- Duronto Express
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Duronto Express (Bengali: দুরন্ত এক্সপ্রেস; "quick") is a category of long distance trains on Indian Railways. The special feature of these trains is that they run non-stop from source to destination, barring technical halts. All Duronto Express trains can be easily recognized by the characteristic yellow-green livery of their passenger coaches. Several Duronto Express services connect the metros and major state capitals of India. The Duronto Express trains are projected to be the fastest trains between the particular pair of cities they serve, although this is not necessarily true for all services.
Further information: High-speed rail in India and Fastest trains in India
Duronto service map
Since several years, the Government of India's Ministry of Railways (India) has been trying to introduce high speed rail in India. In 2007, the ministry chose the 500-kilometre stretch between Delhi and Amritsar for a pre-feasibility study.[1] The cost for setting up the Delhi-Amritsar corridor is estimated to be around Rs 25,000 crores. On 19 January 2009, the former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said that his ministry was in the process of appointing global consultants for introducing the high-speed trains on certain routes.Besides the Delhi-Amritsar route, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam and Howrah-Haldia.[2] But, this High Speed rail service for India is expected to be completed on a long run. Meanwhile, the new Railway minister of India, Mamata Banerjee announced the introduction of the non-stop Duronto Express trains in the Indian Rail budget 2009-10 as a first step towards high speed rail travel.[3]
Contents
Controversies
Due to strong protest lodged by the MPs from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh[4] for the negligence of their state in allotting the Duronto services, the Union Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee (as of 2009) made an announcement of two more Duronto Services. Duronto is a premier class train in India
Efficiency and Speed
The Duronto Expresses are one of the fastest trains in India. These trains run faster than Rajdhani Express[5] trains which hold the record of the fastest long-distance trains in India.This has been made possible as these trains, unlike the Rajdhani Express, will have no intermediate stoppages and run in much the same speed clocked by Rajdhani.For example, the new bi-weekly non-stop train between New Delhi and Sealdah will take 16 hours to cover the journey, as against 17 hours taken by Rajdhani Express.The trains will, however, have technical stoppages at a few stations for facilitating staff and loco change but the transit time will come down drastically.The trains will adhere to the speed limit of 110 km/h {non stop}.[6] The Chennai and Pune Duronto are projected to run at a speed of 130 km/h.[7]
List of Duronto Express trains
The Duronto trains are to ply between the Metro Cities of India. During the inaugural announcement of these services in the Railway Budget 2009-10 (made on 3 July 2009), 12 weekly, bi-weekly and tri-weekly Duronto trains[8] were announced. In the next rail budget of 24 February 2010, ten more Duronto were announced. [9]
Sl. No. Stations Train No Classes Distance Km. Frequency 1 Sealdah-New Delhi AC 12259 U, 12260 D 3A 2A 1A 1453 Bi-Weekly 2 Mumbai-Jaipur Duronto AC 12239 D, 12240 U 3A 2A 1A 1159 Bi-weekly 3 New Delhi - Lucknow AC 12271 U, 12272 D 3A 2A 1A 493 Tri-weekly 4 New Delhi - Allahabad 12275 U, 12276 D SL 3A 2A 1A 634 Tri-weekly 5 Hazrat Nizamuddin - Chennai Central 12270 U, 12269 D Sl 3A 2A 1A 2176 Bi-weekly[10] 6 Hazrat Nizamuddin - Pune AC 12264 U, 12263 D 3A 2A 1A 1520 Bi-weekly[11] 7 Mumbai - Howrah Junction AC 12261 U, 12262 D 3A 2A 1A 1968 Bi-weekly[12] 8 Mumbai - Ahmedabad AC 12267 U, 12268 D 3A 2A 1A 491 Tri-weekly 9 Mumbai - Nagpur 12289 U, 12290 D SL 3A 2A 1A 838 Tri Weekly 10 Howrah - Yeswanthpur 12245 U, 12246 D SL 3A 2A 1A 1946 5 days a Week 11 Ernakulam - Hazrat Nizamuddin 12283 U, 12284 D SL 3A 2A 1A 2943 Weekly 12 Ernalulam - Lokamanya tilak terminus AC 12223 U, 12224 D 3A 2A 1A 1598 Bi weekly. 13 Secunderabad Junction - Hazrat Nizamuddin (New Delhi) 12285 U, 12286 D SL 3A 2A 1A 1659 Bi-weekly[13] 14 Secunderabad Junction - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) AC 12219 U, 12220 D 3A 2A 1A 773 Bi-weekly 15 New Delhi - Howrah Junction 12273 U, 12274 D SL 3A 2A 1A 1441 Bi-weekly[14] 16 Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jammu Tawi 12265 U, 12266 D SL 3A 2A 1A 578 Tri-weekly[14] 17 Pune - Howrah AC 12222 U, 12221 D 3A 2A 1A 2012 Bi- weekly 18 Chennai-Coimbatore AC 12243 U, 12244 D CC Ex 497 All days Except Tuesdays 19 Howrah- Digha AC 12847 U, 12848 D CC Ex 189 Daily 20 Puri - Howrah AC 12277 U, 12278 D CC Ex 502 Daily 21 New Delhi - Bhubaneshwar 12281 U, 12282 D SL 3A 2A 1A 1746 Weekly[14] 22 Yeswanthpur-Delhi Sarai Rohilla AC 12213 U, 12214 D 3A 2A 1A 2314 Weekly 23 Mumbai-Indore Duronto AC 12227 D, 12228 U 3A 2A 1A 829 Bi-weekly 24 Mumbai-Jaipur Duronto AC 12239 D, 12240 U 3A 2A 1A 829 Bi-weekly Similar Services
These Superfast express are not DURONTO Express but have no intermediate commercial stoppage and serve as non-stop connection between source to destination station like that in case of Duronto express.
