On 16th April 1853, at 3:35 pm, India's first train, with 14 carriages and 400 guests ran from Bombay's Bori Bunder to Thane after a 21-gun salute. The 21-mile-long historic journey that took about forty-five minutes to complete was hauled by three locomotives - Sultan, Sahib and Sindh.

India had to wait for eight more years for the first passenger line. Interestingly, none of the guests actually bought the ticket. All 400 of them were invited. Native lords from around the country came to witness the inauguration ceremony.

British engineer Robert Maitland Brereton was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Calcutta-Allahabad-Delhi line was completed by 1864. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway opened in June 1867.