Superfasts in 1993

by Vijay Balasubramanian

Here is the complete list of trains classified as superfasts in 1993 according to the 55km/h rule (45km/h for MG). I have arranged them in decreasing order of their commercial speeds. I have chosen the higher of the Up or Down speeds for this ordering. [Not sure about the declassification of the Minar Exp., Indrayani Exp. and Pushpak Exp.]

Note: Speeds are in km/h.

Train Leaving Speed Leaving Speed
Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 90.45 Bhopal 90.45
Rajdhani Exp. New Delhi 83.88 Bombay Central 81.41
Rajdhani Exp. Howrah 83.13 New Delhi 82.34
Aug. Kranti Rajdhani Exp. Bombay Central 79.88 H. Nizamuddin 79.88
Rajdhani Exp. (via Patna) New Delhi 79.35 Howrah 77.38
Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 78 Lucknow 78
Rajdhani Exp. Madras Central 72.2 H. Nizamuddin 71.8
Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 68.43 Kalka 64.32
Lalbagh Exp. Bangalore City 68.19 Madras Central 65.09
Rajdhani Exp. Bangalore City 67.94 H. Nizamuddin 67.45
Shan-e-Punjab Exp. New Delhi 67.05 Amritsar 60.95
Taj Exp. H. Nizamuddin 66.98 Gwalior 64.63
Tamilnadu Exp. New Delhi 65.7 Madras Central 64.89
Bombay - Jaipur Exp. Bombay Central 65.15 Durgapura 62.78
Vaigai Exp. (MG) Madurai 64.88 Madras Egmore 64.17
Karnavati Exp. Ahmedabad 64.88 Bombay Central 63.48
Prayagraj Exp. New Delhi 64.31 Allahabad 63.73
Poorva Exp. (via Patna) Howrah 63.65 New Delhi 63.43
Gomti Exp. Lucknow 63.38 New Delhi 60.84
Nizamuddin - Nagpur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 63.2 Nagpur 60.84
Pallavan Exp. (MG) Tiruchi 63.19 Madras Egmore 61.27
Kovai Exp. Coimbatore 63.06 Madras Central 62.4
Andhra Pradesh Exp. Hyderabad 62.86 New Delhi 60.4
Swaraj Exp. Jammu Tawi 62.47 Bombay Central 58.75
Satavahana Exp. Secunderabad 62 Vijayawada 62
Magadh Vikramshila Exp. New Delhi 62 Patna 60.43
Pinakini Exp. Madras Central 61.86 Vijayawada 61.86
Pushottam Exp. Puri 61.64 New Delhi 59.24
Coromandel Exp. Howrah 61.21 Madras Central 56.21
New Delhi - Amritsar Exp. New Delhi 60.95 Amritsar 59.6
Sarvodaya Exp. Jammu Tawi 60.76 Ahmedabad 56.17
Brindavan Exp. Bangalore City 60.51 Madras Central 56.53
Nizamuddin - Bilaspur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 60.44 Bilaspur 59.84
Vadodara Exp. Vadodara 60.31 Bombay Central 59.54
Grand Trunk Exp. New Delhi 60.28 Madras Central 58.4
Varuna Exp. Varanasi 60 Lucknow 55.16
Dhauli Exp. Howrah 59.59 Bhubaneswar 58.27
Awantika Exp. Bombay Central 59.49 Indore 57.06
Geetanjali Exp. Bombay V.T. 59.1 Howrah 58.95
Poorva Exp. (via Gaya) Howrah 59.02 New Delhi 58.82
Rajkot - Jammu Tawi Exp. Jammu Tawi 58.84 Rajkot 55.06
Nizamuddin - Jabalpur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 58.71 Jabalpur 56.86
Goa Exp. H. Nizamuddin 58.69 Miraj 58.63
Paschim Exp. Amritsar 58.41 Bombay Central 57.34
Hapa - Jammu Tawi Exp. Jammu Tawi 58.34 Hapa 55.13
Karnataka Exp. New Delhi 57.99 Bangalore City 56.49
Pink City Exp. (MG) Jaipur 57.75 Delhi 52.8
Nizamuddin - M'lore Exp. Mangalore 57.58 H. Nizamuddin 57.04
Kerala Exp. New Delhi 57.54 Trivandrum Cntrl 57.36
Frontier Mail Bombay Central 57.43 Amritsar 53.4
Ganga Gomti Exp. Allahabad 57.43 Lucknow 51.32
New Delhi - Puri Exp. Puri 57.35 New Delhi 56.61
Gorakhpur -Jammu Tawi Exp. Gorakhpur 57.03 Jammu Tawi 51.1
Shramjeevi Exp. New Delhi 56.66 Patna 55.61
Patna - Madras Exp. Madras Central 56.21 Patna 54.54
Deccan Queen Exp. Bombay V.T. 56.2 Pune 56.2
Konark Exp. Howrah 56.03 Secunderabad 53.21
New Delhi - Ludhiana Exp. New Delhi 55.7 Ludhiana 55.7
Punjab Mail Firozpur 55.35 Bombay V.T. 53.8
Pushpak Exp. Bombay V.T. 55.27 Lucknow 52.86
Surya Nagri Exp. (MG) Jodhpur 55.15 Ahmedabad 53.53
Ashram Exp. (MG) Ahmedabad 54.94 Delhi 52.62
Indrayani Exp. Bombay V.T. 54.86 Pune 54.86
Navjeevan Exp. Ahmedabad 54.78 Madras Central 54.65
Minar Exp. Secunderabad 54.24 Bombay V.T. 52.17
Howrah - Kalka Mail Kalka 52.99 Howrah 49.9
Mandor Exp. (MG) Delhi 52.17 Jodhpur 50.08
Jaipur - Agra Exp. (MG) Jaipur 46.43 Agra Fort 45.68
Jaipur - Agra Exp. (MG) Agra Fort 45.68 Jaipur 44.25

I hope your favorite train shows up on this list :-)

Some comments:

  1. The ~7 km/h gap between the Bhopal Shatabdi Exp. and the Bombay/Howrah Rajdhanis is understandable, since the Shatabdi is a short distance train and is able to maintain speeds reasonably close to its maxmimum.
  2. The ~6 km/h gap between the Lucknow Shatabdi and the Madras Rajdhani reflects the sad state of affairs. The Madras Rajdhani is unable to close in the gap despite the fact that it travels at a top speed of 130 km/h. on the ~430 km. stretch between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Jhansi.
  3. Only the Rajdhanis/Shatabdis are able to cross the 70 km/h mark. This was certainly not the case about 10-15 years back when trains such as the Tamilnadu Exp. and the Bombay - Jammu Tawi Exp. had commercial speeds in excess of 70 km/h.
  4. The short-distance trains are favorably placed on the list, as long as they stick to the main routes. Exceptions are the Deccan Queen and the Indrayani Exp. which suffer because of the Karjat-Khandala Ghat section.
  5. The Indrayani Exp., Navjeevan Exp. and Minar Exp. have been included probably because of their proximity to the 55 km/h cut-off point.
  6. The Howrah - Kalka Mail manages to scrape through. The only reason I can think of is that a good portion of this train travels only between Delhi and Howrah, and the avg. speed jumps to ~60 km/h between these two stations.

Note: Information based on July 1993 zonal timetables.

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