First time in history, Indian Railways completes 167 years with no passenger trains on tracks

"Today, 167 years ago with the zeal of 'never to stop', the wheels of the first passenger train from Mumbai to Thane started rolling. For the first time, passenger services are stopped for your safety. Stay indoors and make the nation victorious," Railway Ministry tweeted.

New Delhi:The Indian Railways has completed 167 years since it's glorious run. However, instead of a celebration, this is the first time in Indian History that tracks have been lying empty, across the nation, as the operations of passenger trains have been suspended for nearly a month, amid a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of infectious coronavirus.

The national transporter which never gets stopped by bombs or terror attacks, in the past 167 years, has closed all its passenger train services due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. Even after the Mumbai train bombings, in July 2006, the services were resumed within hours.

"Today, 167 years ago with the zeal of 'never to stop', the wheels of the first passenger train from Mumbai to Thane started rolling. For the first time, passenger services are stopped for your safety. Stay indoors and make the nation victorious," Railway Ministry tweeted, on Thursday.

The first passenger train in India ran between Bombay (Bori Bunder) and Thane on 16th April 1853. The 14-carriage train was halted by three steam locomotives- Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan. It carried 400 people and run on a line of 34 km built-in 57 minutes and was operated by Great Indian Peninsula (GIP) Railway.

At Bori Bunder, the station building was constructed and named Victoria Terminus in 1887 which was renamed in 1996 as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and in 2017 as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Even GIP Railways has now taken the shape of Central Railway.

On this occasion, Union Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal also tweeted, "Serving the nation since 1853: 167 years ago first passenger train was flagged off from Mumbai to Thane. After a long and glorious service, for the first time operations have paused for the safety of the nation. I thank people for cooperating amid the pandemic. We will emerge victoriously."

On April 14, the Ministry of Railways announced the suspension of passenger railway operations till 3rd May, in the wake of the extension of nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure has been taken in a continuation of the previous suspension of railway operations, till April 14, announced last month.

However, Railways is currently running only freight services trains to supply the essential commodities all across the country amid the nationwide lockdown.