# Shatabdi Express

Shatabdi Express (lit. 'Century Express') are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways. Shatabdi Express are day trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains run at a maximum permissible speed of 110–150 km/h (68–93 mph) depending on the infrastructures of parts of routes with the Rani Kamalapati–New Delhi Shatabdi Express achieving the maximum permissible speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) between Tughlakabad and Bilochpura Agra.

## History

The name "Shatabdi" means century in Sanskrit and the first Shatabdi Express train was announced on 10 July 1988 by then Railways Minister Madhavrao Scindia to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India and plied between New Delhi and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction (then Jhansi Junction). The first Shatabdi, then the fastest train of the country used to run at 140 kmph (km per hour) maximum permissible speed and it was the speed of the time of its introduction and the first Shatabdi Express was extended to Bhopal from Jhansi on 19.2.1989 (19th Feb). Speed of this New Delhi - Bhopal Shatabdi was increased to 150 kmph between Tuglakabad and Agra Cantt on 15 February 2006 and was the fastest train of India then also . After that, it was still the fastest train of India when it was extended to Rani Kamalapati (past name - Habibganj) station in Bhopal from Bhopal station in September 2014 and this Rani Kamalapati – New Delhi Shatabdi Express was still the fastest train of India till the introduction of Gatiman Express on April, 5, 2016 .

## Service

Shatabdi Express trains offer fast connectivity between major cities with only a few intermediate stops and can run at a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). They are fully air-conditioned and passengers are provided with on-board catering. Onboard entertainment systems are available in select trains providing content via satellite.
Seats in Shatabdi Express have to be reserved in advance as there is no unreserved accommodation, unlike most of the other trains in India. Reservation is allowed until up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time and the seats are auto allocated by the reservation system. Dynamic pricing is applicable on the fares.

## Rolling stock

As Shatabdi Express are day-trains and return to the station of origin the same day, coaches have only seats and not berths. All of these trains have multiple AC Chair Car coaches and most of them (sometimes all of them) have one or two coaches of Executive Class seating. Indian Railways offers Anubhuti class seating and Vistadome coaches offering large windows, transparent roofing, and rotatable seats in select trains. The trains used to operate on specialized coaches manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai with the older coaches now been replaced with newer LHB rakes on all the trains. The trains are hauled by various diesel or electric locomotives and a new specialized high speed locomotive class WAP-7HS with a maximum speed of 180 km/h (110 mph) for hauling Shatabdi express trains was introduced in 2019.

