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Lalu Yadav flags off India's fastest train
by Adity Singh
New Delhi: The fastest ever train in India--New Delhi and Agra Shatabdi Express--running at a speed of 150 km per hour, was today flagged off by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav from the New Delhi Railway Station. The train earlier used to run between New Delhi and Bhopal at a speed of 120 km per hour, but from today it will run from New Delhi to Agra at 150 km per hour, a Northern Railway spokesman said. The increased speed of the train would reduce the travel time between New Delhi and Agra, from two hours and fifteen minutes at present, to less than two hours.
A Railway Board official said that spacious state-of-the-art coaches like the German coaches used on the Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi are attached to the super-fast train to provide comfort and luxury to passengers. The train's trial run was carried out successfully on January 13 and 19, respectively, when it had taken two hours and fifteen minutes to cover the distance of 198 kms. However, it expected that 15 minutes would be lopped off with the train picking speed during its journey between the two cities. Railways officials said that the track on this route has been strengthened and technical upgrading of traction and signaling mechanism has been carried out to ensure a safe and comfortable ride for the passengers. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has given his clearance to run the train, after confirming the safety of passengers. To avoid accidents due to trespassing by people and animals, walled fences have been raised in the entire section that falls under Northern Railways and North Central Railways. The braking system has also been upgraded. The passengers will have all comfort while travelling. The train is a high-speed and light-weight train with 56 seats in executive class and 78 in chair car. The vibration will be low and cushioned seats have enough room to spread one's leg. Instead of old signals with a maximum visibility of 500-600 metres, the Delhi-Agra corridor will have Light Emitting Diode signals that will enable a clear visibility of 1000 metres. The driver's direction will be monitored by automated sensor, which would act as vigilance control device. The device will act as an alert alarm for the driver in case he fails to take an action on a particular route.
The Shatabdi Express trains were introduced in 1988, which operate at
the speed of 120 km per hour. The Shatabdi Express is considered to be
a convenient, super fast and comfortable train. The Shatabdi Express train
service covers some major routes and runs at very high speed. It operates
in the Capital, Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandiogarh, Amritsar, Dehra Dun, Jaipur
Banglore and many other routes. Unlike Rajdhani, which is a sleeper train,
Shatabdi is primarily a chair car train. Union Minister for Science and
Technology Kapil Sibal, Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathwa,
Chairman of Railway Board and other senior officials of the Railway Ministry
were also present on the occasion.
-Feb 15, 2006
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