Fastest Train in India

Indian Railways is one of the busiest modes of transportation in India. It is popularly known as the "transport lifeline of the nation" and is the fourth-largest railway network in the world. Indian Railways is continuously working towards improving its services, railway lines and infrastructure in order to increase the existing speed of its trains. Some of the fastest trains of India are described below with their top speeds and facilities:

Top Ten Fastest Trains in India:

1. Vande Bharat Express
2. Tejas Express
3. Gatimaan Express
4. New Delhi - Bhopal Shatabdi Express
5. Mumbai - New Delhi Rajdhani Express
6. Kanpur Reverse Shatabdi (New Delhi - Kanpur Shatabdi Express)
7. Sealdah - New Delhi Duronto Express
8. New Delhi - Howrah Rajdhani Express
9. Nizamuddin - Bandra Garib Rath
10. Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad AC Double Decker Express

1) Vande Bharat Express

Vande Bharat Express, which is also known as Train 18, is a semi-high speed intercity electric train with a maximum speed of 180 km/hr. It took around 18 months in designing and building this train by Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur, Chennai. It was built under the Make in India initiative of Govt. of India and was launched on 15 February 2019 and its train number is 22439 which is planned to travel from New Delhi to Katra.

Vande Bharat Express is a self-propelled, engineless train or integrated engine like a metro or bullet train and may reduce the travelling time by 15%. It may be called the successor of the 30-year old Shatabdi Express as it is supposed to replace the existing train fleet of the Shatabdi Express.

It has around 16 fully ac chair car coaches divided into Economy and Executive class. Furthermore, the train is provided with bio-vacuum toilets, automatic doors, food, Wi-Fi facility and GPS system that informs the passengers about the upcoming stations. The coaches are also provided with CCTV for the safety of the passengers.

2) Tejas Express

Tejas Express is a semi high-speed train launched by Indian Railways in 2017 with modern-age on-board facilities from Mumbai CST to Karmali Goa. The coaches of this train are manufactured at the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.

It covers 551 km in 8.5 hours while travelling from Mumbai to Goa. There are two more routes of Tejas that are from New Delhi to Chandigarh and from Lucknow to Anand Vihar terminal.

Tejas Express can achieve a maximum speed of 162 km/hr and its average speed is 110 km/hr. It is provided with modern aircraft like features and many other facilities such as the executive chair seats are provided with LCD screens, USB charger and attendant call button facility. Besides this, it offers various other modern times facilities such as tea and coffee vending machines, quality food and beverages, CCTV cameras, paid baggage pick up-drop facility and more.

3) Gatimaan Express

Gatimaan Express was launched on 5^th April 2016. It is one of the high-speed luxury trains of India that covers a total distance of 188 km between Delhi and Agra in just 100 minutes. Its maximum speed is 160 km/hr. The Gatimaan Express train number(s) are 12049/12050.

It consists of 10 coaches that have been designed with the support of the Research Development and Standard Organisation (RDSO). Each coach has one male and one female host and managers. Out of the 10, two are Executive AC Chair Car and 8 are AC Chair Car coaches.

The unique features of Gatimaan Express include sliding doors, GPS, emergency brake, automatic fire alarm, LCDs attached to the seat, free Wi-fi, bio-toilets, train hostesses, etc. Besides this, it also has two restaurants for the passengers.

4) Bhopal (Habibganj) - New Delhi Shatabdi Express (New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express)

Bhopal Shatabdi Express was introduced in 1988 to honour the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru. It travels from Delhi to Bhopal and covers a total distance of 707 km with a maximum speed of 155 km/hr. The train has 18 coaches; 2 AC First class, 14 AC Chair cars and 2 power cars. Its number is 12001 or 12002 and it runs daily.

It has fully air-conditioned coaches and offers various facilities for the passengers such as meal, water bottle, tea or coffee, snacks, etc. However, it lacks the facility of sleeper class, so one has to complete the journey in a chair car.

5) Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express (Mumbai Rajdhani Express)

It is the fastest express train in the category of Rajdhani Express trains. It covers a total distance of 1384 km from Mumbai Central to New Delhi and can achieve a maximum speed of 140 km/hr. Its train numbers include 12951 and 12952.

