Howrah Rajdhani

Howrah Rajdhani was the first fully air-conditioned train as well as the first Rajdhani train. It was stated in the year 1969. At that time it only had AC Chair Car seating (A class of Seating in Indian Railways)huh?|date=September 2008. It reduced the traveling time from Delhi to Howrah (Kolkata) from 24 hours to 17 hours. The train is still one of the fastest in India.

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 New Delhi, the national capital to different State Capitals. In few cases the Rajdhani also run to other important locations in the State.

Train

The train has high 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. The 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.

Destination

The train is a important link between Kolkata and New Delhi. Seeing the popularity of the train another Rajdhani i.e Sealdah Rajhani (Sealdah is also a railway station in Kolkata). was also started.

The train runs near some of the most holy sites in India like Varanasi, Allahabad, Gaya, Parasnath. It also connects the country's financial capital of Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur to Delhi & Kolkata.

The train follows two routes. The train runs on the first route via Dhanbad-Parasnath-Gayafrom Monday to Saturday and the second route, from Madhupur to Patna on Sundays.The complete route of the train's first route is
* Howrah
* Dhanbad
* Parasnath
* Gaya
* Mughalsarai, Varanasi
* Allahabad
* Kanpur
* New DelhiThe train covers a distance of 1,446 KM in 17 hrs and 10 mins.

The complete route of the train's second route is
* Howrah
* Madhupur
* Jasidih
* Patna
* Mughalsarai, Varanasi
* Allahabad
* Kanpur
* New DelhiThe train covers a distance of 1,530 KM in 19 hrs and 50 mins.

ee also

*Fastest trains in India
*Chennai Rajdhani
*List of named passenger trains of India
*Bhopal Shatabdi

External links

* [http://www.indianrail.gov.in/rajdhani_trn_list.html List of all Rajdhani Trains]

References

* [http://indiarailinfo.com/trains/rajdhani http://indiarailinfo.com/trains/rajdhani]
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Fastest_train_claim_gone_in_60_seconds/articleshow/msid-1418375,curpg-2.cms Times of India article]