The Indian Railways network is the fourth largest in the world, after US, Russia and China, and is considered the backbone of the Indian economy. In 2015-16, Indian Railways transported 8.1 billion passengers and is among the world’s largest freight carriers (1.1 billion tonnes).
Situation up till
2014-15
Of the Indian Railways network, 40% of the sections (492 out of 1,219 sections) were running at 100% or above line capacity. For high-density network routes, the situation is severe, with -45% (102 out of 227sections) operating at above 120% line capacity utilisation.
