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The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has a market capitalization higher than 47 countries in the world. Yes! As we all know, one of the major modes of transportation for Indians is the trains, and the number of people moving in India daily utilizing railways is comparable to the entire population of Australia."
Yes! You read correctly. Are you further interested in learning more amazing facts about IRCTC, which is referred to as the nation's lifeline?
Let us first understand a brief about IRCTC:
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is a public sector company that is a part of the Indian Ministry of Railways. The IRCTC, the head organization of the Indian Railways, was established on September 27, 1999, to promote Indian tourism both in India and abroad. The organization's goal is to administer and provide hospitality aboard trains & in train stations.
New Delhi, the capital of India, is where the IRCTC is headquartered. To guarantee smooth operations, 5 zonal offices are operating in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Secunderabad.
IRCTC provides comprehensive travel & tourist solutions for various customer groups in addition to catering to trains as well as stations throughout the whole Indian Railway network.
Indian Railways, which offers first-rate logistics and transportation infrastructure, regional connectivity, citizen mobility, and commercial activity, greatly contribute to the nation's economic and social development.
Here is the list of the Most Shocking Facts About IRCTC:
1st day of IRCTC:
Just 27 tickets were reserved on the very first day when IRCTC was introduced in 2002. It now boasts that it books an average of 5 lakh tickets every day. A total of 31 crore railway tickets are purchased annually, of which 37% are done so online, 55% are purchased at ticket counters, and 8% are done so through ticket travel agents.
India's most visited website:
The Centre for Railway Information Systems manages and develops IRCTC, one of India's most visited websites. The portal for purchasing tickets is run by Broadvision. One of the least-known facts about IRCTC is that the website was not created by TCS, even though this is a common misconception.
Largest Employer:
As of March 2020, it had 1.254 million employees, ranking as the sixth largest employer globally. The Indian Railways organizational structure is organized into 17 zones, which are further subdivided into 68 divisions.
A divisional headquarter oversees each of these divisions. With 13 lakh employees, the Indian Railways is one of the biggest employers in the country.
First Passenger Train:
The first passenger railway line was run over a 33-kilometer route from Mumbai to Thane on April 16, 1853, marking the beginning of Indian Railways' operations. At 3:30 that afternoon, the train with 14 railcars and about 400 people departed from Bori Bunder. At that time, it was made a public holiday.
One of the largest Rail networks:
Indian Railways, which was nationalized in 1951, is currently the second-largest railway system in Asia and the fourth-largest in the world run by a single management. Its track length is around 115,000 kilometers. It connects more than 7,172 stations with 19,000 trains that carry more than 23 million passengers daily or the equivalent of transferring the whole population of Australia.
World's Highest Railway Bridge:
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail connect (USBRL) project, which was completed in August 2022, includes the Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world. The amazing bridge, which was built on the riverbed at a height of 359 meters, spans the 75-kilometer single line between Katra (Jammu) & Qazigund (Kashmir) with 93 decks averaging 85 tonnes each.
It is a portion of the 272 km rail line, which extends from Udhampur to Baramulla and links the Kashmir valley with Jammu. More than 1300 workers and 300 engineers actively participated in the construction of the 1315-meter-long Chenab Rail Bridge, a feat of engineering.
Revenue of IRCTC:
According to Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in Lok Sabha during the winter session, Revenue during FY 2020-21 has significantly decreased in comparison to FY 2019-20 due to travel restrictions enforced during Covid-19 by the Government of India.
However, the income began to progressively increase again after the limits were abolished and cooked food started to be served in trains starting in FY 2021-2022. The total revenue for the fiscal years 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 was 2342.41 crores, 861.64 crores, and 1952.30 crores, respectively.
Future prediction:
According to predictions, India's railway system would become the third-largest railway network in the world in the next five years, accounting for 10% of the global market. The government has ambitious plans to upgrade its enormous rail network by 2030, including adding fully electrified railway lines, a significant high-speed railway network connecting important cities, and rail infrastructure routes.
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