Rajdhani Express
The Rajdhani Express is a series of passenger train services in India operated by Indian Railways connecting the national capital New Delhi with the capitals or the largest cities of various states. The word Rajdhani has been derived from the Sanskrit language, which means Capital in English. This series of trains regularly gets the highest priority in the Indian Railways and is considered as its most premium train. The cost of a Rajdhani Express is around Rs. 75 crore. History In the Railway Budget of 1969–70, an introduction of a new superfast train was done which would connect Delhi to Kolkata in less than 18 hours. Until then, the fastest trains between these two cities usually took more than 20 hours. Thus, on 1 March 1969, the first Rajdhani Express left from New Delhi to Howrah at 1730 hrs and arrived at its destination at 1050 hrs on the next day, completing 1450 km in a record time of 17 hours 20 minutes. The return Rajdhani Express left Howrah Junction at 1700 hrs and arrived at New Delhi on its next day at 1020 hrs. The initial maximum speed of the Howrah Rajdhani Express was 120 km/h. It was the only Rajdhani Express in India until 1972, when Indian Railways introduced another, the Bombay Rajdhani, now Mumbai Rajdhani Express, between Mumbai Central and New Delhi. Later on, with subsequent development of the tracks, other Rajdhani Expresses were introduced gradually, the latest Rajdhani Express as of now being the Mumbai CSMT–Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express. However, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Uttrakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Punjab still do not have a Rajdhani Express terminating/originating from any of their major cities. About Rajdhani express gets the highest priority on the Indian railway network. They are fully air-conditioned. Passengers are served optional meals (food price included in the train fare) during the journey. Depending on the duration and timings of the journey, these could include morning tea, breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner. All Rajdhani Express trains offer three classes of accommodation: AC First Class (1A) with 2-berth and 4-berth coupès (with locking facility for privacy), AC 2-tier (2T) with open bays (4 berths/bay + 2 berths on the other side of the aisle of each bay), provided with curtains for privacy, and AC 3-tier (3T) with open bays (6 berths/bay + 2 berths on the other side of the aisle of each bay) without curtains. Currently there are 25 pairs of trains, connecting New Delhi to important cities across the country. These trains have fewer stops than other express trains and halt only at prominent stations. Recently Dynamic pricing has been introduced on all Rajdhani express trains. Routes There are currently 24 operational pairs of Rajdhani Express: Tejas-Rajdhani Express . Indian Railways started to upgrade Rajdhani Coaches to Tejas coaches. These trains are called the Tejas-Rajdhani Express This replaced its traditional LHB Rajdhani coaches. Soon all Rajdhani express will get brand new LHB Tejas Rakes.