Indian Railways, one of the most wide-spread rail networks in the world, is full of activity. This busy rail network is completely owned by the Central Government of India and is administered by the Ministry of Railways.
Railways formally commenced its passenger services on 16th April, 1853 with a small rail link connecting Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane. However, by the end of 1880, the Railway system had spread its limbs about 9000 miles across the length and the breadth of the country.
Railways has a young and energetic mascot, a cartoon elephant, 'Bholu' clothed elegantly in blue and white like a train guard with a flag in hand.
The corporation has its auxiliary wing, Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation that controls the catering and hospitality, budget and luxury tourism and web based reservation services related to Indian Railways.
The Railway website developed to undertake online reservations is operational 18 hours a day. From midnight to early morning, the website undergoes maintenance and servicing activities and hence is not available for customer support, reservations and status verifications. The website is best browsed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or its other versions.
There are several comprehensible and user-friendly services provided by Indian Railways. These services have been designed to take some load off the railway ticketing and reservation department all over the country.
Passengers can check their reservation status and send an enquiry to the department of railways through an SMS. There are pre-defined keywords that are assigned to different types of queries.
Online booking and advanced reservation of rail tickets is another important feature provided by the Indian Railways to facilitate convenient booking, saving the time and energy of both the corporation and the passenger.
Tatkal Scheme is a specialised service designed to allow urgent bookings in all classes except First AC and Executive class. Tatkal e-ticket service is available on selected trains and the reservation can be done as early as 2 days time up to chart preparation.
Railways operates certain reasonably priced tour packages across the nation for domestic as well as foreign tourists. These tour packages are categorised under the 'Bharat Darshan' plan, with wide-ranging destinations and tourism packages. Tourism trains also ply in varied parts of the country to introduce, re-introduce, live and re-live the real, ancient India, its heritage and culture.
Today is 26th January and in India we celebrate it as our 'National Republic Day'. Yes it was this day only, long back in 1950, when the Constitution of India(the largest in the world) came into force. The constitution of India was drafted by a drafting committee with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as their Chairman.
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