Dismissing West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's criticism of Duronto Express, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said the importance and success of the train cannot be diminished.
Passengers claim that robbers looted purses, cash, carry bags, gold chains, mobiles and many more items from multiple passengers
Train services in the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section of South Eastern Railway were suspended on Wednesay after the railways received information that Maoists might target Mumbai-Howrah Duronto Express.
A rail blockade by the Kurmi community in Jharkhand has led to the cancellation, diversion, and short-termination of over 100 passenger trains, leaving thousands stranded. The protesters are demanding Scheduled Tribe status and inclusion of the Kurmali language in the Constitution.
The Railways will provide commercial stoppages to the non-stop Duronto Express at places where presently there are technical halts.
Rs 25 per bedroll kit will be collected as part of the fare at the time of issuance of ticket from the passengers, if they opt for bedroll.
Three new non-stop Duronto trains will be launched on Wednesday, the last day of the current financial year. They are the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar, New Delhi-Howrah, and Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jammu Tawi Duronto expresses.
The country's first point-to-point, non-stop train, Duronto express was on Friday flagged off from Sealdah station by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee as a 'Durga puja' gift to the people.
First rake has a new type of centre-buffer coupler, which joins the two bogies, with special focus on reducing jerks.
The railway ministry is planning to launch 15 more Duronto Expresses in the coming budget, as the end-to-end non-stop train has caught the fancy of passengers.
Passengers on the Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express had a narrow escape on Friday when its engine and generator van got separated from the rest of the train. There was no report of any injury to any passenger. The central buffer coupling (CBC) that attaches the coaches and the engine along with the front generator van snapped.
The losses ranged between Rs 33,204 and Rs 10,90,480.
The Northern Railways on Thursday cancelled a slew of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto Express', stating low patronisation and rising coronavirus cases as the reason behind the decision.
Several trains under the purview of SER and ECoR were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, including the premium Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, owing to the blockade by members of the Kurmi community in Jharkhand and Odisha, officials said.
An eyewitness travelling in the train claimed some passengers suffered minor injuries.
The Railways cancelled 234 trains while 340 trains have been affected so far due to protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the defence services, the Railways said on Friday.
In second class AC, third class AC and chair car, tea to cost Rs 20, up by Rs 5, breakfast Rs 105, up by Rs 8, lunch and dinner Rs 185, up by Rs 10.
The country's first point-to-point, non-stop train, Duronto Express was flagged off from Sealdah station on Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee as a 'Durga puja' gift to the people.
The railways said these trains will be "special trains run on the pattern of regular trains", covering tier 2 cities and also major state capitals like Mumbai and Kolkata.
The Manduadih-Rameswaram Weekly Express tops the list of latecomer trains, with the highest average delay time of 11.5 hours!
According to railway ministry sources, Banerjee is in a hurry to start the train services she had announced in her Budget in July last year.
State capital Lucknow shuddered at 0.7 degrees Celsius, while Bahraich recorded a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius.
Dense fog on Saturday enveloped Delhi, disrupting the schedule of 30 flights and 55 trains even as the minimum temperature settled at 8.4 degrees Celsius.
Agitators squatted on railway tracks at various places, leading to cancellation, short-termination and diversion of several trains.
It was another chilly morning in Delhi with the minimum temperature settling at 8.2 degree Celsius and dense fog delaying 30 flights and 87 trains.
The cancelled trains include Sealdah-Puri Duronto, Howrah-Chennai Mail, Kanyakumari-Howrah Express, Shalimar Express, Tirupati Weekly Superfast Express, SMVT-Bengaluru Superfast Express, Santraganchi AC Superfast, Purulia-Villupuram.
All these trains began from Delhi between March 13 and March 19 - the Duronto Express to Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, the Grand Trunk Express to Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Express to Chennai, New Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express and the AP Sampark Kranti Express.
With Cyclone Phailin set to hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coasts on Saturday evening, rail, road and air traffic has been badly disrupted in the states.
Aslam Hunani analyses the train mishaps that will mark Suresh Prabhu's tenure as railway minister.
While in a statement issued earlier, the Railways had said that these trains will be fully non-air conditioned, on Wednesday it said that these will have both AC and non-AC classes and fully reserved coaches.
Presenting the Budget in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the outlay for the Railways is nine times the amount provided in 2013-2014. She said 100 critical transport infrastructure projects for last- and first-mile connectivity for coal, fertiliser and food grain sectors have been identified and will be taken up on a priority basis with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources, she said.
Humsafar will be launched as overnight inter-city service on high-demand routes
Railway officials also indicated that possible 'sabotage' and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.
The high speed bullet train is expected to cover 508 km between in about two hours.
The system is available for online ticketing now but it will be extended to over the counter sale also as the required software is being readied for the purpose.
The bullet train is expected to cover 508 km between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in about two hours.
While suburban fares remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares were increased by 1 paise per km of journey. The Railways also announced a two-paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four- paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes. The fare hike is also applicable to premium trains such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto.
Railways had announced introduction of 99 new trains, including express and passenger services in the last budget, but till date 31 trains, including seven Duronto trains, two double decker AC trains and one Shatabdi Express have not been made operational, a data prepared by the ministry said.
Investigators were on Sunday looking into what caused one of the deadliest train accidents in recent times as rescue operations continued
In a major setback to the IRCTC, Railways have decided to strip the PSU of its catering responsibilities in Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi and all other mail and express trains.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances