Shatabdi Express

Shatabdi Express trains are a series of fast (called superfast in India) passenger trains operated by Indian Railways to connect Metro cities with other cities important for tourism, pilgrimage or business. Shatabdi Express are day-trains and they return to the station of origin the same day.

Not to be confused with Jan Shatabdi Express.

Shatabdi Express
Clockwise from top left: Howrah Puri Shatabdi Express, Habibganj New Delhi Shatabdi, Howrah New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi, Chennai Mysore Shatabdi, Chennai Coimbatore Shatabdi, Pune Secunderabad Shatabdi
Overview
Status	Operating
First service	14 November 1988 (1988-11-14)
Current operator(s)	Indian Railways
Website	http://indianrail.gov.in
On-board services
Class(es)	Anubhuti Class, Executive Class, AC Chair Car
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	No
Catering facilities	No Pantry car attached but has onboard catering
Entertainment facilities	Electric outlets
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks, baggage area near vestibule
Technical
Rolling stock	LHB coaches
Track gauge	Indian gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Track owner(s)	Indian Railways
Route map Route map of Shatabdi trains

The Shatabdi along with The Rajdhani and the Duronto are among the fastest trains in India and Indian Railways considers Rajdhani and Shatabdi as prestigious. Shatabdi Expresses gets the second-highest priority, after Rajdhani Expresses which get the highest priority. The Shatabdi Express trains run over short to medium distances while the Rajdhani Expresses and the Duronto Expresses are long-distance trains. Rajdhani Expresses connect the nation's capital New Delhi to capitals of states and other major cities while Duronto Expresses connect major cities to other major cities. All three series of trains have a maximum speed of about 120 km/h (75 mph). The 12001 Bhopal Shatabdi express, however, runs at a peak speed of 155 km/h (96 mph), which makes it the third fastest train in India after the Gatimaan Express and Vande Bharat Express.

History

The name "Shatabdi" means centenary in Sanskrit. The first Shatabdi Express train was introduced in 1988, by then Railways Minister Madhavrao Scindia to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India, between New Delhi and Jhansi Junction.

Service

Shatabdi Express trains offer fast connectivity with only a few intermediate stops. They are fully air-conditioned and of a much higher standard than most Indian trains. Shatabdi travelers are provided with bottled water, juice, coffee or tea, and meals relevant to the time of day of the journey.

Shatabdi trains are also further distinguished from other trains, in terms of convenience in boarding and disembarking. Most stations give them priority berthing at the better platforms, such as ones located close to the station building or waiting halls (generally platform number 1 at most of the stations).

Berths and seats in Shatabdi Express, Duronto Express and Rajdhani Express trains have to be reserved in advance before boarding the train. There is no unreserved accommodation in these trains, unlike most of the other trains in India. A few Shatabdis have a current booking system where tickets can be booked within a couple of hours before departure.

As Shatabdi Express are day-trains and return to the station of origin the same day, coaches (AC Chair Car) on the train have only seats and not berths. All the Shatabdi Express trains have, however, one or two coaches of Executive Class seating. Recently, Indian Railways have started offering Anubhuti Class seating also. These coaches have a wider legroom and offer better food compared to the normal Air conditioned seating (CC).

New onboard entertainment systems have also been installed on some of these trains where the passengers can view movies and television serials directly via satellite. One of the first services to have this system is the Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express.

List of Shatabdi trains

Indian Railways operates 23 pairs of Shatabdi Express as of October 2019. These trains are listed here.

List of Trains[1]

Sr. No.	Train No.	Route	Stops	Distance	Year introduced
1	12001	Habibganj - New Delhi	Bhopal, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Gwalior, Morena, Dholpur, Agra, Mathura	705 km (438 mi)	1988
	12002	New Delhi–Habibganj
2	12003	Lucknow - New Delhi	Kanpur, Etawah, Tundla, Aligarh, Ghaziabad	513 km (319 mi)	1989
	12004	New Delhi - Lucknow
3	12005	New Delhi - Kalka	Panipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Chandigarh	303 km (188 mi)	1992
	12006	Kalka- New Delhi
4	12007	MGR Chennai Central - Mysuru	Katpadi, Bangalore	500 km (310 mi)	1994
	12008	Mysuru - MGR Chennai Central
5	12009	Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad	Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad	491 km (305 mi)	1994
	12010	Ahmedabad - Mumbai Central
6	12011	New Delhi - Kalka	Panipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Chandigarh	303 km (188 mi)	NA
	12012	Kalka - New Delhi
7	12013	New Delhi - Amritsar	Ambala Cantt, Sirhind, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, Beas	449 km (279 mi)	NA
	12014	Amritsar - New Delhi
8	12015	New Delhi - Daurai (Ajmer)	Delhi Cantt, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, Ajmer	451 km (280 mi)	NA
	12016	Daurai (Ajmer) - New Delhi
9	12017	New Delhi - Dehradun	Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Haridwar	315 km (196 mi)	NA
	12018	Dehradun - New Delhi
10	12019	Howrah - Ranchi	Durgapur, Raniganj, Asansol, Dhanbad, Chandrapura, Bokaro Steel City, Muri	421 km (262 mi)	1995
	12020	Ranchi - Howrah
11	12025	Pune - Secunderabad	Daund, Solapur, Gulbarga, Wadi, Tandur, Vikarabad, Begumpet	597 km (371 mi)	2011
	12026	Secunderabad - Pune
12	12027	Chennai - Bengaluru	Katpadi, Bengaluru Cantt.	362 km (225 mi)	2005
	12028	KSR Bengaluru - MGR Chennai Central
13	12029	New Delhi - Amritsar	Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, Beas	448 km (278 mi)	NA
	12030	Amritsar - New Delhi
14	12031	New Delhi - Amritsar	Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, Beas	448 km (278 mi)	NA
	12032	Amritsar - New Delhi
15	12033	Kanpur Central - New Delhi	Etawah, Aligarh, Ghaziabad	440 km (270 mi)	1994
	12034	New Delhi - Kanpur Central
16	12039	Kathgodam - New Delhi	Haldwani, Lalkuan, Rudrapur, Rampur, Moradabad, Ghaziabad	282 km (175 mi)	2012
	12040	New Delhi- Kathgodam
17	12041	Howrah - New Jalpaiguri	Bolpur Shantiniketan, New Farakka Junction, Malda Town, Kishanganj	566 km (352 mi)	2012
	12042	New Jalpaiguri- Howrah
18	12045	New Delhi - Chandigarh	Ambala Cantt, Karnal	244 km (152 mi)	2013
	12046	Chandigarh - New Delhi
19	12047	New Delhi - Firozpur	Rohtak, Jind, Jakhal, Mansa, Bathinda	300 km (190 mi)	2014
	12048	Firozpur - New Delhi
20	12085	Guwahati - Dibrugarh	Lumding, Dimapur, Mariani	506 km (314 mi)	2017
	12086	Dibrugarh - Guwahati
21	12087	Naharlagun - Guwahati	Rangiya, Rangapara	332 km (206 mi)	2017
	12088	Guwahati - Naharlagun
22	12243	MGR Chennai Central - Coimbatore	Katpadi, Jolarpettai, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur	502 km (312 mi)	2011
	12244	Coimbatore - Chennai
23	12277	Howrah - Puri	Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar	500 km (310 mi)	2010
	12278	Puri - Howrah

List of Defunct Trains

#	Train No.	Route	Distance	Operational Years
1	12027	Mumbai - Pune	192 km	1995-2004
	12028	Pune - Mumbai
2	12035	Jaipur - Agra Fort	241 km	2012-2018
	12036	Agra Fort - Jaipur
3	12037	New Delhi - Ludhiana	329 km	2011-2019
	12038	Ludhiana - New Delhi
4	12043	New Delhi - Moga	398 km	2012-2019
	12044	Moga - New Delhi

Related trains

A variant of the Shatabdi Express, Swarna Shatabdi Express, is considered more luxurious by Indian Railway. Indian Railways later introduced a lower-priced version Jan Shatabdi Expresses, which are nearly all without air-conditioning and much more affordable.

The former railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had also introduced Garib Rath (chariot of the poor) in 2005. These are fast trains (like the Rajdhani and Shatabdi), which are fully Air-Conditioned and with lower fares. These trains are quite successful and compete with low-cost airlines on some long-distance routes.

Gallery

• 
  Trainboard of 12027 Banglore Shatabdi Express
• 
  Commonwealth Games livery coach of 12018 Dehradun Shatabdi Express
• 
  Electronic Coachboard of 12017 Dehradun Shatabdi Express
• 
  ex 12007 Mysore Shatabdi Coach E1 of 12026 Shatabdi Express
• 
  Coachboard of 12010 Shatabdi Express
• 
  Nameboard of 12010 Shatabdi Express
• 
  Interior view of the new Executive AC Chair Car coaches (EC) on the Chennai-Mysore line
• 
  Interior view of the new AC Chair Car coaches (CC) on the Chennai-Mysore line
• 
  Puri Shatabdi express at Balasore railway station
• 
  The Chennai Mysore Shatabdi at the Mysore Junction
• 
  12025 Shatabdi Express crossing Bharathnagar MMTS station, Hyderabad

See also

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• AC Superfast Express
• Bullet train (Mumbai-Ahmedabad)
• Vande Bharat Express
• Gatimaan Express
• Humsafar Express
• Tejas Express
• Mahamana Express
• Yuva Express
• Duronto Express
• Rajdhani Express
• Double Decker Express
• Ramayana Express
• Antyodaya Express
• Uday Express
• Garib Rath Express
• Jan Shatabdi Express
• Bhopal Shatabdi
• Train 20
• Shinkansen Atreya Series

External links

• Complete list of Shatabdi Express trains
• List of all Shatabdi Express trains
• "'Shatabdi is the heart of Indian railways'". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
• "No halts, new Shatabdi Express to fly to Delhi". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 May 2014.

References

1. "India Rail timetable".