150 Years of Railways in India

Railways have been a great integrating force in India since long. After the independence of India in 1947, It has brought together people from the farthest corners of the country. It has bound the economic life of the country and helped in accelerating the development of industry and agriculture. Railway had made possible the conduct of business education, pilgrimage and tourism.
The history of Railways in India began on 16th April 1853. When the first train started from Boribunder to Thane by help of steam engine, covering a distance of 34 kilometers only. But then after the Indian Railways had not looked behind & now Indian railway grown into a large network of 7,000 stations spread over a route length of nearly 63,000 kms. Today it is one of the largest organizations in the world, employing a 16 lakh people.

Now a days, Indian railway is main route of transport for people & Goods. Each day about 7500 passenger trains carry more than 11 million passengers in different parts of the country
The Railway network runs multi gauge operations (Broad gauge, meter gauge & narrow gauge).The network is divided into nine zones. Seven new zones and nine new divisions are further being set up.

On remembering a sweet memories of first 34 Kms. Run of our beloved rail after 150 years, means 150'" anniversary of India's first train journey which falls in 2003,this commemorative stamp & miniature sheet was released by Indian postal Dpt.
This stamp shows painting of the Indian landscape of 1853, with the first train running in the distance on its 1st journey to Thane on the l6'" of April.

cancellation mark

Design of the first day cancellation mark shows a station master's watch displaying the time when the train commenced its historical journey from Bombay (Boribunder).