India is a massive country and boasts one of the largest railway networks in the world, connecting millions of travellers to their destinations every single day. You could easily say that the Indian railway system is critical to the country’s inland transport, taking care of its need for large-scale movement of passenger and freight traffic. This lifeline of India covers a whopping 70,000 km and runs about 21,000 trains, ferrying 23 million passengers and 3 million tonnes of freight per day.
Thus, the contribution of the Indian Railways to the economic growth of the country cannot be emphasized any more.
History of the Indian Railway
Let’s step back a little and start at the beginning of this revolutionary journey in Indian transport. The Indian Railway is a little over a century and a half old, and its first journey was between Bori Bunder station and Thane. This 34 km journey saw a 14-carriage train hauled by three locomotives carrying 400 passengers.
The industry has come a long way and over the years, the number of passengers and goods transported, as well as the number of locomotives have gone up steadily. But this isn’t the only transformation.
From the first train journey to today, the Indian railways has undergone a massive tremendous transformation. There have been staggering leaps in terms of technology upgrades, traveller facilities, extended reach, infrastructure and user services.
The Indian railway recognizes the opportunity in improving the ease of doing business as well as improving service delivery, that too at competitive prices. Growth is the main mantra and has become a priority across all divisions. This is evident from the rapid launch of new trains and wagons and also the introduction of high-speed trains that are bringing passengers and goods to their destinations faster than ever before. All these are signs of modernization and positive change, and the only way is forward.
Government support and initiatives
Recognizing the need to evolve the railway industry, the Indian Government has also undertaken numerous initiatives that are aimed at upgrading its aging infrastructure and also enhancing the quality of service.
The Railway Ministry has plans to make substantial investments towards upgrades, such as 100% electrification of railways, improving existing lines by adding more facilities and introducing trains with greater speeds, expanding new lines, upgrading railway stations, improving safety aspects, introducing and developing a wider high-speed train network major cities in different parts of India, and finally, developing various dedicated freight corridors to bring down the cost of the movement of goods within the country.
There is also significant emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint of the industry. The greater use of solar energy, biogas, bio-toilets in passenger trains, LED lights, rainwater harvesting, and reforestation are steps towards achieving that. Did you know that even today, India has the largest green railway network in the world?
On the right track, with IEC
In this transformation of the Indian Railways and modernization of rail technology, assembly processes remain a constant challenge and offer an opportunity to deliver products that are contemporary. We, at IEC Air Tools, have a wide range of products and solutions which find applications in the coach building lines, refurbishments and maintenance of existing coaches, and applications for track maintenance as well.
We first worked with the Indian Railways decades back. And today, we continue to offer our wide range of products, including heavy duty impact wrenches, high speed drills, grinders , cordless tools and surface finishing tools among others, that collectively meet the unique application requirements of the Indian Railway industry.
Conclusion
The present railway system in India is the legacy of the British rule but the industry is projected to account for 40% of the total global share of rail activity by 2050. At IEC, we will continue to offer fastening solutions and surface finishing tools to the Indian Railways tools that meet the exacting requirements of manufacture, assembly and maintenance.
If you wish to know more about our tools or would like to call for a demo, write to us on contact@iecairtools.com or call us on +9173508 23800. You can also visit our websites https://iecairtools.com and https://aptpneumatics.com/
