Express Action in India

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jis

Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
Moderator
AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
39,127
Location
Space Coast, Florida, Area code 3-2-1
Every night between 5 and 7 (depending on the day of the week) Rajdhani Express trains pass through Mughal Sarai enroute to Delhi from the east of India, and the corresponding eastbounds pass through too. Rajdhanis are exclusive Air Conditioned trains that connect the nation's capital with each state capital. Rajdhani is Capital in Hindi (and all other north Indian languages. They usually run in a flight in each direction, one following the other in quick succession, while everything else is held in sidings.

Here is a video of one of those Rajdhanis, the one from Sealdah (Kolkata) to New Delhi passing through a wayside station (Saidraja) between Mughal Sarai (location of the largest marshaling yard in India) and Gaya (of Buddhist fame), at MAS. And yeah, there is no quiet zone. Each of these seem to run with their whistles permanently blasting.



Notice that this one is 20 cars. They are typically somewhere between 15 and 21 cars, with the ones to Kolkata (Sealdah and Howrah) both coming in at 20 or 21 cars. They are pulled by WAP-4, WAP-5 or WAP-7 electric locomotives.

I will post others on this thread as and when I find good ones.
 
Nice video, but please stop tempting me back to India for another round of train fan fun :) !

Many interesting Youtube videos of high speed Indian trains online, the IRFCA items seem well presented.

Ed. :cool:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I do hope the sleeping cars are on the hind end!!
The entire train is sleeping cars, well 16 cars are sleeping cars. There are two Pantry/Buffet Cars and two End on Generator/Guard/Luggage cars.

There are three types of sleeping cars - AC 3 Tier, AC 2 Tier and AC First in order of increasing price. The first two are Sections. only the last one has compartments, but they are shared compartments.

it is an overnight train, departing each end around 5pm and arriving at the other end around 10am - around 900 miles and a bit with around 6 stops en route.

I have traveled on the other New Delhi - Kolkata Rajdhani - the Howrah Rajdhani, in AC First, which are on the front end eastbound, and rear end westbound. The horn is not too loud even in the H-2 car eastbound which is the first passenger carrying car. Had no problem sleeping through it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A rare occurrence - Seeing both the Sealdah - New Delhi Rajdhani and Howrah New Delhi Rajdhani in the same video at two different levels just outside Kolkata at Bally, just before their routes join together towards Delhi on the Howrah Bardhaman Chord at Belanagar, where the Sealdah Rajdhani will wait for the Howrah Rajdhani to move ahead per planned schedule.

Just as background info Howrah and Sealdah are two huge stations on the two banks of the Hooghly River, both of which serve Kolkata. Howrah is the largest station on Indian Railways.

 
If you are referring to the tourist special trains, these are not those trains. They are run completely separate from the public commercial service.

The accommodation on the all Airconditioned Rajdhani, AC Shatabdi and AC Duronto Expresses are not luxurious by any measure. They are affordable AC Sleeper service mostly in Sections. Even the AC First Class compartments cannot be reserved for exclusive use, unless of course you fill every berth in the compartment. In general you share them with others. Ladies are usually placed together in compartments and are not forced to share with men.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Both the Sealdah (Kolkata) and Mumbai Rajdhani depart New Delhi at about the same time and run in parallel upto a point just by the Pragati Maidan station where the Sealdah Rajdhani makes a sharp left turn onto the New Yamuna Bridge to head East towards Kolkata while the Mumbai Rajdhani continues south towards Mathura and then onto Mumbai south-west of there. The overhead bridge just before the split is the Delhi Metro Line heading to trans-Yamuna areas of Delhi.

Here are two videos of these two trains running in parallel. The first one taken from the platform of Shivaji Bridge (nee Minto Bridge) station just outside New Delhi yards, and the second one taken from aboard the Mumbai Rajdhani departing from new Delhi, passing through Shivaji Bridge and Tilak Bridge (Harding Bridge) and then to the point where the Sealdah Rajdhani veers off to the left.

 
I'll have to look up the train I am thinking of - wasn't sure if it was a tourist train or a few cars on a regular train. I suspect it is a tourist train, something like the Maharaja Express iirc. Just looked it up, yes, that was it.
 