There are two of this type,
- Shram Shakti Express runs between Kanpur Central and New Delhi : No Technical or Commercial Stoppage
- Sampoorna Kranti Express runs between Patna and New Delhi : 2 Technical Stoppage (Mughalsarai and Kanpur Central)
Future Services
The proposed Duronto Trains announced in 2011-12 Railway Budget by Mamata Banerjee (Minister of Railways)[1]
- Allahabad-Mumbai AC Duronto (bi-weekly)
- Pune-Ahmedabad AC Duronto (tri-weekly)
- Sealdah-Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly)
- Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC Duronto (tri-weekly)
- Madurai-Chennai AC Duronto (bi-weekly)
- Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram AC Duronto (bi-weekly)
- Mumbai Central-New Delhi AC Duronto (bi-weekly)
- Nizamuddin-Ajmer non-AC Duronto (bi-weekly)
- Shalimar-Patna Duronto (tri-weekly)
The frequency of following Duronto Trains have been increased:
- Mumbai CST-Howrah Duronto Express from 2 days to 4 days
- Mumbai-Ahmedabad Duronto Express from 3 days to daily
- Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto Express from 2 days to 5 days
- Howrah-Yesvantpur Duronto Express from 4 days to 5 days
- Nagpur-Mumbai CST Duronto Express from 3 days to daily
See also
- Shatabdi Express and Superfast Mail/Express: Other categories of fast rail services in India
- Indore Junction
- Rajdhani Express
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express
References
- ^ "Bullet Trains Expected in India". Rediff. May 3, 2007. http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/may/03train.htm. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "India plans High Speed rail Service for Railways". Rediff. January 2009. http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/jan/19lalu-plans-bullet-trains-in-india.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ "Non-stop point-to-point long-distance trains introduced in the Budget". Rediff. July 3, 2009. http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/jul/03/slide-show-1-mamata-presents-pro-people-budget.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ "Railway Minister announces 5 new trains for A.P.". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 10 July 2009. http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/10/stories/2009071053940400.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ "Duronto Trains Will Be Faster Than Rajdhani". India TV. 03 Jul 2009. http://www.indiatvnews.com/main/newsdetails.php?id=1884. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ "Kolkata-New Delhi Duronto Express!". My News.in. 19 September 2009. http://www.mynews.in/News/Kolkata_to_New_Delhi_in_16_hours_-_Duronto_Express!_N26166.html. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ "Duronto blazing new tracks". The Hindu. 21 September 2009. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/09/21/stories/2009092150190500.htm. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ "Duronto' trains for metros". Deccan Chronicle. 3 July 2009. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/duronto-trains-metros-337. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ As of March 2011
- ^ "Chidambaram flags off bi-weekly Chennai-Delhi Duronto Express". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 21 September 2009. http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/22/stories/2009092257740100.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
- ^ "Pune Duronto from 29 September". Indian Express.com. 27 October 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/punedelhi-duronto-from-september-29/522153/. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
- ^ "Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express flagged off". Yahoo News. 28 September 2009. http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090928/836/tbs-howrah-mumbai-duronto-express-flagge.html. Retrieved 28 October 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Deccan Chronicle
- ^ a b c {{ |url=http://sify.com/finance/mamata-flags-off-three-new-duronto-express-trains-news-default-kd5ukdjcdbh.html%7Ctitle=Mamata flags off three new Duronto Express trains}}
External links
- Duronto trains at India Rail Info
- Videos of Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto
- List of Duronto trains at Govt. Indian Rail site
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Services Deccan Odyssey · Duronto · Garib Rath · Golden Chariot · Jan Shatabdi Express · Lifeline Express · Palace on Wheels · Rajdhani · Red Ribbon Express · Sampark Kranti Express · Shatabdi Express · Rajya Rani Express · Superfast Mail/Express
Categories:- Train services in India
- 2009 introductions
- Duronto Express trains
- Named passenger trains of India
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