Shatabdi Express trains are a series of fast

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

s operated by

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

to connect important metro cities. Shatabdi Express are day-trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains were first introduced in 1988 and was named as 'Shatabdi' meaning 'century' to commemorate the birth centenary of India's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. Generally, maximum permissible speed of Shatabdi Express except the fastest one is 130 kmph where infrastructure is existed and lower where infrastructure is not existed but the maximum permissible speed of the fastest Shatabdi Express, Rani Kamlapati–New Delhi Shatabdi Express (Rani Kamlapati, formerly known as Habibganj station is in Bhopal) is 150 km/h between Tughlakabad and Agra Cantt part (about whole part of New Delhi - Agra Cantt) since 2006 and

Gatimaan Express The 12049 / 12050 Gatimaan Express is India's first semi-high speed train that runs between Delhi and Jhansi. It takes 265 minutes (around 4.5 hours) to cover the journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Virangana Lakshmibai Junction railway st ...

has maximum permissible speed of 160 kmph over the same part and as per maximum permissible speed this fastest Shatabdi Express (Then between New Delhi and Bhopal before extension of the route) was the fastest train of India before introduction of Gatimaan Express on 5th April 201

and Some of the Shatabdi Express trains can't touch 130 kmph in any part of their routes because of lack of infrastructure.

History

The name "Shatabdi" means century in Sanskrit language, Sanskrit. The first Shatabdi Express train was announced on 10 July 1988 by then Railways Minister

Madhavrao Scindia Madhavrao Jivajirao Scindia (10 March 1945 – 30 September 2001) was an Indian politician and a minister in the Government of India. He was a member of the Indian National Congress party. Scindia was the son of Jiwajirao Scindia, the last rul ...

to commemorate the birth centenary of

, the first

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

and plyed between

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

and

Jhansi Junction Jhansi Junction railway station (station code: VGLB), officially known as Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction railway station, is a major railway junction in the city of Jhansi in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the busies ...

Service

Commonwealth Games livery coach of 12018 Dehradun Shatabdi Express

Electronic Coachboard of 12017 Dehradun Shatabdi Express

Shatabdi Express trains offer fast connectivity between major metropolitan cities with only a few intermediate stops and can run at a maximum speed of 150 km/h. They are fully air-conditioned and passengers are provided with bottled water, juice, coffee or tea, and meals relevant to the time of day of the journey. New onboard entertainment systems have also been installed on some of these trains where the passengers can view movies and other content directly via satellite. Seats in Shatabdi Express have to be reserved in advance as there is no unreserved accommodation unlike most of the other trains in India. Reservation is allowed until up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. The seats are auto allocated by the reservation system.

Dynamic pricing Dynamic pricing, also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, or time-based pricing, is a pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands. Businesses are able to change pric ...

is applicable on the fares.

Rolling Stock

As Shatabdi Express are day-trains and return to the station of origin the same day, coaches have only seats and not berths. All of these trains have multiple AC Chair Car coaches and generally Shatabdi Express has one or two coaches of Executive Class seating. Indian Railways offers Anubhuti Class seating in some of the trains and Vistadome coaches offering large windows, transparent roofing and rotatable seats. in some of the trains The trains used to operate on specialized coaches manufactured by ICF,

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. These coaches have now been replaced with newer LHB rakess on all the trains. The trains are hauled by various

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

locomotives. Indian Railways introduced a new specialized high speed locomotive class WAP-7HS with a maximum speed of 180 km/h for hauling Shatabdi express trains in 2019.

List of Shatabdi trains

Indian Railways operates 21 pairs of Shatabdi Express trains.

References

External links