Lobbying helps CR win Rajdhani-like express

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The announcement of an air-conditioned express for Central Railway in Union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s budget speech was an outcome of CR’s consistent lobbying. The train, which will ply between LTT and New Delhi, will operate just like the prestigious Rajdhani Express.
The AC express was initially supposed to be allotted to the Western Railway as it is considered an ideal route for the Rajdhani Express because of stoppages, speed, passenger traffic and distance.
In January this year, chairman of railway board Vinay Mittal had almost finalised a third Rajdhani Express for WR. However, when CR officials learnt that the Rajdhani was to be given to the WR, they immediately mooted a proposal for an AC express. “Of course, it is an outcome of our constant effort and homework. When I felt that this train would not come into our fleet if we proposed it as ‘Rajdhani,’ we mooted a proposal for an AC express train,” said CR general manager Subodh Jain.
First, the CR prepared a timetable for a train that would run like the Rajdhani and also coordinated with the three zones — West Central Railway (WCR), North Central Railway (NCR) and Northern Railway (NR) — through which this train would pass.
“After this, we sent a proposal to the Railway Board demanding an AC express. We did not call it Rajdhani, but proposed it as an AC express with the same level of comfort and amenities,” said Mr Jain.
The Rajdhani Express is operated between the state capital and New Delhi. One of the criteria for Rajdhani is that it has to be operated between stations that have the shortest distance from Delhi. In Mumbai, Mumbai Central is the shortest distance from New Delhi.
Incidentally, the route between LTT and Delhi is 130 kilometres longer. Rajdhani Express travels at the speed of 140 to 160 kmph. While tracks on WR can withstand this speed, CR tracks from Mumbai upto Bhopal cannot support trains running at a speed higher than 130 kmph.