 | ||
The West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express is one of the Sampark Kranti Expresses, a train on India's broad gauge network, connecting Sealdah (Kolkata) (code: SDAH) and Old Delhi Railway Station (code: DLI), a distance of approximately 1452.6 km. The train runs on Indian Railways broad gauge track network and was introduced in 2005 to provide quicker connectivity from India's capital New Delhi to major locations in West Bengal. The train was first announced during the budget session on 2004-05 of Indian Railways by then the Minister of Railways, Nitish Kumar.
Contents
Schedule & Route
The West Bengal Sampark Kranti runs twice a week. It had its inaugural run on 11 March 2005. The train departs from Kolkata Sealdah (Code Name: SDAH) on every Tuesday at 13:10 and reaches Old Delhi Junction (Code Name: DLI) at 11:55 on Wednesday in the name of West Bengal Sampark Karnti Express (Train Code: 12329/12330) averaging a speed of 63 km/hr. It returns from Old Delhi at 19:10 on Wednesday and reaches Kolkata on Thursday at 17:25. It also runs on Friday with same schedule but its last destination extends till Amritsar Junction (Code Name: ASR) in the name of Sealdah-Amritsar Jalianwallah Bagh Express (Code Name: 12379/12380) while returns from Amritsar at 10:55 on Sunday following the same departing time of 19:10 from Old Delhi on that very day. In its journey, it passes through Indian States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Some towns & cities where West Bengal Sampark Kranti halts en route are Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Dhanbad & Kanpur. It also stops at Mughal Sarai for technical checking which means one cannot book tickets to and from that station. While the extended train halts at Ambala Cantt, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Beas and Amritsar apart from above mentioned halts.
Rake & Locomotive
The West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express usually has around 21 carriages in standard Indian Railways livery and is one of largest train in terms of Passenger carrying capacity. It is usually hauled by an Indian locomotive class WAP-4 electric locomotive, which is often sourced from multiple loco sheds but mostly by Howrah. The train's rake is split into at least three classes of reserved travel: AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier and non air-conditioned reserved sleeper. It also has a pantry car & catering is available. The Train Composition includes 1 AC 2 Tier (code: AB), 2 AC 3 Tier (code: B), 11 Sleeper Class (code: SL), 3 unreserved General class (code: GN), 1 pantry car (code: PC)and a Sitting cum Luggage Car (code: SLR).
Other details
The passenger fare between SDAH and DLI varies from INR (Indian rupee) 1935 (A/2A) to INR 283 (General). This train takes a total transit time of 22 hours 45 minutes even in one of the busiest route of Indian Railway's Main Line (Delhi–Kanpur–Allahabad–Patna–Gaya–Howrah)because of the fact that the Sampark Kranti Express gets the benefit of electrified path, double line track and almost no stops outside West Bengal on its entire route. West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express is designated as a superfast train, which denotes that it gets priority over local (commuter) trains, standard express and passenger trains and most freight trains.