All Amrit Bharat Express Trains

The Amrit Bharat Express is the newest category on this site and the most interesting engineering answer to an old problem. It is a non-air-conditioned long-distance train, sleeper and general class, aimed squarely at travellers who cannot pay premium fares, and it is built to run fast anyway.

The first two services were flagged off on 30 December 2023, running from Darbhanga to Anand Vihar and from Malda Town to Bengaluru. The fleet has expanded quickly since, and every service in the reservation system is listed below.

On speed: the figures in the table are average speeds across the whole journey, halts included, worked out from the published schedule. Designed for 130 km/h, with a locomotive at each end to improve acceleration after halts.

The Amrit Bharat runs in push-pull configuration: one locomotive at the front pulling and a second at the rear pushing, both driven from the leading cab. The purpose is acceleration. A heavy train leaving a halt takes a long time to reach line speed on one locomotive, and on a route with many stops that lost time dominates the schedule.

With power at both ends the train picks up speed far more quickly, which lets a non-air-conditioned train with a full stopping pattern keep superfast timings. It also removes the need to run the locomotive round at terminals, cutting turnaround time.

The rakes are LHB stock in a distinctive orange and grey livery, and they were specified deliberately above the standard for non-air-conditioned travel: cushioned seats and berths, folding snack tables, mobile charging points, better lighting, bio-toilets, water purifiers and CCTV. The gangways are sealed, which keeps dust and noise down.

Accommodation is sleeper class and general unreserved seating. There is no air-conditioned accommodation on these services, which is the point: the fare stays within reach of the travellers the category was designed for.

Amrit Bharat routes connect the eastern and northern states with the industrial and commercial centres of the west and south, which are the corridors carrying the heaviest migrant traffic in the country. These are long journeys, frequently over 2,000 km, made by people for whom an air-conditioned fare is out of the question. The category is an attempt to make that journey faster and considerably more comfortable without changing what it costs.

Vacant seats?

See which berths fall empty on these trains once the reservation chart is prepared.

Full schedule

Station-by-station timings, halts and running days for any train in this list.