There are no "few tourist cars attached on a regular train" on important regular commercial runs in India, other than Saloons for senior railway staff, and an occasional group car rental or two here and there. Private Varnish does not exist in India, and Indian Railways does not run tourist operations attached to important commercial trains. As it is those trains run pretty much at the limit of the number of cars allowed anyway, leaving not much room for additions. Even the railway staff saloon seldom get attached to important trains. They and any car rentals usually get tagged onto secondary trains. I have traveled some in saloons thanks to my cousin in law who is a senior staff member in the railways.
 
I'll have to remember to make friends with your cousin for when I finally get to India (my trip to India last year fell through, and it was, believe it or not, going to be a driving trip from Delhi to the Himalaya's!!!).
 
I'll have to remember to make friends with your cousin for when I finally get to India (my trip to India last year fell through, and it was, believe it or not, going to be a driving trip from Delhi to the Himalaya's!!!).
If you were going to Ladakh or Himachal Pradesh (Lahul-Spiti, or Manali - Rohtang Pass), you can take the train to Chandigarh, and then get a car with driver from there to go up into the hills. Chandigarh is a quick three or four hour trip on a Shatabdi Express from Delhi, two trains per day, one in the morning and the other in the evening.

If you are going into the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, similarly you can take a Shatabdi Express to Dehra Dun or Kathgodam, and then hit the road.

Logistically though, it is probably much simpler to arrange for a car starting from Delhi. You have to be a true train aficionado or on a low budget, to undergo the additional complications of doing part of the journey by train, and then too possibly doing a bus from Delhi is probably easier. I believe there are buses, and very good ones from Delhi to Manali and then from Manali to Leh, the latter only during the summer months when the high Himalayan passes are open for traffic.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It was actually even more complicated, yet simpler. A good friend of mine had been supervising a team in Delhi and an Indian colleague became a friend. He likes driving and arranging trips so he suggested, if we wanted, to do a driving trip from Delhi.

I would like to see Chandigarh, mainly to see the Corb buildings. What will more likely happen is a train trip at some point from Delhi to Chennai and back, as I have a standing invitation to visit friends in Chennai.
 
Chandigarh is an easy day trip from Delhi out by the morning Shatabdi and return by the evening Shatabdi from Chandigarh. Plenty of time to take in the Le Corbusier buildings of the capital. Just hire a three wheeler for the day at the station.
 
If one were to spend a night dusk to dawn at a station named Jaswantnagar on the busy Delhi - Kanpur segment of the Delhi - Kolkata trunk route, said to be the busiest trunk route in India, you'd see an incredible number of express trains pass by. Here is a video that I found put together by someone that I know, which you might enjoy just for the sheer number and length of the expresses that pass by. Pretty good job of videography considering it is mostly at night. Notice the parade of eastbound Rajdhani Expresses earlier in the night going east to various eastern state capitals from the nation's capital.

notice the station flagman with the hand held green flashing lamp that he signals all clear to each passing train with. If you notice carefully, you'l see that each engine that passes by has a similar green flashing lamp on the right side facing forward on the train.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just went to india for the first time (Cousin's engagement) ... and I rode a few trains while I was there.

First I did the Delhi (Hazrat Nizamuddin) to Agra Gatimaan express (Fastest train in India)

Second I did the Delhi to Jaipur mail express in AC2 (Highest class available - sleeper train)

Lastly i did Jaipur to Delhi on the Double Decker Express in Executive chair class.

Great experiences all 3 times!
 
And here we worry about Amtrak trains waiting for freight trains! Here is a super fast rated express stuck waiting for higher priority expresses to overtake it. To mitigate this problem portions of this section are being triple and quadruple tracked progressively with installation of CTC and ERTMS II equivalent capabilities.



And lest you believe that Poorva Express only gets overtaken by others, here it is overtaking a lower priority express:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4luDPacnq6M

This is on the 4 track speedway between Asansol and Bardhaman in West Bengal about 120km from Kolkata.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There are a huge number of trains in India, so there are humble "express" and "superfast express" even before you get to the real fast Rajdhani and similar express trains!

Having a bit more elbow room on the faster trains is more important to me than the speed, from my standing at the open door, sightseeing tourist point of view. :D

Ed.
 
Been a while, so here is another one of a race between two expresses. This one is in the state of West Bengal on the Howrah - Bardhaman Chord Line which is the primary route of all higher speed expresses from/to Kolkata to/from the Northwest, including Delhi. This section is now slated to get a fourth track, and possibly additional tracks for the Dedicated Freight Corridor between Kolkata - Delhi and the Northwest.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top