## Services
### Active

As of August 06, there are 21 operational pairs of Shatabdi express trains.
List of active services :
| Sr. no. | Route | Train no. | Originating Station | Terminal Station | Operator | Distance | Duration | Avg Speed (Km/h) | Year introduced | Stops |
| 1 | Rani Kamalapati – New Delhi | 12001/12002 | Rani Kamalapati | New Delhi | NR | 709 km (441 mi) | 8h 40m | 82 km/h (51 mph) | 1988 | Bhopal Jn.,Bina Jn.,Lalitpur Jn., Jhansi Jn., Gwalior Jn., Morena, Dholpur Jn., Agra Cantt., Mathura Jn. |
| 2 | Lucknow–New Delhi | 12003/12004 | Lucknow Jn. | New Delhi | NR | 512 km (318 mi) | 6h 45m | 75 km/h (47 mph) | 1989 | Kanpur Central, Phaphund, Etawah Jn., Tundla Jn., Aligarh Jn., Ghaziabad Jn. |
| 3 | New Delhi–Kalka | 12005/12006 | New Delhi | Kalka | NR | 269 km (167 mi) | 4h 0m | 67 km/h (42 mph) | 1989 | Panipat Jn., Kurukshetra Jn., Ambala Cantt. Jn., Chandigarh Jn. |
| 4 | MGR Chennai Central–Mysuru | 12007/12008 | MGR Chennai Central | Mysuru Jn. | SR | 497 km (309 mi) | 7h 0m | 71 km/h (44 mph) | 1994 | Katpadi Jn., KSR Bengaluru |
| 5 | Mumbai Central–Ahmedabad | 12009/12010 | Mumbai Central | Ahmedabad Jn. | WR | 493 km (306 mi) | 6h 20m | 78 km/h (48 mph) | 1994 | Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch Jn., Vadodara Jn., Anand Jn., Nadiad Jn. |
| 6 | New Delhi–Kalka | 12011/12012 | New Delhi | Kalka | NR | 269 km (167 mi) | 4h 0m | 67 km/h (42 mph) | 1994 | Sonipat Jn., Panipat Jn., Kurukshetra Jn., Ambala Cantt. Jn., Chandigarh Jn. |
| 7 | New Delhi–Amritsar | 12013/12014 | New Delhi | Amritsar Jn. | NR | 448 km (278 mi) | 6h 10m | 73 km/h (45 mph) | 1994 | Ambala Cantt. Jn., Sirhind, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Jn., Beas Jn. |
| 8 | New Delhi–Ajmer | 12015/12016 | New Delhi | Ajmer Jn. | NR | 444 km (276 mi) | 6h 45m | 66 km/h (41 mph) | 1994 | Delhi Cantt., Gurgaon, Rewari Jn., Alwar Jn., Bandikui Jn., Gandhinagar, Jaipur Jn., Kishangarh |
| 9 | New Delhi–Dehradun | 12017/12018 | New Delhi | Dehradun | NR | 314 km (195 mi) | 6h 10m | 51 km/h (32 mph) | 1995 | Ghaziabad Jn., Meerut City Jn., Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur Jn., Roorkee, Haridwar |
| 10 | Howrah–Ranchi | 12019/12020 | Howrah Jn. | Ranchi Jn. | ER | 423 km (263 mi) | 7h 10m | 59 km/h (37 mph) | 1995 | Durgapur, Raniganj, Asansol, Dhanbad, Chandrapura, Bokaro Steel City, Muri |
| 11 | Pune–Secunderabad | 12025/12026 | Pune Jn. | Secunderabad Jn. | CR | 597 km (371 mi) | 8h 20m | 72 km/h (45 mph) | 2011 | Solapur, Kalaburagi, Wadi Jn., Tandur, Vikarabad Jn., Begumpet |
| 12 | Chennai–Bengaluru | 12027/12028 | MGR Chennai Central | KSR Bengaluru | SWR | 359 km (223 mi) | 4h 55m | 73 km/h (45 mph) | 2005 | Katpadi Jn., Jolarpettai Jn., Bengaluru Cantt. |
| 13 | New Delhi–Amritsar | 12029/12030 | New Delhi | Amritsar Jn. | NR | 448 km (278 mi) | 6h 10m | 73 km/h (45 mph) | 1998 | Ambala Cantt. Jn., Rajpura Jn., Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Jn., Beas Jn. |
| 14 | New Delhi–Amritsar | 12031/12032 | New Delhi | Amritsar Jn. | NR | 448 km (278 mi) | 6h 10m | 73 km/h (45 mph) | 1997 | Ambala Cantt. Jn., Rajpura Jn., Ludhiana, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Jn., Beas Jn. |
| 15 | Kanpur Central–New Delhi | 12033/12034 | Kanpur Central | New Delhi | NCR | 440 km (270 mi) | 4h 55m | 88 km/h (55 mph) | 2010 | Etawah, Aligarh, Ghaziabad Jn. |
| 16 | Kathgodam–New Delhi | 12039/12040 | Kathgodam | New Delhi | NR | 282 km (175 mi) | 5h 40m | 50 km/h (31 mph) | 2012 | Haldwani, Lalkuan Jn., Rudrapur, Rampur, Moradabad, Ghaziabad Jn. |
| 17 | Howrah–New Jalpaiguri | 12041/12042 | Howrah Jn. | New Jalpaiguri Jn. | NFR | 566 km (352 mi) | 8h 30m | 67 km/h (42 mph) | 2012 | Bardhaman Jn., Bolpur Shantiniketan, New Farakka Jn., Malda Town, Kishanganj |
| 18 | New Delhi–Chandigarh | 12045/12046 | New Delhi | Chandigarh Jn. | NR | 244 km (152 mi) | 3h 20m | 78 km/h (48 mph) | 2013 | Ambala Cantt. Jn., Karnal |
| 19 | Naharlagun–Guwahati | 12087/12088 | Naharlagun | Guwahati | NFR | 332 km (206 mi) | 5h 45m | 58 km/h (36 mph) | 2017 | Harmuti Jn., Viswanath Charali, Rangapara North Jn., Udalguri, Rangiya Jn. etc.. |
| 20 | MGR Chennai Central–Coimbatore | 12243/12244 | MGR Chennai Central | Coimbatore Jn. | SR | 493 km (306 mi) | 7h 5m | 70 km/h (43 mph) | 2013 | Katpadi Jn., Jolarpettai Jn., Salem Jn., Erode Jn., Tiruppur |
| 21 | Howrah – Puri | 12277/12278 | Howrah Jn. | Puri | ECoR | 500 km (310 mi) | 7h 35m | 66 km/h (41 mph) | 2010 | Kharagpur Jn., Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar |

