Sealdah Rajdhani Express is a Rajdhani class train of Indian Railways which connects the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata to the National Capital of India, New Delhi through Sealdah on daily basis. It is the third Rajdhani Express class train connecting Delhi and Kolkata and is the third-fastest connection between these two cities by rail.[1]

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Sealdah Rajdhani Express

Sealdah Rajdhani Express trainboard
Overview
Service type	Rajdhani Express
Locale	West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & Delhi
First service	1 July 2000; 22 years ago (1 July 2000)
Current operator(s)	Eastern Railways
Route
Termini	Sealdah (SDAH) New Delhi (NDLS)
Stops	8
Distance travelled	1,459 km (907 mi)
Average journey time	17 hrs 45 mins
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	12313 / 12314
On-board services
Class(es)	AC 1st Class, AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	Available
Observation facilities	Large Windows
Technical
Rolling stock	LHB coaches
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Electrification	25 kV AC 50 Hz OHLE
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph) Top speed 83 km/h (52 mph) average including halts, Maximum Speed = 130 km/h (81 mph)
Route map Legend km from New Delhi railway station 0 New Delhi railway station Yamuna Delhi–Uttar Pradesh border NH 2 (Grand Trunk Road) 440 Kanpur Central railway station NH 2 (Grand Trunk Road) Old Naini Bridge across Yamuna 787 Mughalsarai Junction railway station Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border Nehru Setu bridge across Son River 992 Gaya Falgu River Bihar- Jharkhand border Barakar River Parasnath Hill 1350 m 1476 yd NH 2 (Grand Trunk Road) 1191 Dhanbad NH 2 (Grand Trunk Road) Barakar River Jharkhand–West Bengal border 1249 Asansol 1291 Durgapur Hooghly River 1457 Sealdah railway station

Overview

Owing to the high demands of the passengers plying between Delhi and Kolkata and to ease down the existing pressure of bookings on the Howrah Rajdhani Express, Indian Railways decided to introduce another Rajdhani Class train between these two cities. Since Howrah Division of Eastern Railways already had two existing Rajdhani Express trains, thus Sealdah Division of Eastern Railway was awarded with third Rajdhani Express to West Bengal. Hence on 1 July 2000, the first Sealdah Rajdhani Express left for New Delhi from Sealdah for its maiden journey.[2]

On 1 March 2003, both the pairs of Sealdah Rajdhani Express were upgraded to the LHB coaches thus paying the way for the replacement at the end of glorious era of ICF coaches of Rajdhani Express.

Gallery

• 
  Sealdah Rajdhani Express – AC 3 tier coach – B 12
• 
  Sealdah Rajdhani Express – AC 2 tier coach
• 
  Sealdah Rajdhani Express – AC 3 tier coach – B 7, halted at New Delhi rail station

Route & Halts

• Sealdah
• Durgapur
• Asansol Junction
• Dhanbad Junction
• Gaya Junction
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction
• Kanpur Central
• New Delhi

Traction

It is hauled by a Howrah based WAP-7 (HOG) equipped locomotive from end to end. Sometimes, it also receives a Ghaziabad Loco Shed based WAP-7 (HOG) equipped locomotive.

Time Table

Speed

The maximum permissible speed of the train is up to 130 kmph except some parts. Its all coaches are of air conditioned LHB coaches type which is capable of reaching 160 kmph but it does not touch. Sometimes people become confused because according to Indian Railways Permanent Way Manual (IRPWM) on Indian Railways website or Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering website, the BG (Broad Gauge) lines have been classified into six groups ‘A’ to ‘E’ on the basis of the future maximum permissible speeds but it may not be same as present speed.

The maximum permissible speed is 130 kmph except two small parts – 29 km long New Delhi (NDLS) – Chipyana Buzurg (CPYZ) part where Railway is trying to raise maximum permissible sectional speed to 130 kmph from 110 kmph [1] and Gurpa – Gujhandi part near Koderma. Gurpa (Gaya end) – Gujhandi (Dhanbad end) is a 22 km long Ghat section where trains pass through at a maximum permissible speed of 80 kmph – inside tunnels at restricted speed of 65 kmph. The trains also touch the speed of 100 kmph in a short stretch of approximately 03 km distance. You may get details of this ghat (hill) section in a post on 11 July 2019 in the Facebook profile of East Central Railway.

Railway Board has approved the speed policy which envisages operation of passenger trains at 160 kmph on Delhi–Sealdah route but it is still unclear what will its impact on this train in future like increasing of speed but not up to 160 kmph or up to 160 kmph. [2]

References

External links