All Duronto Express Trains

The Duronto Express was introduced in 2009 around a simple proposition: take two cities that generate enough traffic on their own and run a train between them that stops for nothing in between. Duronto means restless, or quick, in Bengali, and the original services carried no commercial halts at all.

The idea has softened in practice. Every Duronto now makes technical halts for crew changes and watering, and many have added a handful of commercial stops. But the category still runs the leanest stopping patterns on the network, which is why the average speeds in the table below are among the highest for trains covering these distances.

On speed: the figures in the table are average speeds across the whole journey, halts included, worked out from the published schedule. Cleared for 130 km/h on most sections, with priority close to that of a Rajdhani.

When the Duronto was announced it was the first genuinely new premium category since the Rajdhani, and it was aimed at a gap the Rajdhani did not fill. Rajdhani services radiate from Delhi, connecting the capital to the states. Duronto services connect other pairs of cities directly, without routing traffic through the capital and without the intermediate halts that make an ordinary express slow.

Removing halts changes a journey more than raising the maximum speed does. A stop costs several minutes of braking, dwell and acceleration, and a long-distance express making thirty of them loses hours. That is the whole basis of the Duronto timing, and it is visible in the distance and speed columns below.

Duronto services began as fully air-conditioned trains with First AC, AC 2-tier and AC 3-tier, in the Rajdhani mould, and catering was included in the fare. Non-air-conditioned Duronto services with sleeper class were introduced later on some routes, so the category is no longer uniformly premium; check the classes when booking rather than assuming.

The distinctive livery and the overnight timings are designed around the same purpose: board in the evening in one city, sleep through a journey with no disturbance from halts, arrive the next morning. On routes where a Duronto and an ordinary express both run, the Duronto is usually several hours quicker for the same distance.

A Rajdhani links a state capital to Delhi and holds the highest priority on the network. A Duronto links any two cities and holds priority just below it. Where both serve the same pair, the Rajdhani is usually the more reliable timekeeper, while the Duronto often covers the distance faster because it stops less. The average speed column lets you compare the two directly.

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.