Express trains in India

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. , it maintains over 108,706 km 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 kph is considered super-fast.

, India does not have any operational high-speed trains. The maximum operational speed of 160 kph is achieved by Gatimaan Express and Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express on the Tughlakabad–Agra section. Earlier steam locomotive operated trains largely operated below 100 kph. With the introduction of electric locomotives in later 1920s and newer steam locomotives, speeds of 100 kph were achieved. With the movement to AC traction in late 1950s and introduction of diesel locomotives, maximum speeds of up to 120 kph were achieved in the late 1960s. With the introduction of high power electric locomotives in the 1990s, operating speeds of 130 kph was achieved with further developments leading to speeds of maximum speeds of 160 kph being realized in the early 2010s. Vande Bharat Express, an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) run service introduced in 2019, is the fastest operational express train with a maximum permitted speed of 160 kph.

History


The history of the Indian Railway began in 1832 with the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras. In 1837, the first train ran on Red Hill railway line between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras and was hauled by a rotary steam engine imported from England. In 1853, the first passenger train ran between Bombay and Thane which covered a distance of 54 km in 57 minutes, averaging a speed of 57 kph. Earlier trains ran using steam locomotives, where barely reached speeds of 90 kph. With the introduction of WP class locomotives in 1947, speeds of 100 kph were operated commercially. While the first electric train ran in Bombay in 1925 on DC traction, WCP-1 class electric locomotives were introduced in 1928, capable of hauling trains at speeds of up to 137 kph, though trains operated at lower speed.

On 1 April 1929, Grand Trunk Express commenced operations between Peshawar in the North Western Railway and Mangalore with two coaches detached and connected to Madras further. The Frontier Mail made its inaugural run between Bombay and Peshawar in 1928. Technical advancements led to automatic colour light signals become operational between Bombay and Byculla in 1928. In the subsequent years, the route from Bombay to Poona was electrified and in June 1930, the first deluxe train, Deccan Queen began running, hauled by a WCP-1 locomotives with seven coaches along the route. The Grand Trunk express commenced operating as a dedicated daily train between Madras and Delhi from 1 September 1930. WDM-1, the first diesel locomotive introduced in 1957 was capable of speeds of up to 104 kph. In 1957, Indian Railways adopted 25 kV 50 Hz AC traction with the first runs beginning in December 1959 with the WAM-1 locomotives, capable of reaching speeds of up to 112 kph.

In 1960, the Railway Board of India commissioned a study to increase the speed of its trains, which was restricted to 96 kph on the existent broad gauge lines. A target of 160 kph with an intermediate stage of 120 kph was set for passenger trains. Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) started work on the same in 1962 with field trials commencing in 1967. The coaches were manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory at Madras and hauled by diesel locomotives. On 19 February 1969, the Government of India announced the introduction of a new express train capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 kph in the railway budget. On 1 March 1969, the first Rajdhani Express was flagged off from New Delhi to Howrah, which reached a maximum speed of 120 kph and completed the 1450 km trip in 17 hours 20 minutes at an average speed of 84 kph. In 1980, the WAP-1 electric locomotives capable of reaching speeds of 130 kph were introduced to haul express trains. Shatabdi Express introduced in 1988, were capable of running at a maximum speed of 130 kph. WAP-5 class locomotives, initially imported from ABB in 1995 and later manufactured at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in India, reached 184 kph in trials and later set an Indian speed record by hauling an express train between Delhi and Agra at a speed of 160 kph in 2014.

In December 2009, the Ministry of Railways of Government of India envisaged the implementation of regional high-speed rail projects to provide services at 250–350 kph, and planning for corridors connecting commercial, tourist, and pilgrimage hubs. On 25 July 2013, Government of India established the High Speed Rail Corporation for the implementation of high-speed rail corridor projects and in 2014, the Diamond Quadrilateral high speed rail project was approved by the government. In April 2016, the WAP-5 hauled Gatimaan Express became the fastest commercial train in India, with a maximum operational speed of 160 kph. In 2018, Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, rolled out a semi-high-speed EMU train-set, capable of reaching 180 kph. In 2019, the first Vande Bharat Express entered commercial service with a maximum operational speed of 160 kph. The actual operating speed was much lower due to track restrictions and congestion with top speeds restricted to 130 kph for most trains. In December 2023, two modified WAP-5 locomotives were used to haul the Amrit Bharat train-set in a push-pull configuration, capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 kph.

Definition
According to the Ministry of Railways, express trains are classified as follows: a. Super-fast express: Any passenger train with an average speed higher than 55 kph on broad gauge. b. Mail: Trains which earlier had a mail coach attached. Newer trains are not named so, but older trains remain in operation. c. Express: Express trains travel faster and have fewer stops than ordinary passenger trains.

Track


As of 31 March 2022, Indian railway network spans 128305 km of track length, 102831 km of running track length and 68,043 km of route length. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 80 to 200 km/h, though the maximum speed attained by passenger trains is 160 kph. Spanning 65,093 km broad gauge is the most used gauge with express trains limited to these lines. In 2009, Indian Railways started a plan to increase the speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kph on dedicated conventional tracks and improve the existing conventional lines to handle speeds of up to 160 kph. Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India has built dedicated freight corridors across India to divert cargo traffic from the passenger railway tracks, thus helping increase the operational speed of the passenger trains to 160 kph. In 2014, the Diamond Quadrilateral high-speed rail network project was launched by Government of India and is envisioned to connect the four major metro cities of India namely: Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. In 2026, Ministry of Railways envisaged to have dedicated standard gauge tracks capable of top speeds of 300–350 kph with trains running on elevated corridors to isolate high-speed train tracks and probable routes have been identified. A 174 km segment of track in the Tughlakabad–Agra Cantonment section supports semi-high speed passenger traffic of up to 160 kph.

