Rajdhani Express

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Comfortable interiors of a First Class AC bedroom.

Rajdhani Express is a passenger train service in India connecting National Capital New Delhi with other important destinations, especially capitals of States in India. Rajdhani means "The Capital" in Indian languages.

1 History
2 Rajdhani
3 Current problems
4 Comparison of air fares with the Rajdhani
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969 for providing high-speed connections (up to 140 km/h / 87 mph, speed varies depending upon the particular track section) from various railway stations in the capital city of New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India (or, in certain cases, prominent cities within the state the train serves).

[edit] Rajdhani

A Rajdhani Express train

These trains have higher priorities on the Indian railway network and are fully air-conditioned. The passengers are provided with complimentary meals during the journey. Depending on the timings of the train, lunch, high tea, dinner, morning tea and breakfast are served. Almost all of these trains offer three classes of accommodation; First Class AC with 2 or 4 berth lockable bedrooms, Second Class AC 2-tier with open system berths (bays of 4 berths + 2 berths on the side) but provided with curtains for privacy, Second Class AC 3-tier (bays of 6 berths + 2 berths on the side) with no privacy curtains.

Currently there are 16 pairs of Rajdhani Express trains, connecting New Delhi to Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Bilaspur, Chennai, Guwahati/Dibrugarh, Ranchi, Kolkata (3), Jammu, Mumbai (2), Patna, Secunderabad and Thiruvananthapuram. These trains have fewer stops than other express trains which are generally prominent cities of any state like Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal, Jhansi, Jaipur etc. Some cities have more than one Rajdhani Express serving them. Kanpur and Mughal Sarai (near Varanasi) are served by the maximum number of Rajdhani Express trains (6 each).

[edit] Current problems

Interior of a third AC compartment in Rajdhani Express

Presently the train travelling long distances, running at an average speed of around 80 km per hour takes considerable amount of time and is fast losing to the Airlines. (Please see : Fastest trains in India). Further, Civil Aviation in India is witnessing intense competition and Airfares have hit a new low. On trunk routes at times the airline tickets are lower than Rajdhani Express tickets. The standard of highways in India is also improving since the roll out of NHDP by the Government of India. In such a scenario the train is seen to be high-priced and much below the global standards of luxury and speed thus leading to shifting of Upper Class and business passengers from Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express to the airlines and to the roads.[1]

[edit] Comparison of air fares with the Rajdhani

Presently New Delhi to Mumbai, Rajdhani Express fares are INR 3,500 for First Class AC, INR 2,040 for AC two-tier and INR 1,495 for AC three-tier. [2]. The train takes more than 16 hours to reach from Delhi to Mumbai, whereas, the lowest normal airfare between New Delhi and Mumbai is just INR 2,588 [3] in the month of March 2007 and travel time is around 2 hours. Even the full service carriers like Indian Airlines and Air Sahara charge less than INR 3,500 as their lowest normal airfares for this sector.Spicejet Offers Mumbai-Delhi fare as 2025 INR(Including taxes etc) Apart from these normal airfares, there are many websites which are auctioning the ticket and customers can get still lower airfare. Many Airlines are bringing promotional offers like INR 1 or INR 9 ticket (With taxes these tickets finally cost INR 1250 (approximately)), whereas Indian Railways has no such discount scheme, in fact, they have tatkal scheme, where a customer ends up paying INR 300 over and above normal fare, thus making travel by trains still less lucrative. Similar situation exists on other long distance sectors like Delhi to Chennai or Delhi to Bangalore etc.

From 1st December 2007 Flight Taxes are increased to 2025 INR.

Train Name	State Served	Origin and Destination Station	Frequency
Ahmedabad Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani	Gujarat	New Delhi to Ahmedabad via Jaipur, Ajmer	6 days a week
Bangalore Rajdhani	Karnataka	Hazrat Nizamuddin to Bangalore via Secunderabad, Nagpur, Bhopal	4 days a week
Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani	Orissa	New Delhi to Bhubaneshwar via Tatanagar/Adra	2 days a week on both routes
Bilaspur Rajdhani	Chhattisgarh	New Delhi to Bilaspur via Jhansi,Raipur	2 days a week
Chennai Rajdhani	Tamil Nadu	Hazrat Nizamuddin to Chennai via Vijayawada, Nagpur	2 days a week
Guwahati/Dibrugarh Rajdhani	Assam and the North East	New Delhi to Guwahati (one portion goes on to Dibrugarh) via Kanpur, Allahabad and Patna (route 1); or via Lucknow, Varanasi and Hajipur (route 2)	5 days a week (route 1); 2 days a week (route 2)
Ranchi Rajdhani	Jharkhand	New Delhi to Ranchi via Gaya/Daltonganj	2 days a week (route 1); once a week (route 2)
Sealdah Rajdhani	West Bengal	New Delhi to Kolkata (Sealdah)	Daily
Kolkata Rajdhani	West Bengal	New Delhi to Kolkata (Howrah) via Dhanbad/Patna	6 days a week (route 1); once a week (route 2)
Jammu Rajdhani	Jammu and Kashmir	New Delhi to Jammu Tawi	Once a week
Mumbai Rajdhani	Maharashtra	New Delhi to Mumbai	Daily
August Kranti Rajdhani	Maharashtra	Hazrat Nizamuddin to Mumbai	Daily
Rajdhani	Bihar	New Delhi to Rajendranagar	Daily
Secunderabad Rajdhani	Andhra Pradesh	Hazrat Nizamuddin to Secunderabad via Nagpur, Jhansi	Once a week
Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani	Kerala	Hazrat Nizamuddin to Thiruvananthapuram via Jhansi	2 days a week

[edit] Gallery

Snacks served to Rajdhani passengers	Soup served to rajdhani passengers	Bed tea	Breakfast
Rajdhani Express standing at a station	WAP Engine made for high-speed rajdhani and shatabdi express trains in India	Rajdhani Express leaving Kharagpur station towards Bubhaneswar	Newly designed coaches of rajdhani trains