced 250 diesel engines per annum. Integral Coach Factory started in 1952 produced five coaches per day. Rail Coach Factory produced one coach in five hours.
