Indian Railways at a glance: 10 interesting facts

New Delhi: As the Modi government gears up to present its first Railway Budget after being chosen to power, all eyes are set on what it has to offer to the common man.

The world's fourth largest rail network could get even more if Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes it a priority, as China did during its rapid economic growth over the past two decades.

Here are some interesting things one should know about the Indian Railways:

• India is proud to be world's third largest railways network.
• The Indian Railways did not have toilets for more than 50 years.
• The first train in India ran on April 16^th 1853 from Mumbai to Thane.
• The full track length of Indian Railways can easily circle the equator one and a half times.
• The slowest train in India is the Metupalayam Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train. It runs at a speed of 10 kmph.
• The Indian Railways cover a large distance everyday. It equals to three and a half times the distance to the moon.
• Indian Railways is the 9^th largest employer in the world. Providing jobs for 1.3 million people, the railway is India's largest single employer.
• The railways is literally the lifeline of the country, it carries more than 25 million passengers each day.
• Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh has the longest platform in the world.
• We might complain about IRCTC website taking a long time to open, but the interesting fact is that the website gets close to 12 Lakh hits per minute.