Critics, however, say that the railways are not expanding nearly fast enough to meet the needs of an economy that is expected to grow by as much as 7% this year, a rate that optimists say can be sustained for years.The railways employ some 6% of the workforce in India's "organised" sector, and its managers are proud of their record of good industrial relations.
The term 'infrastructure' stems from 19th-century military vocabulary, in which it denoted the resources behind the front, necessary to wage war, i.e. structures such as roads, industries and railways, but also including an industrial workforce.
The latest annual safety report by the Office of Rail and Road shows Britain has the third safest railway in Europe since 2010, based on workforce and passenger fatalities per billion kilometers of train journeys.
Built from 1915 to 1918 by a workforce of roughly 900, the railway allowed for supplies to be shipped directly from San Francisco along the Southern Pacific and Sierra lines which connected to the Hetch Hetchy line.
Director Arch Obler's gruesome tale of man-eating lions gorging their way through the native workforce who were building the Ugandan railway spawned a "golden age" in 3D technology, although the critics panned it and the people, who cared little for donning the outlandish glasses necessary to enjoy the special effects, eventually abandoned it.
With a workforce of 1.3 million people, Indian Railways is one of the world's largest employers.
The Mid-Hants Railway, also known as the Watercress Line, has a workforce of 500 volunteers, 30 staff and already employs two apprentices.
The riverboat era peaked in the twenty years from 1870 1890, declining with the coming of the railway and finally ending with the disruption to the workforce caused by World War I. From Melbourne, broad gauge railway lines opened to Deniliquin in 1876 and west to Moulamein and Balranald in 1926.
This shows the confidence that the management has in its workforce and day-to-day operations, and reveals that the railway has become something of a national treasure.
Beijing responded with a massive stimulus package, accelerating the already-rapid building of roads, railway lines, steel plants, blocks of flats, and so on, to keep the workforce busy and the economy expanding at 9%-10% a year.
