Project Unigauge
Ongoing nationwide standardisation of railway track gauge in India
Comparison of different gauges in India with standard gauge
Project Unigauge , started on 1 April 1992,[ 1] is an ongoing effort by Indian Railways to convert and unify all rail gauges in India to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in ) broad gauge .
Progress
Year
Gauge
Broad gauge (BG)
(1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in ))
Metre gauge (MG)
(1,000 mm (3 ft 3+ 3 ⁄8 in ))
Narrow gauges (NG)
(762 mm (2 ft 6 in ) and 610 mm (2 ft ))
All gauges
Route Km
Route share
Route Km
Route share
Route Km
Route share
Route Km
1947[ 2]
25,170
46.14%
24,153
44.28%
5,225
9.58%
54,548
1971 (Mar)[ 3]
29,449
49.25%
25,865
43.26%
4,476
7.49%
59,790
1972 (Mar)[ 3]
30,041
50.01%
25,550
42.54%
4,476
7.45%
60,067
1973 (Mar)[ 3]
30,126
50.09%
25,547
42.47%
4,476
7.44%
60,149
1974 (Mar)[ 3]
30,210
50.15%
25,548
42.41%
4,476
7.43%
60,234
1975 (Mar)[ 3]
30,274
50.20%
25,551
42.37%
4,476
7.42%
60,301
1976 (Mar)[ 3]
30,497
50.65%
25,427
42.23%
4,292
7.13%
60,216
1977 (Mar)[ 3]
30,873
50.89%
25,512
42.05%
4,281
7.06%
60,666
1978 (Mar)[ 3]
30,909
50.93%
25,503
42.02%
4,281
7.05%
60,693
1979 (Mar)[ 3]
31,130
51.22%
25,366
41.74%
4,281
7.04%
60,777
1980 (Mar)[ 3]
31,228
51.25%
25,424
41.72%
4,281
7.03%
60,933
1981 (Mar)[ 3]
31,827
51.97%
25,167
41.10%
4,246
6.93%
61,240
1982 (Mar)[ 3]
32,290
52.74%
24,694
40.33%
4,246
6.93%
61,230
1983 (Mar)[ 3]
32,624
53.15%
24,515
39.94%
4,246
6.92%
61,385
1984 (Mar)[ 3]
32,700
53.21%
24,514
39.89%
4,246
6.91%
61,460
1985 (Mar)[ 3]
33,553
54.25%
24,051
38.89%
4,246
6.86%
61,850
1986 (Mar)[ 3]
33,669
54.45%
23,921
38.68%
4,246
6.87%
61,836
1987 (Mar)[ 3]
33,665
54.46%
23,901
38.67%
4,247
6.87%
61,813
1988 (Mar)[ 3]
33,832
54.59%
23,898
38.56%
4,246
6.85%
61,976
1989 (Mar)[ 3]
34,108
55.03%
23,631
38.12%
4,246
6.85%
61,985
1990 (Mar)[ 3]
34,544
55.53%
23,599
37.93%
4,068
6.54%
62,211
1991 (Mar)[ 3]
34,880
55.93%
23,419
37.55%
4,068
6.52%
62,367
1992 (Mar)[ 3]
35,109
56.21%
23,283
37.28%
4,066
6.51%
62,458
1993 (Mar)[ 3]
36,504
58.42%
21,997
35.20%
3,985
6.38%
62,486
1994 (Mar)[ 3]
37,824
60.56%
20,653
33.06%
3,985
6.38%
62,462
1995 (Mar)[ 3]
39,612
63.22%
19,210
30.66%
3,838
6.13%
62,660
1996 (Mar)[ 3]
40,620
64.56%
18,501
29.41%
3,794
6.03%
62,915
1997 (Mar)[ 3]
41,971
66.91%
17,044
27.17%
3,710
5.91%
62,725
1998 (Mar)[ 3]
43,083
68.94%
15,804
25.29%
3,608
5.77%
62,495
1999 (Mar)[ 3]
44,216
70.40%
15,178
24.17%
3,415
5.44%
62,809
2000 (Mar)[ 3]
44,383
70.72%
15,013
23.92%
3,363
5.36%
62,759
2001 (Mar)[ 3]
44,776
71.04%
14,987
23.78%
3,265
5.18%
63,028
2002 (Mar)[ 3]
45,099
71.43%
14,776
23.40%
3,265
5.17%
63,140
2003 (Mar)[ 3]
45,622
72.28%
14,364
22.76%
3,136
4.97%
63,122
2004 (Mar)[ 3]
46,807
74.04%
13,290
21.02%
3,124
4.94%
63,221
2005 (Mar)[ 3] [ 4]
47,749
75.24%
12,662
19.95%
2,924
4.81%
63,465
2006 (Mar)[ 3] [ 5]
48,574
76.70%
11,834
18.69%
2,924
4.62%
63,332
2007 (Mar)[ 3] [ 6]
49,820
78.67%
10,621
16.77%
2,886
4.56%
63,327
2008 (Mar)[ 3] [ 7]
51,082
80.73%
9,442
14.92%
2,749
4.34%
63,273
2009 (Mar)[ 3] [ 8]
52,808
82.49%
8,473
13.24%
