RAILWAY

ENGINEERING
Historical Development of Railways in India

• 1844 – First proposal for construction of railways in India were

submitted to East India Company by Mr. R.M. Stephenson

• 1849 – Contract to construct an experimental line of 160 kms

between Calcutta to Mirzapur

• 1850 – Contract by Indian Peninsula Railways to construct line

between Bombay to Kalyan

• 1853 – First Railway line between Bombay and Thana (32 kms
stretch)

• 1854 – Train between Howrah and Hoogly was run over a stretch
of 39 kms
1855-1860 – Eight railway companies were established in India like
The Madras Railway, The Scindia Railway etc.

1862 – Assistance was given to railway companies to construct

feeder lines in Northern India

1869-1881 – Government itself undertook the responsibility of

railway construction

1879 – India had a total of 14,920 kms of railway line

1881 – Lord Hartington, then the secretary of State for India,

formulated rules for railway construction

1881-1897 – New contracts were given to new companies

1901 – Mr. Thomson Robertson was appointed to investigate into

railway administration
1914 – Railway kilometrage rose from 39,603 in 1900 to 56,456 in
1914

1920 – Indian Railway Inquiry Committee was appointed

1937 – Burma was separated from India due to which kms were
curtailed by 3200 kms

1939 – Total route kilometrage was 65,850 kms

1950 – Regrouping of railways was done and 6 zones were formed

2017 – Total Indian Railway network – 1,21,407 kms

Five Year Plans-

• 1951-56

• 1956-61

• 1961-66

• 1969-74

• 1974-78

• 1980-85

• 1985-90
• 1992-97
• 1997-2002
Permanent Way and Gauge
Permanent Way

The rails fitted on sleepers and resting on ballast and subgrade is

called the railway track or permanent way. The name of permanent
way is given to distinguish the final layout from the temporary
tracks laid for transporting construction materials.

In a permanent way, the rails are duly joined in series (using

fishplates and bolts or welded) and then they are fixed to sleeper by
appropriate fastening. The sleepers are duly spaced, rest on ballast
which is suitably packed. The ballast rests on proposed subgrade
called formation.
The rails act as girders to transmit the wheel load to the sleepers.
The sleepers hold the rails in proper position maintaining proper
tilt, gauge and level and transmit the loads from rails to ballast.

The ballast rests on prepared formation & distributes the loads over
the formation and holds the sleeper in position.
Gauges

Rail Gauge is the horizontal perpendicular distance between the

inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing parallel rails of the
track.

Larger the gauge, larger will be the size of rolling stock and more
will be speed, more economical will be operation charges.

Selection of gauge is therefore largely dependent on the volume,

speed and demand of passengers, traffic and
There are four types of gauges:-

Standard (1.435m)
Broad (1.676m)
Meter (1.000m)
Narrow gauge (0.610-0.762m)

In the world of rail, 56% of railways has standard gauge while

broad gauge covers 1/13th and the narrow gauge covers 1/8th
kilometerage of world rail.

In India however there are three principal gauges, namely

B.G 53%
M.G 40%
N.G 7%
Selection of Gauges-

• Cost of construction

• Volume and Nature of Traffic

• Development of the areas

• Physical features of the country

• Speed of movement
Brake Van
Open Wagons
Closed Wagons
Passenger Van
Rails

Rails are continuous girders placed over the sleepers to receive axle
loads of rolling stocks and distribute the same to the formation
through sleepers and ballasts.

Function of Rails
i) to provide smooth and uniform surface to bear heavy loads from
rolling stocks offering very low frictional resistance.
ii) to bear lateral and thermal stresses due to braking and centrifugal
force at horizontal curves
iii) to resist wear and tear of rails, good quality steel should be used,
so that wear is low, making replacement cost low and arresting
failure due to wear
Requirements for Rails for proper functioning-

i) Rails should be of adequate height to resist vertical shear

ii) It should have sufficient surface of contact with wheels and

sleeper surface

iii) High carbon steel shall be used . Composition should be as

below:-
Carbon – 0.55 - 0.68%
Manganese – 0.65 – 0.9%
Silicon – 0.05 – 0.3%
Sulphur – below 0.05%
Phosphorus - below 0.05%
Rail Section

An ideal rail section should be such that every part of material is

subjected to maximum allowable stress and resulting most
economical cross-sectional area.

Three types of rail sections-

Self Study Topics-

• Development of Railway in India (including five year plans)

• Advantages of Indian Railways

• Requirements of an ideal permanent way

• Requirement of Rails

• Types of rails sections (merits and demerits)