The 12309 / 12310 Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express is a Semi-High Speed Fully AC Train that connects

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

with and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. It is fastest train on the Patna–Delhi section and fifth fastest Rajdhani of Indian railways. It is the fastest train in covering the Delhi–Kanpur section. It also comes in top 10 fastest trains of Indian railways.

History

This Train was originally introduced in the Annual Railway Budget of 1996–97 as a daily

Rajdhani Express Rajdhani may refer to: * ''Rajdhani'' (film), 1956 Indian film * ''Rajadhani'' (1994 film), Indian Malayalam-language film * ''Rajadhani'' (2011 film), Indian Kannada-language film * Rajdhani, Kotli, a village in Pakistan * Rajdhani, Gorakhpur, ...

from New Delhi to Patna via

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. Later it was rerouted to run via

Prayagraj Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

. In 1997, the

pantry car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do ...

service was introduced. From 1st September 2021, the train LHB Rajdhani Rakes are replaced with LHB Tejas Sleeper Rakes.

Service

It runs daily. It operates as train number 12309 from Rajendra Nagar (Patna) to New Delhi railway station and as train number 12310 in the reverse direction. It covers a distance of 1001 kilometres in each direction however it takes 12 hours 5 minutes when operating as train number 12310 at an average speed of 83 km/h (including halts) while its return journey takes 12 h 30 min at an average speed of 80 km/h (including halts) as train number 12309. Later on with the completion of the construction of the

Rajendra Nagar Terminal railway station Rajendra Nagar Terminal, (Station code: RJPB), is a railway station serving the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is located in Rajendra Nagar in Patna and is in the Danapur railway division of the East Central Railway zo ...

, it was terminated from

Patna Junction Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna. It falls under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway zone of the In ...

to here. It has 4 halts in either direction at

, PT Deen Dayal Upadhaya Junction, , and .This is the only Rajdhani Express having

ISO certification The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...

Time Table

Traction

It is regularly hauled by a

Samastipur Samastipur is a city and a municipal corporation (nagar nigam) in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Budhi Gandak river flows through the town. It is one of the five railway divisi ...

-based

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

(HOG)-equipped locomotive or Gomoh-based

(HOG)-equipped locomotive on its entire journey.

Coach composition

Speed

The maximum permissible speed of the train is up to 130 kmph except some parts. Its all coaches are of air conditioned LHB coach type which is capable of reaching 160 kmph but it does not touch. Sometimes people become confused because according to Indian Railways Permanent Way Manual (IRPWM) on Indian Railways website or Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering website, the BG (Broad Gauge) lines have been classified into six groups ‘A’ to ‘E’ on the basis of the future maximum permissible speeds but it may not be same as present speed. The maximum permissible speed is 130 kmph except two small parts – 29 km long New Delhi (NDLS) – Chipyana Buzurg (CPYZ) part where Railway is trying to raise maximum permissible sectional speed to 130 kmph from 110 kmph and Neora to Rajendra Nagar Terminal where the speed is less than 130 kmph. Railway Board has approved the speed policy which envisages operation of passenger trains at 160 kmph on Delhi–Patna route but it is still unclear what will its impact on this train in future like increasing of speed but not up to 160 kmph or up to 160 kmph.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express Transport in Patna Transport in Delhi Rajdhani Express trains Rail transport in Bihar Rail transport in Delhi Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh Railway services introduced in 1996