Duronto Express
 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Main Operation(s): | India 2009 - |
| Fleet size: | 26 |
| Parent company: | Indian Railways |
| Web site: | www.indianrail.gov.in |
Duronto Express is a category of long-distance non stop trains run by the Indian Railways. These trains do not have any ticketing stops between the origin and the destination ."Duronto" means "restless" in Bengali language. These trains' coaches have characteristic yellow-green livery. Duronto Express services connect the several metros and major state capitals of India. These trains are faster than or as fast as Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
History
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] On 19 January 2009, Railway Minister said that the 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-Thiruvananthapuram and Howrah-Haldia.[2] But, this High Speed rail service for India is expected to be completed on a long run.
Meanwhile, non-stop Duronto Express trains were introduced in 2009–10 as a first step towards high-speed rail travel in India.[3] The first Duronto ran between Sealdah and New Delhi.
Efficiency and speed
The Duronto Expresses are one of the fastest trains in India. These trains run faster than Rajdhani Express[4] 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, do not have any intermediate stops and run in much the same speed clocked by Rajdhani. For example, the New Delhi - Sealdah Duronto Express takes 16 hours to cover the journey against 17 hours taken by Rajdhani Express. The trains will adhere to the speed limit of 110 km/h {non-stop}.[5] The Chennai, Ernakulam and Pune Duronto run at a speed of 130 km/h.[6] In March 2011, the cost of travel in the Duronto Express went up as the Minister of Railways announced a hike in railway fare. The decision to hike railway fares resulted in trouble across the Government and were rolled back,[7] only to be raised again on 1 April.[8] A feature exclusive to the Duronto is the LHB Sleeper coach. The sleeper class is the most common coach, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach in regular ICF coaches and 78 berths in the new LHB coaches that the Duronto trains have.
List of Current Duronto Express trains
Following is a current list of Duronto trains.
