Shatabdi Express


Shatabdi Express trains are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways to connect Metro cities with other cities important for tourism, pilgrimage or business. Shatabdi Express are day-trains and they return to the station of origin the same day.
The Shatabdi along with The Rajdhani and the Duronto are among the fastest trains in India and Indian Railways considers Rajdhani and Shatabdi as prestigious. Shatabdi Expresses gets the second-highest priority, after Rajdhani Expresses which get the highest priority.
The Shatabdi Express trains run over short to medium distances while the Rajdhani Expresses and the Duronto Expresses are long-distance trains. Rajdhani Expresses connect the nation's capital New Delhi to capitals of states and other major cities while Duronto Expresses connect major cities to other major cities. All three series of trains have a maximum speed of about. The 12001 Bhopal Shatabdi express, however, runs at a peak speed of, which makes it the third fastest train in India after the Gatimaan Express and Vande Bharat Express.

History

The name "Shatabdi" means centenary in Sanskrit. The first Shatabdi Express train was introduced in 1988, by then Railways Minister Madhavrao Scindia to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India, between New Delhi and Jhansi Junction.

Service

Shatabdi Express trains offer fast connectivity with only a few intermediate stops. They are fully air-conditioned and of a much higher standard than most Indian trains. Shatabdi travelers are provided with bottled water, juice, coffee or tea, and meals relevant to the time of day of the journey.
Shatabdi trains are also further distinguished from other trains, in terms of convenience in boarding and disembarking. Most stations give them priority berthing at the better platforms, such as ones located close to the station building or waiting halls.
Berths and seats in Shatabdi Express, Duronto Express and Rajdhani Express trains have to be reserved in advance before boarding the train. There is no unreserved accommodation in these trains, unlike most of the other trains in India. A few Shatabdis have a current booking system where tickets can be booked within a couple of hours before departure.
As Shatabdi Express are day-trains and return to the station of origin the same day, coaches on the train have only seats and not berths. All the Shatabdi Express trains have, however, one or two coaches of Executive Class seating. Recently, Indian Railways have started offering Anubhuti Class seating also. These coaches have a wider legroom and offer better food compared to the normal Air conditioned seating.
New onboard entertainment systems have also been installed on some of these trains where the passengers can view movies and television serials directly via satellite. One of the first services to have this system is the Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express.

List of Shatabdi trains

Indian Railways operates 23 pairs of Shatabdi Express as of October 2019. These trains are listed here.
Sr. No.Train No.RouteStopsDistanceYear introduced
112001Habibganj - New DelhiBhopal, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Gwalior, Morena, Dholpur, Agra, Mathura1988
112002New Delhi–HabibganjBhopal, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Gwalior, Morena, Dholpur, Agra, Mathura1988
212003Lucknow - New DelhiKanpur, Etawah, Tundla, Aligarh, Ghaziabad1989
212004New Delhi - LucknowKanpur, Etawah, Tundla, Aligarh, Ghaziabad1989
312005New Delhi - KalkaPanipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Chandigarh1992
312006Kalka- New DelhiPanipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Chandigarh1992
412007MGR Chennai Central - MysuruKatpadi, Bangalore1994
412008Mysuru - MGR Chennai CentralKatpadi, Bangalore1994
512009Mumbai Central - AhmedabadBorivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad1994
512010Ahmedabad - Mumbai CentralBorivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad1994
612011New Delhi - KalkaPanipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, ChandigarhNA
612012Kalka - New DelhiPanipat, Kurukshetra, Ambala, ChandigarhNA
712013New Delhi - AmritsarAmbala Cantt, Sirhind, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
712014Amritsar - New DelhiAmbala Cantt, Sirhind, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
812015New Delhi - Daurai Delhi Cantt, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, AjmerNA
812016Daurai - New DelhiDelhi Cantt, Gurgaon, Rewari, Alwar, Jaipur, AjmerNA
912017New Delhi - DehradunGhaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Roorkee, HaridwarNA
912018Dehradun - New DelhiGhaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Roorkee, HaridwarNA
1012019Howrah - RanchiDurgapur, Raniganj, Asansol, Dhanbad, Chandrapura, Bokaro Steel City, Muri1995
1012020Ranchi - HowrahDurgapur, Raniganj, Asansol, Dhanbad, Chandrapura, Bokaro Steel City, Muri1995
1112025Pune - SecunderabadDaund, Solapur, Gulbarga, Wadi, Tandur, Vikarabad, Begumpet2011
1112026Secunderabad - PuneDaund, Solapur, Gulbarga, Wadi, Tandur, Vikarabad, Begumpet2011
1212027Chennai - BengaluruKatpadi, Bengaluru Cantt.2005
1212028KSR Bengaluru - MGR Chennai CentralKatpadi, Bengaluru Cantt.2005
1312029New Delhi - AmritsarAmbala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
1312030Amritsar - New DelhiAmbala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
1412031New Delhi - AmritsarAmbala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
1412032Amritsar - New DelhiAmbala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar, BeasNA
1512033Kanpur Central - New DelhiEtawah, Aligarh, Ghaziabad1994
1512034New Delhi - Kanpur CentralEtawah, Aligarh, Ghaziabad1994
1612039Kathgodam - New DelhiHaldwani, Lalkuan, Rudrapur, Rampur, Moradabad, Ghaziabad2012
1612040New Delhi- KathgodamHaldwani, Lalkuan, Rudrapur, Rampur, Moradabad, Ghaziabad2012
1712041Howrah - New JalpaiguriBolpur Shantiniketan,, Malda Town, Kishanganj2012
1712042New Jalpaiguri- HowrahBolpur Shantiniketan,, Malda Town, Kishanganj2012
1812045New Delhi - ChandigarhAmbala Cantt, Karnal2013
1812046Chandigarh - New DelhiAmbala Cantt, Karnal2013
1912047New Delhi - FirozpurRohtak, Jind, Jakhal, Mansa, Bathinda2014
1912048Firozpur - New DelhiRohtak, Jind, Jakhal, Mansa, Bathinda2014
2012085Guwahati - DibrugarhLumding, Dimapur, Mariani2017
2012086Dibrugarh - GuwahatiLumding, Dimapur, Mariani2017
2112087Naharlagun - GuwahatiRangiya, Rangapara2017
2112088Guwahati - NaharlagunRangiya, Rangapara2017
2212243MGR Chennai Central - CoimbatoreKatpadi, Jolarpettai, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur2011
2212244Coimbatore - ChennaiKatpadi, Jolarpettai, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur2011
2312277Howrah - PuriKharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar2010
2312278Puri - HowrahKharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar2010

#Train No.RouteDistanceOperational Years
112027Mumbai - Pune192 km1995-2004
112028Pune - Mumbai192 km1995-2004
212035Jaipur - Agra Fort241 km2012-2018
212036Agra Fort - Jaipur241 km2012-2018
312037New Delhi - Ludhiana329 km2011-2019
312038Ludhiana - New Delhi329 km2011-2019
412043New Delhi - Moga398 km2012-2019
412044Moga - New Delhi398 km2012-2019

Related trains

A variant of the Shatabdi Express, Swarna Shatabdi Express, is considered more luxurious by Indian Railway. Indian Railways later introduced a lower-priced version Jan Shatabdi Expresses, which are nearly all without air-conditioning and much more affordable.
The former railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had also introduced Garib Rath in 2005. These are fast trains, which are fully Air-Conditioned and with lower fares. These trains are quite successful and compete with low-cost airlines on some long-distance routes.

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