Indian Railways (lang-hi?????? ??? Bh?rat?ya Rail), abbreviated as IR (lang-hi??.??.), is the state-owned railway company of India, which owns and operates most of the countrys rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways (Ministry of Railways (India)) of the Government of India.

Indian Railways has one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting 20 million passengers and more than 2 million tonnes of freight (cargo) daily.cite booktitle = Indian Railways Year Book (2006-2007) url = publisher= Ministry of Railways (Ministry of Railways (India)), Government of India year = 2007 pages = 2-3 accessdate = 2008-12-23cite booktitle = Indian Railways Year Book (2006-2007) url = publisher= Ministry of Railways (Ministry of Railways (India)), Government of India year = 2007 page = 53 accessdate = 2008-12-23 It is one of the worlds largest commercial or utility employers, with more than 1.6 million employees. The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country, covering 6,909 stations over a total route length of more than convert63327kmmi0. As to rolling stock, IR owns over 200,000 (freight) wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives.

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of Indias independence (Independence of India), there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge (Dual gauge) network of broad (Indian gauge), metre (Metre gauge) and narrow (Narrow gauge railway) gauges (Rail gauge). It also owns locomotive and coach (coach (rail)) production facilities.

Initially, the Indian railways were both designed and built by the British, during their colonial rule (British Raj) of the subcontinent (Indian subcontinent).