Mumbai Rajdhani Express is the first Rajdhani train to have Alstom-LHB Coaches of Indian Railways. It has 20 coaches; 1 first A/C coach, five 2 tier A/C coach and eleven are 3 tier A/C coach, two luggage coach and one pantry coach.

The facilities for the passengers include plug-in sockets, Wi-Fi, on-board catering offering morning and evening snacks, tea or coffee, bottled water, meals, ice-cream, etc.

6) Kanpur Reverse Shatabdi

Kanpur Reverse Shatabdi, which is also known as the New Delhi Shatabdi Express, is also one of the fastest train in India. It got its name from the fact that it follows the reverse schedule of Lucknow Shatabdi. In fact, it was introduced to reduce the pressure on Lucknow Shatabdi Express due to the huge crowd of passengers. Its train numbers are 12033/12034

It can achieve a maximum speed of 140 km/hr while covering a distance of 437 km between New Delhi and Kanpur. However, the average speed is 87 km/hr. Due to the short journey, it does not provide the facility of sleeper class. All basic facilities are provided by the train such as bottled water, tea, coffee, morning or evening snacks, meals, soup, ice-cream, plug-in sockets, etc.

7) Sealdah Duronto Express

Duronto Express trains series was introduced in India in 2009-2010. Sealdah Duronto Express is the first train of this series that runs between Sealdah, Kolkata and New Delhi. One of the characteristic features of this train is the yellow-green colour that makes it look like a row of yellow flowers. It travels a distance of 1452 km in 16 hours 55 minutes. It can achieve a maximum speed of 130 km/hr.

The train number is 12259 and 12260 and it has one AC first-class coach, four AC 2 tier coaches, nine AC 3 tier coaches and two pantry car coaches. The train 12259 runs non-stop from Sealdah to New Delhi. Whereas, 12260 stops at few junctions while travelling towards New Delhi. The facilities provided by the train, incudes meals, snacks, water, tea and coffee, and more.

8) Howrah Rajdhani Express

Howrah Rajdhani Express is popularly known as the "King of India.' It is also called Kolkata Rajdhani Express and is counted amongst the fastest trains in India. It is the first train of the Rajdhani Express Trains' series in India as well as the first fully air-conditioned and first to provide the facility of Wi-Fi service. Its maximum speed is 130 km/hr and average speed is 85 km/hr.

Furthermore, it also allows to explore some Buddhist destinations that comprise the Buddhist circuit in India. It runs between New Delhi and Howrah covering a distance of 1451 km in around 17 hours. Its train number includes 12301/12302/12305/12306. The facilities offered by this train include free Wi-Fi, meals, snacks, tea or coffee, pillow, blanket and bed sheets and more.

9) H. Nizamuddin - Bandra Garib Rath (12909/12910)

It is the fastest Garib Rath express train in India that connects Nizamuddin, Delhi to Bandra, Mumbai. It was introduced by Indian Railways in 2005 to provide low cost air-conditioned long-distance travel to passengers who cannot afford travelling in an air-conditioned train on a daily basis. The Garib Rath train numbers are 12909/12910.

It can achieve a maximum speed of 130 km and covers a total distance of 1367 km in around 16 hours. Its average speed remains around 80 km/hr. Although it is an air-conditioned high-speed train, its seats and berths are narrower than other fastest Indian trains. However, it has more berth and seating capacity than other fastest trains. The food is not included in the ticket price. Although it does not have panty cars, it provides on board catering.

10) Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad AC Double Decker Express

It is also counted among the fastest trains in India. It belongs to Shatabdi class of fast trains and connects Mumbai Central with Ahmedabad Junction. The maximum speed of this train is around 130 km/hr and average speed is 67 km/hr. It covers 493 km journey in around 7 hours.

Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad AC Double Decker Express is a double-decker train that offers services six days a week except for Sunday. It started running on 20 September 2012. It departs at 14:20 from Mumbai and arrives at 21:40 at Ahmedabad Junction. The facilities provided by this train include On-board catering, E-catering, and more.

In 2017, it became the first branded train of Indian Railways when it was covered externally with vinyl wrapping advertisement of Savlon soap to promote Savlon Swasth India Mission.