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.
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 |
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
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]
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 | Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto | 12242 D, 12241 U | CC 2S | 267 | 5 days a Week [15] |
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,
The proposed Duronto Trains announced in 2011-12 Railway Budget by Mamata Banerjee (Minister of Railways)[1]
The frequency of following Duronto Trains have been increased: