Current operator(s) Western Railways Stops 6 | Start Mumbai Central | |
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Service type Rajdhani Express/मुंबई राजधानी Locale Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana & Delhi First service May 17, 1972; 44 years ago (1972-05-17) | ||
The 12951/12952 Mumbai Rajdhani Express is a super fast express train of Rajdhani class belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Mumbai and Delhi in India. It is the fastest Rajdhani considering average running speed (ARS) of nearly 91 kmph. It was introduced on 17 May 1972 between the then Bombay Central and New Delhi. The train became so popular that prior to the introduction of current reservation facility its reservation chart was prepared just 15 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train. It is a daily service. It operates as train number 12951 from Mumbai Central to New Delhi and as train number 12952 in the reverse direction.The train has been portrayed in the film 'The Rajdhani Express'
Contents
Coaches
The Mumbai Rajdhani generally has one AC 1st Class coach, five AC 2 tier class coaches, one pantry car, two luggage cum generator coaches & eleven AC 3 tier coaches taking the total up to 20 coaches. Since its inception, the Mumbai Rajdhani ran with 16 coaches. However, the conventional rakes were replaced by Linke-Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for this train in 2004, and the number of coaches was also increased to 19 including the pantry cars. The number of coaches again was increased to 21 by the Western Railways to accommodate more passengers in June 2012. No Extra private coach or party coach is attached in this train.
Service
The 12951/12952 Mumbai Rajdhani Express is the fastest train on the Mumbai - Delhi sector and the fastest Rajdhani train as well as the fastest train (Considering ARS and including halts) in India. Mumbai Rajdhani Express is the first Rajdhani to get Alstom-LHB Coaches in India. It used to run six days a week until September 2000 after which Railways decided to run it daily. In its early days, it used to cover the distance of 1385 kilometres in each direction in 19 hours and 5 minutes. However, after the electrification of the route, the speed of the train improved and as of 2016, it takes 15 hours and 35 minutes when operating as train number 12951 at an average speed of 89 km/h (including halts) while on its return journey as train number 12952 takes 15 hrs 50 mins at an average speed of 88 km/h (including halts) thus making it the fastest train on the Mumbai - Delhi sector. Before the introduction of the LHB coaches, the maximum speed that could be attained with the conventional rakes was 120 kmph.But after introduction of LHB rakes the highest speed could attained is 160 kmph but is restrictred to 135 kmph due to poor conditions of tracks. After their introduction, the LHB coaches enhanced the speed of the Rajdhani to more than 120 kmph and even touching 135+ kmph at times. The highest attained speed is 140 kmph between New Delhi and Mumbai Central. Recently Vasai-Vadodara-Godhra Section top speed is enhanced from 120kmph to 130kmph. Hence, Mumbai Rajdhani's time reduced from 16 hours to 15 hr 35 minutes while it continues to be the fastest train in India (including halts) with average speed of 91 km/ph.It is the first train (along with 12953/54 August Kranti Rajdhani Express as both have Rake Sharing) to be experimented with HOG (Head On Generation) which powers the train directly from locomotive instead of an EOG or generator van.
Loco Link
When introduced in 1972, the Mumbai Rajdhani was hauled by a single WDM-2 diesel locomotive and WAP alternating current locos for electric traction. For some years, a double-headed engine was also used to maintain speed. Diesel engines were used between Mumbai and Vadodara, which necessitated the change of locos. The New Delhi–Mumbai main line was fully electrified in 1987, and thus dual traction AC/DC WCAM-1 locos were used in 1987 and WCAM 2/2P in 1995, which made the hauling of train on electrical traction possible up to Mumbai Central. It used to depart with WCAM 2P locomotive from Mumbai central in order to use Mumbai's DC traction wires up to Vile Parle. From 8 February 2012, Mumbai Rajdhani is hauled by Ghaziabad (GZB) based WAP 7 or Vadodara (BRC) based WAP 7from end to end. The Western railway completed DC Electric Conversion to AC on 5 February 2012. The work was done on Vile Parle - Churchgate section.
Schedule
12951 Rajdhani Express leaves Mumbai Central every day at 17:00 hrs IST and reaches the New Delhi at 08:35 hrs IST on the next day. On return, the 12952 Rajdhani Express leaves New Delhi every day at 16:25 hrs IST from platform number 3 (checked in Mar 2017) and reaches the Mumbai Central at 08:15 hrs IST on the next day.
Incidents
On 18 April 2011, three coaches of the train caught fire, including the pantry car. There were no casualties among the 900 passengers.