SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 100

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 6 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.

What is the length of Indian Railways network, according to Railway Yearbook 2019- 20?

(a)67,956 km
(b)2,402 km
(c)63,950 km
(d)1,604 km

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The Railway Year Book 2019-20, published by the Ministry of Railways, puts the route length of Indian Railways at 67,956 km.

Route length measures how far the network reaches. It is not the same as running-track or total-track kilometres, which are larger because they count every parallel line, siding and yard line separately.

So the figure the Year Book actually reports is option (a), not the near-miss 63,950 km.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
2,402 km — 2,402 km is about one twenty-eighth of the Year Book's figure. It fails on order of magnitude before you even check the source.
(c)
63,950 km — 63,950 km is the near-miss built to punish approximate memory. It sits in the right band, but the Year Book 2019-20 reports 67,956 km, and SSC marks the published number.
(d)
1,604 km — 1,604 km is under three per cent of the network's route length — the smallest figure on offer, and nowhere near any Indian Railways total.

Concept

SSC's static-GK questions on Indian Railways come from one document: the Railway Year Book, an annual statistical volume of the Ministry of Railways.

The Year Book reports three different lengths, and confusing them is what costs marks. Route kilometres measure how far the network reaches. Running-track kilometres count each running line on a multi-line section. Total-track kilometres add sidings and yard lines on top.

The question asks for the length of the network, so the route figure is the one it wants.

The paper writes 'Railway Yearbook 2019- 20' as one word with a stray space, exactly as it appears on the response sheet. It means the Ministry of Railways' Indian Railways Year Book 2019-20.

Key facts

The Railway Year Book 2019-20 puts Indian Railways' route length at 67,956 km.
The Year Book is published annually by the Ministry of Railways.
Route kilometres, running-track kilometres and total-track kilometres are three separate Year Book figures, and only the first answers a question about how far the network reaches.

Study next

Railway zones of India and their headquartersRailway route length by state, from the same Year BookThe difference between route kilometres and running-track kilometres

Common traps

Accepting 63,950 km because it is also a five-digit number in the sixty-thousands.
Quoting a track-kilometre figure when the question asks for the length of the network.

SSC lifts Year Book totals straight into one-line recall questions.
The same 2019-20 data is used on 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.2 (which state has the largest railway track), and railway schemes appear on 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.14.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.