Five Firsts For Indian Railways In 2020 It was a bitter-sweet journey in 2020 for Indian Railways, the country's lifeline. outlookindia.com 2020-12-30T14:51:35+05:30 Also read Indian Railways which started its journey in 1853 has been India’s lifeline. Today, it has route length network spread across 1.2 lakh km with 13,523 passenger trains and 9,146 freight trains plying 23 million travellers and 3 million tonnes of freight daily from over 7,000 stations across the country. India’s lifeline saw various firsts in the Year 2020 making it a bitter-sweet journey for it. 1. Railway passenger operations coming to a halt: Indian Railways passenger services came to complete halt for the first time when the lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March. The trains in India have never been halted ever since its journey started 160 years ago. For the first time, people experienced how life was without trains and if this wide network of trains didn’t exist how the country was in dismay. Even after the resumption of trains till now only over 1,000 trains are running for passengers besides suburban trains.