The Indian Railways - the second largest Railway system in the world, has over 62,300 Km of track laid between 7000 station. Today it offers diverse tourist routes, magnificent hotels on wheels with five star services and Indrail passes. Ideal for extensive trouble-free tour across the country.

India has so much variety both culturally as well as geographically that one can never hope to cover each and every aspect of the country in a single trip. As a tourist destination, it is full of new surprises for the tourists every now and then. One of the best ways to explore the rich natural beauty of India is by going on a train/rail tour. Chugging along with the wheels of the train, you will come face to face with an entirely new facet of Indian landscape. Going on an India tour by a train is bound to be an enriching experience for the tourists.

The country has everything tourists could wish for, amazing locales, rich wildlife, magnificent historical monuments as well as a vivacious cultural heritage. Indian railways, comprising of the second largest railways network in the world, present numerous options for visiting India by rail. There are also a number of luxury trains on offer, which promise you the experience of a lifetime. You will be taken to the various parts of the country, all the time receiving royal treatment that was once a hallmark of India.

To explore the splendour of multi-faceted India, Indrail passes provide excellent value for money and enhance the charm of holidays for visitors from abroad. INDRAIL passes offer visitors on a budget, the facility to travel as they like, over the entire Indian Railway System, without any route restriction within the period of validity of the ticket. These passes can only be purchased by foreign nationals and NRI's on payment in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and other convertible foreign currencies.

A plan for a rail system in India was first put forward in 1832, but no further steps were taken for more than a decade. In 1844, the Governor-General of India Lord Hardinge allowed private entrepreneurs to set up a rail system in India. Two new railway companies were created and the East India Company was asked to assist them. Interest from investors in the UK led to the rapid creation of a rail system over the next few years. The first train in India became operational on 22 December 1851, and was used for the hauling of construction material in Roorkee. A year and a half later, on 16 April 1853, the first passenger train service was inaugurated between Bori Bunder, Bombay and Thane. Covering a distance of 34 km (21 miles), it was hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh and Sultan. This was the formal birth of railways in India.

The British government encouraged new railway companies backed by private investors under a scheme that would guarantee an annual return of five percent during the initial years of operation. Once established, the company would be transferred to the government, with the original company retaining operational control. By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in Indian guaranteed railways. The route mileage of this network was about 14,500 km (9,000 miles) by 1880, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta ( Kolkata). By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896 sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railway.

Extent of Great Indian Peninsular Railway network in 1870. The GIPR was one of the largest rail companies at that time.

Soon various independent kingdoms built their own rail systems and the network spread to the regions that became the modern-day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. A Railway Board was constituted in 1901, but decision-making power was retained by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. The Railway Board operated under aegis of the Department of Commerce and Industry and had three members a government railway official serving as chairman, a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a tidy profit. In 1907, almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government.

The following year, the first electric locomotive appeared. With the arrival of the First World War, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. By the end of the First World War, the railways had suffered immensely and were in a poor state. The government took over the management of the Railways and removed the link between the financing of the Railways and other governmental revenues in 1920, a practice that continues to date with a separate railway budget.