The 12309 / 12310 Rajendra Nagar Terminal (Patna)-New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express is a Tejas Rajdhani class train of Indian Railways, that connects the state capital of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

to the national capital of India,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

History

This Train was originally introduced in the Annual Railway Budget of 1996–97 as a daily

Rajdhani Express 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 m ...

from New Delhi to Patna via

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. Later it was rerouted to run via

Prayagraj Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

. In 1997, the

pantry car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any rai ...

service was introduced. In 2009, it was certified as the only ISO-Certified

of Indian Railways till now. On 1 September 2021, the train's LHB Rajdhani Rakes were replaced with LHB Tejas Sleeper Rakes.

Service

It runs daily. It operates as train number 12309 from Rajendra Nagar (Patna) to New Delhi railway station and as train number 12310 in the reverse direction. It covers a distance of 1001 km in each direction, however it takes 12 hours 5 minutes when operating as train number 12310 at an average speed of 83 km/h (including halts). While on its return journey, the train takes 12 h 30 min at an average speed of 80 km/h (including halts) as train number 12309. It is the Fastest train of India to cover 1001 Km in just 11 hours and 30 min and the only Rajdhani Express to have an Iso-Certification. Initially, the train used to operate between

Patna Junction Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station located in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna . It maintained under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. However, with an increase in passenger pressure over

, Indian Railways decided to construct a new satellite station to Patna Junction, in order to accommodate the growing passenger pressure. Later on with the completion of the construction of the Rajendra Nagar Terminal railway station, the Rajdhani Express was terminated from

to here.

It has 4 halts in either direction at

, PT Deen Dayal Upadhaya Junction, , and . This is the only Rajdhani Express that has ISO certification.

Coach composition

Traction

It is regularly hauled by a Gomoh Loco Shed or Samastipur Loco Shed-based

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

electric locomotive on its entire journey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express Transport in Patna Transport in Delhi Rajdhani Express trains Rail transport in Bihar Rail transport in Delhi Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh Railway services introduced in 1996