Sampark Kranti Express

Overview

The words Sampark and Kranti are borrowed from Sanskrit. Sampark(Devanagari:-सम्पर्क) means Contact and Kranti(Devanagari:-क्रान्ति ) means Revolution. The combined name denotes the steps taken by Indian Railways to provide high speed train connections from cities around India with the National Capital through the provision of non-air conditioned express trains with few stops and operating at high speeds. A similar capability had been introduced earlier on the Rajdhani series of super-fast trains. However, these trains were completely air-conditioned and hence quite expensive.

The Rajdhani and Shatabdi series are the fastest trains in India in terms of average journey speeds. The Sampark Kranti trains operate at slower average speeds than the Rajdhani and Shatabdi series yet still provide high speed options at normal prices due to their few stops and relatively faster speeds compared with other non-Rajdhani and non-Shatabdi express trains although initially they ran non stop once they left their respective states.

The railway minister at the time Nitish Kumar in the interim Railway Budget of 2004-05 announced the launch of Sampark Kranti Express. The trains in the Sampark Kranti series connect the Indian states to the national capital city of New Delhi. Sampark Kranti trains charge the same fare as regular/superfast trains on the Indian Railways rail network and do not provide any special facilities not available in regular Express trains. The initial decision of non-stop run of this Express series of trains was cut short and was given way to commercial stopping outside the states. The trains aim at reducing travel time without compromising on passenger comfort.

Initially eighteen trains were launched and the count was later increased. The Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin to Yesvantpur was the first train which was launched on 8 February 2004.