The Slow and fast passenger trains are passenger train services of

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

which connect small towns and cities to metropolitan cities in India. The classification ''Passenger'' means it is an ordinary passenger train which halts at all or most of the stations on the railway routes. Currently, a total of 3572 passenger trains are running of all railway zones of Indian Railways.

History

The country's first passenger train ran in Western India between

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Bori Bunder Bori Bunder (also known as Bori Bandar) is an area along the eastern shore line of Mumbai, India. Background This place was used as a storehouse for goods imported and exported from Mumbai. In the local language, 'Bori' mean sack and 'Bandar' ...

(now

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), also known sometimes as Victoria Terminus (VT), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The ter ...

) and

Thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...

on 16 April 1853. The 14-carriage train was hauled by three steam locomotives: the ''Sahib'', ''Sindh'', and ''Sultan''. Travelling , the train carried 400 people. The line was built and operated by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR). It was built in

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

, which became the country's standard for railways. First passenger train from Eastern India, ran from

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

(near

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, now

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

) to Hoogly, a distance of , on 15 August 1854. The line was built and operated by the

East Indian Railway Company The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...

(EIR). First passenger train from Southern India, ran from Royapuram–Veyasarapady (Madras) (now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

) to Wallajah Road in Arcot, a distance of , on 1 July 1856. It was built and operated by the Madras Railway. First electric passenger train in the country, ran from Victoria Terminus (now

) to Kurla on the Harbour Branch of Great Indian Peninsula Railway on 3 February 1925 using 1500 V DC overhead traction. In 1957, the first diesel passenger train ran in the country. In 1993, the

Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indian manufacturer of rolling stock, and electrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated ...

started production of

EMU The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

's DMU's and MEMU's. After productions of both series, the first MEMU train started running between Asansol and Burdwan (now Barddhaman) on 11 July 1994. And later, the first DEMU train was started running between Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur on 23 October 1994. On 15 July 2017, a solar-powered DEMU train was launched on the route of and of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

for connecting the capital of India to the small towns with the aim of reducing the usage of diesel and more usage of electricity for a better environment and economically.

Types

Trains are classified into four types: * Slow passenger train:

Locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

-hauled. Stop at every station on the route, except abandoned ones. * Fast passenger train: Locomotive-hauled. Skip some stops on the route, usually least-booked ones. * Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU):

Multiple Unit A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more Coach (rail), carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled ...

s. Stop at every station on the route. * Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU): Multiple Units. Stop at every station on the route. Will replace locomotive-hauled trains on electrified routes. In some cases, trains run as fast passengers on one section, while running as slow passengers on another section. Fast passenger trains generally run on longer routes as compared to slow passenger trains. These trains have unreserved coaches, for short-distance unreserved seating coaches are used and for long-distance both unreserved sleeper and seating coaches are used. The slow and fast passenger trains are usually hauled by

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s such as WAM-4, WAG-5, WAG-7, for electrified routes and

WDM-2 The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel–electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for 5 ft 6 in gauge railway, broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), ...

for non-electrified/semi-electrified routes. On the other hand, the DEMUs and MEMUs are

multiple unit A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more Coach (rail), carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled ...

s, have cabs at both ends, resulting in quicker turnaround times, reduced crewing costs, and enhanced safety. So, IR is progressively replacing all locomotive-hauled slow and fast passenger and intercity trains with DEMUs and MEMUs, starting from North Western Railway zone on 1 October 2015.

Trivia

;Longest-running Currently, the longest route of a slow passenger train running in India is Tatanagar–Itwari Passenger (numbered 58111/58112) with a record distance of with an average speed of . Whereas, the longest route of a fast passenger train running in India is Howrah–Rajgir Fast Passenger (numbered 53043/53044) with a record distance of with an average speed of . Whereas after the second conversion of Slow Passenger train into DEMU, on 18 July 2018, the Guntur–Kacheguda DEMU via Dhone (with numbered 77281 / 77282) becomes the longest distance traveling DEMU train in India with a record distance of with an average speed of . Before that, the first conversion of Slow Passenger train into DEMU, was on 1 October 2015, the Jodhpur–Hisar DEMU (with numbered 74835/74836) becomes the second-longest DEMU train running in India with the recorded length of with an average speed of . And currently, the longest route running MEMU train in India is Asansol–Varanasi MEMU (numbered 63553/63554) with a record distance of with an average speed of . ;Shortest-running Currently, the shortest route of a slow passenger train in India is Barkakana–Sidhwar Passenger (numbered 53375 / 53376) with a record distance of with an average speed of . The shortest route of DEMU train in India is Garhi Harsaru–Farrukhnagar DEMU (numbered 74031/34 & 74035/38) with a record distance of with an average speed of . The shortest route of MEMU train in India is Jasidih–Baidyanathdham MEMU (numbered 63153/63154) with a record distance of with an average speed of .bhaskar.com
Retrieved 12 July 2020

Gallery

;Exteriors File:KCG - BDHN Pass. (34733812821).jpg, Kacheguda– Bodhan slow passenger train File:RAL - SC Pass. (26991053152).jpg,

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

– Repalle fast passenger train File:Jalandhar - Hoshiarpur DEMU at Jalandhar City Station.jpg, An old DEMU train File:(SC-Medchal) DHMU at Alwal 02.jpg, An old DHMU train File:DEMU Local at Sitaphalmandi railway station.jpg, An aerodynamic-designed DEMU train File:Bhongir-Falaknuma_MEMU_at_Malkajgiri_station_02.jpg, An old MEMU train ;Interiors File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 08.JPG, Window, middle and aisle seats of inside unreserved passenger train File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 11.JPG, Side Window Seat of inside unreserved passenger train File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 05.JPG, Right side corridor way of inside unreserved passenger train File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 09.JPG, Left side corridor way of inside unreserved passenger train File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 06.JPG, Upper Rack of inside unreserved passenger train File:Interiors of Indian passenger train 12.JPG, Lights and fans of inside unreserved passenger train File:Indian Railways Second class seating compartment for journeys less than 200 KM.jpg, Seating unreserved coach of inside unreserved passenger train

References

External links