Rail transport in India consists of primarily of passenger and freight shipments along an integrated rail network. Indian Railways (IR), a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India, operates India's national railway system. It is the primary owner and operator of rail operations throughout the country including suburban rail in major metros.
The Rajdhani Express is a series of passenger train services in India operated by Indian Railways connecting the national capital New Delhi with the capitals or the largest cities of various states. Rajdhani, derived from the Sanskrit means "capital". Introduced in 1969, the trains are amongst the premium services operated by Indian Railways and regularly gets a higher priority on the railway network.
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India that operates India's national railway system. As of 2023, it manages the fourth largest national railway system by size with a running track length of 104,647 km (65,025 mi) and route length of 68,426 km (42,518 mi) of which 60,451 km (37,563 mi) is electrified. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer.
Shatabdi Express are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways. Shatabdi Express are day trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains were first introduced in 1988 and were named 'Shatabdi', meaning 'century', to commemorate the birth centenary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The trains run at a maximum permissible speed of 110–150 km/h (68–93 mph) with the Rani Kamalapati–New Delhi Shatabdi Express achieving the maximum permissible speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) between Tughlakabad and Agra Cantt.
Southern Railway is one of the eighteen zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. The origin of the Southern Railway can be traced back to the Madras Railway formed in 1845. Southern Railway was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway. Southern Railway maintains about 5,081 km (3,157 mi) of railway lines and operates 727 railway stations.
Indian locomotive class WAP-5 is a class of electric locomotives used by Indian Railways. The first ten locomotives were imported from ABB in Switzerland in 1995 and later manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in India. On 3 July 2014, a WAP-5 set an Indian speed record by hauling a train between Delhi and Agra at a speed of 160 km/h (99 mph). The locomotive has regenerative braking, flexible gear coupling, wheel-mounted disc brakes, and a potential for speed enhancement to 200 km/h (120 mph). Braking systems include 160 kN (36,000 lbf) regenerative brakes, disc brakes, automatic train air brakes and a charged spring parking brake.
Indian Railways operates India's railway system and comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. As of 2023, it maintains over 108,706 km (67,547 mi) of tracks and operates over 13,000 trains daily. According to the Ministry of Railways, a route capable of supporting trains operating at more than 160 km/h (99 mph) is considered as a higher speed or semi-high speed rail line.
Duronto Express is a category of long-distance fast trains run by the Indian Railways. Initially, these trains did not have any passenger stops between the origin and the destination except some technical stops, but since January 2016 it is possible to book tickets from those technical stops. These trains were introduced in 2009 and were named 'Duronto', meaning 'speedster' in Bengali, as it was the fastest train of that time, and now second fastest train series, just after Vande Bharat Express and Gatimaan Express.Today, this series of trains regularly gets the second highest priority on Indian Railways and is considered as amongst its most premium trains. Unlike Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express services connect the several metros to other metros, one major state capitals of India to another, and national capital to state capitals. The cost of a Duronto Express is around Rs. 60 crore.
India has a system of express trains, operated by Indian Railways which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. As of 2023, it maintains over 108,706 km (67,547 mi) of tracks and operates nearly 3,000 express trains daily. According to the Ministry of Railways, express trains travel faster and have limited stops than ordinary passenger trains. Any passenger train with an average speed higher than 55 km/h (34 mph) is considered super-fast.
The Vande Bharat sleeper trainset, formerly known as Train-20 is an under development High-speed, long-distance electric multiple unit (EMU) train designed to replace the Rajdhani Express. It is being developed based on existing short-distance Vande Bharat, differing in exterior body, sleeping berths, and onboard amenities due to its long-distance service.
Vande Bharat Express is a medium-distance superfast express service operated by Indian Railways. It is a reserved, air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services. The train entered commercial service on 15 February 2019.
The Vande Bharat trainset, formerly known as Train 18, is an Indian Electric multiple unit chair car trainset designed and developed by Indian Railways at its Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The train achieved a maximum speed of 183 km/h (114 mph) during its trial runs but the operational speed of the train is restricted to 160 km/h (99 mph) due to tracks' inability to support such speeds.
The Amrit Bharat Express is a superfast express service operated by Indian Railways. It is a non air-conditioned, low-cost, sleeper cum unreserved service connecting cities that are more than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take more than ten hours to travel with existing services. The trainset consists of two locomotives, one on either side and 22 coaches with a maximum operating speed of 110–130 km/h (68–81 mph). The train entered commercial service on 1 January 2024.
The 20646/20645 Mangaluru Central - Madgaon Vande Bharat Express is India's 41st Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the industrial port city of Mangalore in western Karnataka with Madgaon, a capital city in the state of Goa.
The 22488/22487 Amritsar - Delhi Junction Vande Bharat Express is India's 38th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the metropolitan city of Amritsar with the capital city of India, New Delhi.
The 20705/20706 Jalna - Mumbai CSMT Vande Bharat Express is India's 41st Vande Bharat Express train, running across the state of Maharashtra, which will start from Jalna and will terminate at Mumbai CSMT in India. This will be the fourth express train towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).
The 22426/22425 Anand Vihar Terminal - Ayodhya Cantonment Vande Bharat Express is India's 36th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the capital city of New Delhi's Anand Vihar Terminal with Ayodhya, the birthplace of the deity Rama of Kosala in Uttar Pradesh.
The 15557/15558 Darbhanga - Anand Vihar Terminal Amrit Bharat Express is India's 1st Non-AC Superfast Amrit Bharat Express train, which runs across the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi connecting the cities of Darbhanga and New Delhi's Anand Vihar Terminal.
The 13434/13433 Malda Town - SMVT Bengaluru Amrit Bharat Express is India's 2nd Non-AC Superfast Amrit Bharat Express train, which runs across the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal by connecting the city of Malda Town in West Bengal with Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka.
The 22478/22477 SMVD Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express is India's 37th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi. This will be the 2nd Vande Bharat Express train which will run on the New Delhi-Katra train line after 3 October 2019.
