Shatabdi Express

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 run at a maximum permissible speed of depending on the infrastructures of parts of routes with the Rani Kamalapati–New Delhi Shatabdi Express achieving the maximum permissible speed of between Tughlakabad and Bilochpura Agra.

History

The name "Shatabdi" means century in Sanskrit and the first Shatabdi Express train was announced on 10 July 1988 by then Railways Minister Madhavrao Scindia to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India and plied between New Delhi and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction (then Jhansi Junction). The first Shatabdi, then the fastest train of the country used to run at 140 kmph (km per hour) maximum permissible speed and it was the speed of the time of its introduction and the first Shatabdi Express was extended to Bhopal from Jhansi on 19.2.1989 (19th Feb). Speed of this New Delhi - Bhopal Shatabdi was increased to 150 kmph between Tuglakabad and Agra Cantt on 15 February 2006 and was the fastest train of India then als

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/trains-at-140-kmph-on-new-delhi-kanpur-stretch-soon/articleshow/3477179.cms?from=mdr]. After that, it was still the fastest train of India when it was extended to Habibganj railway station, Rani Kamalapati (past name - Habibganj) station in Bhopal from Bhopal station in September 201

and this Rani Kamalapati – New Delhi Shatabdi Express was still the fastest train of India till the introduction of Gatimaan Express, Gatiman Express on April, 5, 201

Service

Shatabdi Express trains offer fast connectivity between major cities with only a few intermediate stops and can run at a maximum speed of . They are fully air-conditioned and passengers are provided with on-board catering. Onboard entertainment systems are available in select trains providing content via satellite.

Seats in Shatabdi Express have to be reserved in advance as there is no unreserved accommodation, unlike most of the other trains in India. Reservation is allowed until up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time and the seats are auto allocated by the reservation system. Dynamic pricing is applicable on the fares.

Rolling stock

As Shatabdi Express are day-trains and return to the station of origin the same day, coaches have only seats and not berths. All of these trains have multiple AC Chair Car coaches and most of them (sometimes all of them) have one or two coaches of Executive Class seating. Indian Railways offers Anubhuti class seating and Vistadome coaches offering large windows, transparent roofing, and rotatable seats in select trains. The trains used to operate on specialized coaches manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai with the older coaches now been replaced with newer LHB rakes on all the trains. The trains are hauled by various diesel or electric locomotives and a new specialized high speed locomotive class WAP-7HS with a maximum speed of for hauling Shatabdi express trains was introduced in 2019.

Services

Active

, there are 21 operational pairs of Shatabdi express trains.

Defunct

# Name of an intermediate station may be written if the route is not the shortest or to distinguish between more than one Shatabdi route irrespective of present and past routes.

Defunct Shatabdi Express Type with Different Name

Howrah–Digha Super AC Express, completely a Shatabdi Express type train with Shatabdi Express fare structur

having other name instead of "Shatabdi Express" after conversion from a Duronto Express of year 2010 to 2015 was suspended during COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 and was not made any journey since then and it was not included in the proposed schedule of Indian Railways of 1 January 2025 that means it is withdrawn (Source: Trains At A Glance - 2025 - as per disclaimer on this book, schedule of this book may be changed without notic

and earlier, its schedule during suspension was included in the previous version which is October 2023 version of that book with the same disclaimer.)

Trivia

* For many years, the Bhopal Shatabdi Express (now Rani Kamalapati - New Delhi Shatabdi Express) held the record for the fastest train in India, reaching speeds of up to 150 km/h on certain stretches, particularly between Tughlakabad and Agra.
* Unlike most long-distance Indian trains, Shatabdi Express trains are designed exclusively for day travel. This means they only have seating arrangements (Chair Car and Executive Chair Car) and no sleeping berths.
* The MGR Chennai Central–Mysuru Shatabdi Express (launched in 1994) holds the distinction of being the first Shatabdi Express to operate in South India.
* Gatiman Express is also such type of a train but faster than Shatabdi Train where infrastructure is available that had a difference of yellow stripes in all it’s coaches, and has fare slightly higher than that of Shatabdi Express.
* Howrah–Digha Super AC Express having other name instead of "Shatabdi Express" after conversion from a Duronto Express of year 2010 to 2015 was suspended during COVID 19 pandemic in 2020.

See also

References

External links

{{Shatabdi Express

Railway services introduced in 1988
Shatabdi Express trains
Named passenger trains of India