Indian Railways (IR notification mark) is a state-owned railway company responsible for rail transportation in India. It is owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the largest rail networks in the world comprising 92,081 km (57,216 miles) of track over a route of 66,687 km (41,437 mi) and 7,216 stations by the end of 2015-16. In 2015-16, IR transported 8,107 million passengers per year or more than 22 million passengers per day and 1,101 million tons of cargo annually.
The railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalized as a unit, the Railways of India, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates long-distance and suburban rail systems in a multi-gauge network of wide gauges, gauges and narrow gauges. It also has locomotive and coach production facilities in several locations in India, with assigned codes that identify its caliber, type of power and type of operation. Its operations span twenty-six states and three Union Territories throughout India, and it also has international connectivity to Bangladesh (with the Bangladesh Railway) and Pakistan (with the Pakistan Railways).
Indian Railways is the eighth largest employer in the world and had 1,331 million employees by the end of 2015-16. In the years 2015-2016, Indian railroads had revenues of $ 1.683 trillion ($ 25 billion), consisting of $ 1,069 trillion ($ 16 billion) in freight revenues and $ 442.83 billion ($ 6.6 billion Dollars). It had an operating ratio of 90.5% in 2015-16. As at the end of 2015-16, IR rolling stock comprises more than 251,256 freight wagons, 70,241 passenger cars and 11,122 locomotives (39 steam, 5,869 diesel and 5214 electric locomotives).