Express trains in India

India has a system of express trains. They make a small number of stops, unlike ordinary passenger or local trains. Because of their limited stops, these trains are able to obtain the highest speeds of any train in India. An express train is one where the average speed, excluding halts, is greater than 42 km/h. Including halts, the average speed often is below 42 km/h. Although this is pretty slow when compared to international standards, the "Express" trains here mean faster than the ordinary passenger and local trains. In some cases, trains run express where there is an overlapping passenger train service available, and run as passenger train where there is no supplemental passenger service.

Superfast

Superfast trains are express trains which make still fewer stops, as compared to ordinary express trains, achieving still shorter journey times. Tickets cost more than ordinary express trains as they have "superfast surcharge" added to them. Trains with an average speed, excluding halts, equaling or exceeding 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph) (60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) until the early 1990s) on both up and down journeys fall into this category and are numbered with a prefix of 12 or 22 or 20 (previously 2). Including halts the average speed often is below 55 km/h. In some cases, trains run superfast where there is an overlapping express service available, and run as ordinary express trains where there is no supplementary express service. Maximum speed for superfast trains is 130 km/h.

Mail

Mail trains are the trains which earlier exclusively had mail coaches. These coaches were named as "Railway Mail Service" coaches, and were operated with collaboration between the railways and the postal department. Nowadays, mail trains no longer have these coaches. The mail trains carry mail in the luggage coach itself, but the train branding continues to be in use.

Un-reserved travel

The Jan Sadharan Express and Antyodaya Express are fully Unreserved/General express trains. These trains have all Unreserved/General coaches.^[1]

Apart from Antyodaya and Jan Sadharan trains, unreserved/general coaches are also present in express trains. A new series of Deen Dayalu coaches has also been proposed for long-distance trains. The Deen Dayalu coaches are more comfortable than the existing old coaches.^[2]

Speed

The average speed of express trains, range from 36 kilometres per hour (22 mph) to 113 kilometres per hour (70 mph). Of this, counting up and down trains separately, 23 trains have an average speed more than 80 km/h, whereas 72 trains have an average speed between 70 and 80 km/h. The speed of express trains is calculated from the latest Indian Railways timetable.

The design of the railway switches, with a speed limit of 50–90 km/h, is the major bottleneck to higher speed.^[3] Another constraint is the need to accommodate freight trains at the current top speed of 70 km/h.^[4] These constraints to speed are consequences of sharing tracks with freight and lower speed suburban passenger trains.

The train stops reduce the average running speed of a train by preventing it from gaining higher speed. The distance between stops is as short as 2 km between New Bongaigaon-Bongaigaon on the Howrah–Dibrugarh Kamrup Express, and as long as 528 km between Vadodara–Kota on the Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express and Maharashtra Sampark Kranti Express.

List of fastest trains in India
Train category	Train name	Max. speed	Avg. speed	Notes
Vande Bharat Express	Varanasi Vande Bharat Express	130 km/h^[5]	95 km/h	Fastest train in India according to Average speed
Vande Bharat Express	Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj) - Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express	160 km/h*	94 km/h	2nd Fastest train in India according to average speed
Gatimaan Express	Gatimaan Express	160 km/h*	91 km/h	3rd Fastest train in India according to average speed
Rajdhani Express	Mumbai Rajdhani Express	130 km/h	89 km/h	Fastest train between Mumbai and Delhi\|4th Fastest train in India according to average speed
Rajdhani Express	Mumbai CSMT–Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express	130 km/h	86 km/h	Only train in India which runs with push-pull method (one locomotive pulling at the front and one locomotive pushing at the back)
Shatabdi Express	Habibganj–New Delhi Shatabdi Express	150 km/h	83 km/h	4th fastest train in India according to average speed Fastest Shatabdi Expresses
Garib Rath Express	Bandra Terminus–Hazrat Nizamuddin Garib Rath Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	fastest Garib Rath Express
Vande Bharat Express	New Delhi Shri Mata Vaishnov Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	second train of Vande Bharat Express series
Tejas Express	Lucknow–New Delhi Tejas Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	Fastest Tejas Express. Operated by Private (IRCTC)
Sampark Kranti Express	Maharashtra Sampark Kranti Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	Fastest Sampark Kranti Express Fastest train in Superfast express trains category in India
Yuva Express	Bandra Terminus-Hazrat Nizamuddin Yuva Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	2nd Fastest Yuva Express in India
Duronto Express	Mumbai Central –New Delhi Duronto Express	130 km/h	82 km/h	Current Fastest Duronto Express
Duronto Express	Sealdah–Bikaner Duronto Express	130 km/h	78 km/h	Fifth fastest train in India according to average speed Former Fastest Duronto Express until its extension towards Bikaner
Tejas Express	Chennai Egmore–Madurai Tejas Express	110 km/h	78 km/h	First Tejas Express of South India
Tejas Express	Ahmedabad – Mumbai Central Tejas Express	130 km/h	78 km/h	Third dedicated premium train between Mumbai to Ahmedabad
Duronto Express	Mumbai Central–Rajkot Duronto Express	130 km/h	76 km/h	Runs non stop from Mumbai to Ahmedabad
AC Express	Lokmanya Tilak Terminus–Hazrat Nizamuddin AC Express	130 km/h	76 km/h	was the Fastest AC Express
Duronto Express	Yesvantpur–Delhi Sarai Rohilla AC Duronto Express	130 km/h	74 km/h	Only train to skip New Delhi Railway Station
Jan Shatabdi Express	Kota–Hazrat Nizamuddin Jan Shatabdi Express	130 km/h	71 km/h	Fastest Jan Shatabdi Express
Double Decker Express	Mumbai Central–Ahmedabad Double Decker Express	130 km/h	69 km/h	Fastest Double Decker Express
Tejas Express	Mumbai CSMT–Karmali Tejas Express	110 km/h	67 km/h	First Tejas Express
Suvidha Superfast Express	Patna–Mumbai CST Suvidha Superfast Express	130 km/h	66 km/h	Fastest Suvidha Express

References

^ "Routes and Timetables of New Tejas, Uday, Humsafar and Antyodaya Trains". 24 Coaches. 29 September 2016.
^ "Deen Dayalu coaches: Indian Railways' swanky new offerings for general class". The Economic Times. 26 July 2016.
^ "High Speed – T.R.Natarajan, Indian Railways". Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
^ Government of India Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) (December 2009). "Indian Railways 2020 Vision" (PDF).
^ 22436/New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express

External links

[1] "Routes and Timetables of New Tejas, Uday, Humsafar and Antyodaya Trains". 24 Coaches. 29 September 2016.

[2] "Deen Dayalu coaches: Indian Railways' swanky new offerings for general class". The Economic Times. 26 July 2016.

[3] "High Speed – T.R.Natarajan, Indian Railways". Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.

[IRvision2020-4] Government of India Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) (December 2009). "Indian Railways 2020 Vision" (PDF).

[5] 22436/New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express

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