Rolling stock
The early express rail coaches were based on a prototype by a Swiss company and were termed as ICF coaches after Integral coach factory (ICF), the first coach manufacturing unit in India. These coaches, manufactured from 1955 to 2018, were largely in use till the early 2010s. From the late 1990s, the ICF coaches were replaced by safer and newer LHB coaches designed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany. In the late 2010s, Indian railways started upgrading the coaches of select express trains from LHB to new Tejas coaches with enhanced features. As of March 2022, Indian Railways had 84,863 passenger coaches.

Semi-high speed Train 18 was rolled out in 2018. These self-propelled EMU train sets manufactured by Integral Coach Factory are capable of reaching 180 km/h. These trains have eight or sixteen coaches with driver cabins on both ends, which eliminates the time needed for turnaround at the terminal station with faster acceleration and deceleration, enabling the train to travel at a top speed for longer distance. Coaches are manufactured by five manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and public sector companies BEML and BHEL. The coaching stock have unique five or six digit identifiers. Till 2018, the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last three digits indicating the class. In 2018, the numbering system was changed with the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last four digits indicating the sequence number.

Stations
As of March 2022, Indian Railways manages and operates 7,308 stations. Prior to 2017, the stations were classified into seven categories based on their earnings. Since 2017, Indian Railways categorizes the stations by commercial importance into three different categories namely Non Suburban Group (NSG), Suburban Group (SG) and Halt Group (HG). These are further subdivided into subcategories based on their commercial importance (NSG 1-6, SG 1-3 and from HG 1-3). The commercial importance of a station is determined by taking into account its passenger footfall, earnings and strategic importance and these categories are used to determine the minimum essential amenities required by each station. Express trains stop at select set of stations identified using a combination of factors including commercial importance, traffic and capabilities.

Travel classes
Indian Railways offers various travel classes on its coaches. For the purpose of identification in passenger trains, coaches in a train-set are assigned an alpha-numeric code. The first letter identifies the coach class and the second letter identifies the coach number. The berths and seats are numbered by an alphanumeric code with the letter(s) identifying the berth/seat type and numbers identifying the position. In standard coaches, the berths and seats are classified as follows:

Trains


Indian Railways Operates various classes of Express trains. The trains are classified basis average speed and facilities with express trains having fewer halts, priority on rail network and faster average speed. The trains are identified by five digit numbers with train-pairs traveling in opposite directions usually labelled with consecutive numbers. Express trains often have specific unique names for easy identification. Rajdhani Express introduced in 1969 were the first trains to reach speeds of up to 120 kph. Shatabdi Express, introduced in 1988, are capable of running at a maximum speed of 150 kph. In 2019, Vande Bharat Express was launched with self-propelled EMU train-sets capable of reaching maximum speed of 180 kph with operational speeds restricted to 130-160 kph. A non-airconditioned semi-high speed train-set hauled by two modified WAP-5 locomotives was launched as Amrit Bharat Express. A high-speed rail line is under-construction between Mumbai and Ahmedabad which will become the first true high-speed rail line when completed in 2026.

, the maximum operational speed of 160 kph is achieved by Gatimaan Express and Vande Bharat Express on the above section. India Railways operates various categories of express trains including Vande Bharat Express, Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Amrit Bharat Express, Garib Rath Express, Double Decker Express, Tejas Express, Gatimaan Express, Humsafar Express, Duronto Express, Yuva Express, Uday Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Vivek Express, Rajya Rani Express, Mahamana Express, Antyodaya Express, Jan Sadharan Express, Suvidha Express and Intercity Express. , Indian Railways operated 2,999 express trains on average daily.

Ticketing and fares
In 1986, computerized ticketing and reservations were introduced before which ticketing was done manually. Centralized computer reservation system was deployed in September 1996. The ticketing network at stations is computerized with the exception of few stations. The Indian Railways website went online on February 2000 and online ticketing was introduced on 3 August 2002 through IRCTC. Indian Railways now provides multiple channels for passengers to book tickets through website, smartphone apps, SMS, rail reservation counters at train stations, or through private ticket booking counters. Reserved tickets may be booked up to 120 days in advance and confirmed reservation tickets will show the passenger and fare details along with berth or seat number(s) allocated to them on the ticket.

In case of no confirmed reservation, a wait-list number is assigned and wait-listed tickets get confirmed if there are cancellations of already reserved tickets. Reservation against cancellation tickets is an intermediate category between the waiting and confirmed lists in sleeper classes which allows a ticket holder to board the train and share a berth. Reserved tickets can be booked by passengers who want to travel at short notice at higher fares through the Tatkal train ticket, where no refund is applicable on cancellation. A valid proof for the purchase of ticket along with photo identification is required to board the train. Unreserved tickets for short distance or unplanned travels may be purchased at stations or through UTS mobile app at any time before departure. Holders of such tickets may only board the general or unreserved coaches.

India has some of the lowest train fares in the world, and lower class passenger fares are subsidised. Discounted fares are applicable for railway employees, senior citizens (over age 60), the differently-abled, students, athletes, patients and those taking competitive examinations. Seats of lower class of accommodation are reserved for women or senior citizens in some trains.