Railways of India. An important stage of modernization is completed – unification of track width

   India, the Republic of India is a country of one of the world’s oldest civilizations, the largest state in the world by population — 1.42 billion people (end of 2022), occupying an area of over 3 million square kilometers. India, which has accelerated the pace of its socio-economic development in recent decades, is playing an increasingly important role in the international arena every year, including as one of the BRICS organizers. The state railways of India are managed by the Ministry of Railways of India represented by Indian Railways (99 % of the country’s railway network) and are, despite the dominance of motor transport, remain one of the main modes of transport. During the year, the railways of India transport more than 8 billion passengers (2nd place in the world after Japan), the staff of the railways of India will amount to 1.2 million people (the 7th employer in the world). Railway transport in India is developing intensively, in recent years, work has been intensified on the organization of high–speed traffi c on a number of lines of existing railways, the fi rst high-speed railway line Mumbai — Ahmedabad is being built with a normal gauge of 1435 mm with a length of 508 km, designed for a maximum train speed of 350 km/h. The authors of the article have repeatedly visited India, visited various railway enterprises, railway educational institutions — universities and institutes, met with industry leaders at the Ministry of Railways of India, traveled along the country’s railways along a number of routes with a total length of about six thousand km.