SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 2 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

According to the Indian Railways (2019-2020), which state has the largest railway track in India?

(a)Madhya Pradesh
(b)Uttar Pradesh
(c)Haryana
(d)Punjab

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Uttar Pradesh carries the longest railway network of any Indian state.

Two things put it there. UP is among the largest states by area, and it lies on the flat Gangetic plain — the cheapest terrain in the country to lay track across and the most densely populated, so lines were built early and built thickly.

Railway zone headquarters inside the state include North Eastern Railway at Gorakhpur and North Central Railway at Prayagraj.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Madhya Pradesh — Madhya Pradesh is larger than Uttar Pradesh in area, but it is far less densely settled and much of it is plateau and forest, so its route length falls short.
(c)
Haryana — Haryana is one of India's smaller states by area. A network confined inside it cannot out-measure one spread over a state several times its size.
(d)
Punjab — Punjab is densely served for its size, but density is not length. The stem asks which state has the largest track, and total kilometres follow area here.

Concept

This is a quoted statistic, not a deduction — the phrase 'according to the Indian Railways (2019-2020)' points at the annual Indian Railways Year Book.

Three different numbers describe the same network and SSC uses all of them. Route length measures line between stations. Running track length counts each parallel line on a route. Total track length adds every siding and yard line on top.

The network is administered in zones, each divided into divisions.

The paper says only 'largest railway track', without naming route or running track. On the ranking of states it makes no difference — Uttar Pradesh leads on the measure the key takes.

Key facts

Uttar Pradesh has the longest railway network of any Indian state.
North Eastern Railway is headquartered at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
North Central Railway is headquartered at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
India's first passenger train ran in 1853, between Bori Bunder in Bombay and Thane.

Study next

Indian Railways zones and their headquartersRoute length against running track length against total track lengthThe One Station One Product scheme and the stations chosen under it

Common traps

Answering with the largest state by area instead of the longest network
Confusing the length of the whole Indian Railways network with one state's share of it

SSC asks railway figures as recall of a published number rather than as reasoning. The total length of the network is asked at 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.1, and the One Station One Product scheme at 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.14.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.