The Hindu : New Delhi News : Only four Shatabdis among hundred most popular trains

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Only four Shatabdis among hundred most popular trains

NEW DELHI, OCT. 24. The popular demand for rationalisation of the fares of Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains seems to hold ground specially in view of the fact that only 4 out of a total of 26 Shatabdis and 10 out of 38 Rajdhanis figure among the 100 most frequently travelled trains in the country.

The Shatabdis being run as the elite superfast trains in the country are popular but not to the extent as the Railways ideally would have expected these to be. Similar is the case with Rajdhanis but the fare and other factors do not allow lower and lower middle class to travel in these trains despite fairly decent runs of these trains.

Indian Railways run 26 Shatabdis which mainly linked all the Capital cities but only four -- 2004 New Delhi-Lucknow Swarn Shatabdi, 2017 New Delhi-Dehradun, 2007 and 2008 between Chennai and Bangalore -- have managed to draw passengers in a big way. These four Shatabdis got mention in the list of 100 most popular trains, according to an official railway website.

The Shatabdis were started as the most prestigious trains linking New Delhi with Bhopal, Kalka, Ajmer, Dehradun, Amritsar and Lucknow, between Chennai and Mysore, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and between Howrah and Ranchi.

The fare of Shatabdis was rationalised last year but further rationalisation in view of its usage and the threat from the air fares structure is gaining ground in some circles.

Similarly, out of 38 Superfast Rajdhani Express trains, ten figure in the list of 100 most popular trains. These Rajdhanis are 2301 and 2302 between New Delhi and Kolkata, 2313 and 2314 between Sealdah and New Delhi, 2429 and 2430 between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Bangalore, 2951 and 2452 between Mumbai and New Delhi and 2953 and 2954 August Kranti Express between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Mumbai.

The maximum of 24 frequently-travelled trains originate from National Capital of Delhi with 16 from New Delhi Station and four trains each from Nizamuddin and Old Delhi stations. It is followed by Mumbai from where a total of 22 trains originate -- 17 from Mumbai Central, 4 from Lokmanya Tilak Terminal and one from Dadar.

Among the 100 most popular trains, 16 trains originate from Chennai, 11 from Bangalore followed by Hyderabad. Of the four metros, Kolkata has only two popular Rajdhanis originating -- one each from Howrah and Sealdah.

Two trains from Indore -- 2962 Avantika Express and 2415 Indore-Nizamuddin Express, two trains 2902 Gujarat Mail and 9144 Lok Shakti Exp from Ahmedabad and two trains 2674 Cheran Exp and 2672 Nilagiri Exp from Coimbatore get mention in the list. 4229 Lucknow Mail between Lucknow and New Delhi, 2417 Prayagraj Exp from Allahabad between Allahabad and New Delhi, 2559 Shiv Ganga Exp between Varanasi and New Delhi from Varanasi, 2451 Shram Shakti Exp between Kanpur and New Delhi from Kanpur, 2638 Pandian Exp from Madurai, 2404 Jammu Tawi Exp from New Delhi and 2928 Vadodara Exp also figure in the list of 100 most frequently travelled trains. -- UNI

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