National Geographic: The Great Indian Railway

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India is a land of dreams

Where images, however fleeting are

remembered long after the journey's end

The railway is her lifeline

crossing not only distances-

But bridging the boundaries of her

many cultures

For over 900 million people

the railway has become a great unifier

over one-and-a-half million must work

to keep it going

The great Indian railway touches

the lives of everyone

For nothing is more a part of

this country

than the trains which are part of

its soul

Over a century ago

the sound of the steam locomotive

could be heard across the land

as it rolled through the desert

and the plains of India

In those days

villages and cities were isolated

by vast distances

and the coming of the train would

change them forever

Legends were told of the great fire eater

that walked on lines of steel

and breathed white clouds of smoke

Those who did not fear it

came to see it for themselves

In remote outposts where there

were no stations

banyan trees often marked the train stop

And people anticipated its arrival

like the coming of a great ship

There was always entertainment

to greet the travelers

celebrating the trip

for the magical event that is was

What had taken weeks by bullock cart

could now be made in a matter of days

The hero was the driver

He was assigned one engine for life

and cared for it as though it were

a part of him

making sure it was fed coal and watered

It was like a living creature preparing

for the long journey ahead

If there ever was a heart

and soul of the railway

it began here

with these locomotives

They were the symbol of the

British Empire

and held the romance of an age

when men and machines united the country

for the first time

But this era couldn't last forever

Now, the super fast express trains

command the rails

and are moving India into a new century

The railway is a living legacy of

the British, who dominated the subcontinent

for nearly two hundred years

They laid down the first rails in 1850

and by Indian independence

dozens of railways

reached across hundreds of

princely states and territories.

Today, all have been merged into one

Stretching nearly 40,000 miles

and connecting over 7,000 stations

it is the largest railway under a single

management in the world

The frontier Mail, the Tamil-Nadu Express

the Punjab Mail

all long-distance trains,

renowned in history

But one of the oldest is

the Grand Trunk Express

and it travels nearly

the length of the country

Indians love to travel

whether it be on a religious pilgrimage

or to visit relatives far away

They pack everything and bring everyone

They can go anywhere in the country

for less than seven dollars

Space has a whole different meaning

on an Indian train

People like to sit next to each other

talk and share stories

And a stranger isn't a stranger for long

More than 11,000 trains

Travel through India everyday

But it's in the three-tier second-class

coaches that

the real spirit of the country

can be found

If anyone wants to know what India

is all about

you could just travel

in one of these trains

and you could talk to people

you see

You'll actually meet people from

different parts of the country

and you can actually have a look

into the various cultures

you see, now there's

a cultural diversity in India

You can actually enjoy this

cultural diversity traveling

in such long trains say from

which go from one end of the nation

to the other end

Such long trains you can enjoy

if you are really interested

you'll definitely

you will experience it

Every Indian train has ticketless

passengers who are part of its character:

gypsies, beggars, and sweeper boys

who make their living earning tips

between stations

I meet every type of people here

Maybe they are millionaires

they are the poorest

They are engineers, doctors, bankers

Every type of persons I am meeting here

And when I travel I talk

I have an opportunity to talk to them

make friendship with them

We sometimes come closer to them

and we become family friends for life

For centuries

explorers have been drawn to the east

In the 1660's

the British took possession

of the strand of islands

that curved into the Arabian Sea

They would make them the great port

city of Bombay

Their Gateway of India still stands as

a memory of their empire's former glory

Bombay's now one of India's

fastest-growing cities

And the British presence seems unchanged

at Victoria Terminus

Opened in 1888

it was built on the site of the first

railway station

But now it's the headquarters of Central

the busiest of nine zones

in the Indian railway

From this historic place

one of the most important me

in the railway oversees his domain

This is the seat of power of

the General Manager

Every morning

Birendra Vishnu calls upon his officers

to account for every detail

in a monumental system

From major accidents to minor delays

nothing escapes his attention

It was from this same office

that the British ran their railway

And with independence

in 1947

they turned it over to Indian leadership

But now the G.M.

controls a far more complex network

with 200,000 men beneath him

he runs 2,000 trains a day

Ah Madhan

What is happening today?

What are your prospects of loading?

Sir, yesterday, we made 8.5

Alright, you just speak to C.M.E.

Your diesel utilization has slumped

Your diesel utilization is slumped

Your six-wagon balances

in all the yards are heavy

The stable loads are heavy

Just speak to C.M.E.

Hello Madhan? Ah, Rambu Rao, Kutny shed

for the last fifteen days

it has been having very high failure rate

Vishnu is more than a figurehead

If something goes wrong

he shoulders the full responsibility

And every month

he makes it a point to leave his office

and visit his men in the field

Like a present-day maharaja

Vishnu holds court in his private

inspection coach

with full kitchen staff in attendance

and all the ceremonies inherited

from his predecessors

The Indian Railways constitute

the lifeline of India

And it was given to us by the British

They gave us two things

The Indian railways

and a very powerful administrative system

run by the bureaucrats

We are now going on an inspection trip

And during this inspection trip

we propose to go over the entire

railway lines

See what management techniques are there

See how the cabins, the points

and the people who manage these points

look after themselves

and look over the equipment

Each one has his area of responsibility

And a super-check has to be exercised

So when we go out line

our objective is to find out what

deficiencies are there

And take measures to overcome them

No single person can possibly

check on everything

The system depends on workers

whose dedication goes largely unseen

Under the eyes of the cabinmen

tens of thousand of coaches transport

more than 12 million people a day

And one mistake can cost thousands

of lives

For this is a human railway

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