Railway
India's first university dedicated to railways and transportation was the:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — National Rail and Transportation Institute (Vadodara)
Detailed Solution
The National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI) in Vadodara, Gujarat, was India's first university dedicated to railways and transport. It was set up in 2018 by the Ministry of Railways as a "deemed to be university", and its first academic session began in September 2018.
Later development:
- In 2022, Parliament passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2022, which converted the NRTI into a central university named "Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya" (GSV).
- It is sponsored by the Ministry of Railways and now covers the whole transport sector, including railways, roads, shipping, ports, aviation and logistics.
- The name links it to the "PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan" (launched in October 2021), which aims to plan infrastructure in an integrated way to cut logistics costs.
Courses offered include:
- Bachelor's degrees in transportation technology, management and engineering.
- Master's degrees in transport systems engineering, logistics and supply chain management, and transport policy.
- It partners with international universities and with industry.
Why it was needed: Indian Railways is one of the largest railway networks in the world, and India is investing heavily in new transport projects such as the dedicated freight corridors, high-speed rail (the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, which will pass through Vadodara), metro rail and expressways. Skilled professionals are needed to plan, build and run these systems.
Other railway training institutions:
- Indian Railways Institute of Civil Engineering (IRICEN), Pune.
- Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET), Secunderabad.
- National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR), Vadodara, which trains railway officers.
- Railway Staff College, the former name of NAIR, was at Vadodara (not Lucknow).
Why not the other options?
- ✗IRICEN (Pune) trains railway civil engineers but is not a university.
- ✗The Indian Institute of Transport Management is not India's first railway university.
- ✗The Railway Staff College was at Vadodara and is now the NAIR.
Quick tip
Remember: First railway university = National Rail and Transportation Institute, Vadodara (2018), now Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (central university, 2022).
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Industries & Transport in India Questions
View all ›- Q1.India's first nuclear power plant is:
- Q2.Which is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port in India?
- Q3.The East-West Corridor of the National Highways Development Project connects:
- Q4.India's longest rail-cum-road bridge, connecting Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over the Brahmaputra, is the:
- Q5.The Atal Tunnel, one of the world's longest highway tunnels above 10,000 feet, connects Manali with:
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Industries & Transport in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Industries & Transport in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's major industries (iron and steel, textiles, cement, sugar, automobiles and information technology) and their locations, along with the transport network: railways, roads and national highways, ports, airports and waterways. Common questions ask where a steel plant is located and which country helped build it (Bhilai with the Soviet Union, Rourkela with Germany and Durgapur with Britain), which city is called the 'Manchester of India', and facts about major ports, railway zones and national highways. Practise the industries and transport questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.