Overview
- Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw marked the anniversary Thursday by posting an authenticated photo of the Thane bridge, which historians say sets the record straight.
- The first passenger run on April 16, 1853 went from Bori Bunder to Thane over about 35 km with 14 carriages, three steam locomotives and roughly 400 passengers.
- Indian Railways says broad‑gauge electrification has reached 99.6% as of March 2026 and the network now runs about 25,000 trains each day.
- In 2025–26 the system carried 741 crore passengers, generated about Rs 80,000 crore in revenue and moved a record 1,670 million tonnes of freight.
- Safety and speed upgrades include the Kavach collision‑avoidance system on 3,100 route km with work underway on 24,400 km, wider Vande Bharat service including new sleepers, planned hydrogen train trials between Jind and Sonipat, and budget‑backed high‑speed corridors led by the 508 km Mumbai–Ahmedabad line designed for 320 km/h.