The Indian Railways Act 1890 was enacted at the time when the railways in India were mostly managed by private companies. Initially, the Government of India played primarily the role of coordinating and regulating authority in various matters such as inter-railway movement of traffic, fixation of rates, sharing of revenue earnings, etc. As the role of the Government had changed,  the Indian Railways Act 1890 came to be repealed and the Railways Act 1989 was introduced. Subsequently the Railways Act 1989 has undergone further changes in 1994, 2003, 2005 and 2008. The tenth edition of this work is now appearing incorporating all those amendments.