2,734
4.27%
64,015
2010 (Mar)[ 3] [ 9]
54,257
84.81%
7,180
11.22%
2,537
3.97%
63,974
2011 (Mar)[ 3] [ 10]
55,188
85.62%
6,809
10.56%
2,463
3.82%
64,460
2012 (Mar)[ 3] [ 11]
55,956
86.62%
6,347
9.83%
2,297
3.56%
64,600
2013 (Mar)[ 3] [ 12]
57,140
87.32%
5,999
9.17%
2,297
3.51%
65,436
2014 (Mar)[ 13]
58,177
88.40%
5,334
8.11%
2,297
3.49%
65,808
2015 (Mar)[ 14]
58,825
89.09%
4,908
7.43%
2,297
3.48%
66,030
2016 (Mar)[ 15]
60,510
90.74%
3,880
5.82%
2,297
3.44%
66,687
2017 (Mar)[ 16]
61,680
91.56%
3,479
5.16%
2,209
3.28%
67,368
2018 (Mar)[ 17]
62,049
92.70%
3,201
4.78%
1,685
2.52%
66,935
2019 (Mar)[ 17]
62,891
93.29%
2,839
4.21%
1,685
2.50%
67,415
2020 (Mar)[ 18]
63,950
94.10%
2,402
3.54%
1,604
2.36%
67,956
2021 (Mar)[ 19]
64,403
94.57%
2,112
3.10%
1,588
2.33%
68,103
2022 (Mar)[ 20]
65,093
95.67%
1,655
2.43%
1,294
1.90%
68,043
2023 (Mar)[ 21]
65,977
96.20%
1,345
1.96%
1,262
1.84%
68,584
Lines that were scrapped
These lines were dismantled without a broad-gauge replacement. These were mostly industrial railways, forest railways, etc.
Lines which are to be preserved (will not be converted)
These lines have their original gauge preserved as these are identified as heritage railways. Some of these are also among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India .
See also
References
Minimum-gauge Minimum-gauge railways Narrow gauge
2 foot and 600 mm
2 ft 3 in (686 mm )
750 mm (2 ft 5+ 1 ⁄2 in )
760 mm (2 ft 5+ 15 ⁄16 in )
2 ft 6 in (762 mm )
800 mm (2 ft 7+ 1 ⁄2 in )
891 mm (2 ft 11+ 3 ⁄32 in ) Swedish three foot
900 mm (2 ft 11+ 7 ⁄16 in )
3 ft (914 mm )
950 mm (3 ft 1+ 3 ⁄8 in ) Italian metre gauge
1,000 mm (3 ft 3+ 3 ⁄8 in ) metre gauge
1,050 mm (3 ft 5+ 11 ⁄32 in ),
1,055 mm (3 ft 5+ 1 ⁄2 in ),
3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm )
1,093 mm (3 ft 7 in ),
1,100 mm (3 ft 7+ 5 ⁄16 in ),
1,200 mm (3 ft 11+ 1 ⁄4 in )
4 ft (1,219 mm )
4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm ), Middleton Railway
4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm ), Scotch gauge
4 ft 6+ 1 ⁄2 in (1,384 mm ), Scotch gauge
4 ft 7+ 3 ⁄4 in (1,416 mm )
4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm ), almost standard gauge
4 ft 8+ 1 ⁄4 in (1,429 mm )
1,432 mm (4 ft 8+ 3 ⁄8 in )
Standard gauge Broad gauge
1,440 mm (4 ft 8+ 11 ⁄16 in )
1,445 mm (4 ft 8+ 7 ⁄8 in )
1,450 mm (4 ft 9+ 3 ⁄32 in )
4 ft 9+ 3 ⁄8 in (1,457 mm )
1,458 mm (4 ft 9+ 13 ⁄32 in )
4 ft 10+ 7 ⁄8 in (1,495 mm ), Toronto gauge
5 ft / 1,524 mm and 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+ 27 ⁄32 in ), Russian gauge.
5 ft 2+ 1 ⁄4 in / 1,581 mm and 5 ft 2+ 1 ⁄2 in / 1,588 mm , Pennsylvania gauge
5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm ), Irish gauge
5 ft 4+ 1 ⁄2 in (1,638 mm ), Baltimore gauge
1,668 mm (5 ft 5+ 21 ⁄32 in ), Iberian gauge
5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm ), Indian gauge
7 ft 1 ⁄4 in (2,140 mm ), Brunel gauge
3,000 mm (9 ft 10+ 1 ⁄8 in ), Breitspurbahn
8,200 mm (26 ft 10+ 27 ⁄32 in ), Lärchwandschrägaufzug
9,000 mm (29 ft 6+ 5 ⁄16 in ), Krasnoyarsk ship lift
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