The Taj Express was started in 1964 to serve tourists travelling from

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 ...

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

. It reduced the travelling time from over three hours to around two and a half hours. Taj Express was started along the lines of Deccan Queen, which ran as a high-speed commuter-special train between and CSMT Mumbai (ex Victoria Terminus Bombay), and provided a quick and comfortable journey between Agra and Delhi. It was a very popular train, especially among foreign tourists, before the Bhopal Shatabdi was introduced in 1988. The train was extended up to

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

in 1985 and then to

Jhansi Jhansi ( ) is a historic city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (Toshan) Balwant Nagar was the old name of Jhansi. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand, on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme ...

in 2006. It was named after

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

History

*In 1964 Taj Express was introduced from to

. Running at 105 km/h, it brought down travel time on this route to 2h 35m. It was hauled by a WP-7003 steam engine. It was a train that was immensely popular with tourists, particularly foreigners, as it gave them ample time to visit the Taj Mahal and neighbouring monuments before returning to Delhi that evening. It was posted on Facebook page of Ministry of Railways, Government of India (Facebook confirmed that this is the authentic profile for this public figure.) on 1 October 2022: On this day in 1964, Taj Express, the then fastest train on the Indian Railways Network was introduced between New Delhi and Agra Cantt. *Surprisingly, the train did not run on Wednesdays. The Taj Mahal monument was then closed to tourists on Mondays and the one day off on Wednesdays was a direct financial loss. The Archaeological Survey of India then decided that the Taj Mahal would remain closed on Fridays for the public except for Muslims who could pray in the mosque between 12 noon to 2 P.M. The Taj Express still did not operate on Wednesdays. *In Oct, 1982 The Taj Express began using diesel locomotives (WDM-2). *In 1985, then-Railway Minister

Madhavrao Scindia Madhavrao Jiwajirao Scindia (10 March 1945 – 30 September 2001) was an Indian politician and minister in the Government of India. He was a member of the Indian National Congress. He was viewed as a potential future prime ministerial candidat ...

extended the Taj Express to Gwalior Junction. Journey time was 5hrs 20 min, leaving Hazrat Nizamuddin at 0710 am and reaching Gwalior at 1230 pm. The return timings were 1710 pm departure Gwalior and 2230 pm arrival Hazrat Nizamuddin. In 1989, the Wednesdays off was discontinued. The train, however, remained idle for well over four hours at Gwalior. *In 1986 The Taj Express began using

electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

. *1 July 2006, the train was extended to

. *4 January 2016, the train introduced

LHB coach Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany and produced by rail coach manufacturing units at Kapurthala, Chennai and Raebareli. They have been used since 2000 on ...

. *21 February 2018, the source for 12280 and destination station of 12279, changed from Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM) to New Delhi (NDLS). *3 June 2024, three coaches of The Taj Express heading towards Jhansi got burnt after a fire broke out from one of its coaches. There are no injuries among all passenger.

Train info

Route

The train numbered 12279 goes from Gwalior Junction to

New Delhi railway station New Delhi railway station (station code: NDLS) is the primary railway hub for the Indian capital, New Delhi, and an integral part of Indian Railways. Situated in Central Delhi, approximately 2 kilometers north of Connaught Place, the station ...

, and train number is 12280 goes from New Delhi railway station to Jhansi.

Locomotive

As the whole route is electrified the train is generally hauled by

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 ...

from

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

for its whole journey. But occasionally it is also hauled by

WAP-5 The Indian locomotive class WAP-5 is a class of electric locomotives used by Indian Railways. The first ten locomotives were imported from Adtranz in Switzerland in 1995 and later manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in India. On 3 Jul ...

from Ghaziabad.

References

External links