### Defunct

List of defunct services :
| Route # | Train no. | Originating Station | Terminal Station | Year of Introduction | Year of Termination |
| Bangalore City – Hubli Jn. | 2025/2026 | Bangalore City | Hubli Jn. | 1995 | 1996 |
| Chennai Central – Coimbatore Jn. | 2023/2024 | Chennai Central | Coimbatore Jn. | 1995 | 2000 |
| Rajahmundry – Secunderabad Jn. | | Rajahmundry | Secunderabad Jn. | 1999 | 2000 |
| New Delhi - Patiala – Bathinda | | New Delhi | Bathinda | | 2003 |
| New Delhi – Bareilly | | New Delhi | Bareilly | | 2003 |
| Howrah – Rourkela (Later short terminated at Tatanagar) | 2021/2022 | Howrah | Rourkela (Later short terminated at Tatanagar) | 1995 | 2003 |
| Howrah – Patna | 2023/2024 | Howrah | Patna Jn. | 2001 | 2003 |
| Mumbai – Pune | 2027/2028 | Mumbai CSMT | Pune Jn. | 1995 | 2004 |
| Jaipur – Agra Fort | 12035/12036 | Jaipur | Agra Fort | 2012 | 2018 |
| New Delhi – Rhotak - Ludhiana | 12037/12038 | New Delhi | Ludhiana Jn. | 2011 | 2019 |
| New Delhi – Rhotak - Moga | 12043/12044 | New Delhi | Moga | 2012 | 2019 |
| New Delhi – Firozpur, upto Bathinda during introduction | 12047/12048 | New Delhi | Firozpur Cantt. | 2014 | 2021 |
| Guwahati – Dibrugarh | 12085/12086 | Guwahati | Dibrugarh | 2017 | 2020 |
# Name of an intermediate station may be written if the route is not the shortest or to distinguish between more than one Shatabdi route irrespective of present and past routes.

## Defunct Shatabdi Express Type with Different Name

Howrah–Digha Super AC Express, completely a Shatabdi Express type train with Shatabdi Express fare structure having other name instead of "Shatabdi Express" after conversion from a Duronto Express of year 2010 to 2015 was suspended during COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 and was not made any journey since then and it was not included in the proposed schedule of Indian Railways of 1 January 2025 that means it is withdrawn (Source: Trains At A Glance - 2025 - as per disclaimer on this book, schedule of this book may be changed without notice and earlier, its schedule was included in the previous version which is October 2022 version of that book with the same disclaimer.)