This week, 165 years ago, the first Indian passenger rail service commenced operations between Bori Bunder and Thane. This week’s quiz is about the Indian Railways.

Track record

1 The Gatimaan Express is currently regarded as India’s fastest train, and takes just 265 minutes to cover 402 km. Which Indian city does it connect to New Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station?

2 On which iconic rail route did Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora perform ‘ Chhaiyan chhaiyan ’?

3 This train was India’s first superfast train. It started as a train to ferry rich patrons for weekend races to a nearby city. It was also the first train to have a ‘ladies only’ car. Identify this iconic train.

4 The Batasia Loop is one of the most picturesque turns in the Indian railway system and has featured in many films. Between which two stations do you find it?

5 Railway junctions are stations where two or more railway lines intersect. Which north Indian city with less than five lakh people is India’s biggest junction, with seven different routes criss-crossing its six stations?

6 Many Indian stations are famous for specific food items. If Agra is famous for peda and Amritsar for lassi, which Indian station is famous for dal bati choorma ?

7 Indian locomotives have a very specific naming convention. If the first letter denotes the track gauge, the second the motive power, diesel or electric. What does the third letter indicate?

8 The railways were big enough to merit a separate budget from 1924 till 2016. Who is the only Indian to present six consecutive railway budgets?

9 Which author’s collection of stories, Plain Tales from the Hills, was reissued as The Indian Railway Library Series by the iconic Wheeler company in the late 19th century, and were among the first paperbacks ?

10 The longest Rajdhani route in the country also features the longest non-stop run of 528 km. Which city does this Rajdhani connect to Delhi?

Answers

1. Jhansi

2. The Nilgiri Heritage Railway, which operates between Ooty and Coimbatore

3. The Deccan Queen, which ferried race patrons from Bombay to Pune

4. Darjeeeling and Ghoom; which is the highest railway station in the country

5. Mathura, served by Mathura junction, Mathura cantt, Bhuteshwar, Baad, Masani and Krishna Janmabhoomi

6. Jaipur

7. The traffic for which they are suited. G for goods, P for passenger and M for multi-use

8. Laloo Prasad Yadav, who was railway minister between 2004 and 2009

9. Rudyard Kipling. They cost a rupee at the time

10. Thiruvananthapuram, 3,149 km from Delhi. The non-stop run is between Kota and Vadodara

 

BLINKJOY

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup;Twitter: @joybhattacharj

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