All Humsafar Express Trains

The Humsafar Express is a fully air-conditioned, entirely three-tier overnight train. There is no First AC, no 2-tier and no sleeper class: every coach on the rake is AC 3-tier. That single decision is what defines the category, because it lets Indian Railways offer air-conditioned overnight travel at close to the volume, and something near the price, of sleeper class.

Humsafar means fellow traveller. The first service ran from Gorakhpur to Anand Vihar in December 2016, and the fleet has grown to become one of the largest premium categories on the network. Every service is listed below with the distance it covers and the average speed it holds.

On speed: the figures in the table are average speeds across the whole journey, halts included, worked out from the published schedule. Cleared for up to 130 km/h, and classified as superfast on nearly all routes.

Ordinary long-distance trains carry a mix of classes, which means the railway has to guess the demand for each one months ahead and then live with the guess. The Humsafar removes the problem by carrying only one class. Every berth on the train is interchangeable, so the whole rake fills according to actual demand.

For the traveller this means an air-conditioned berth is far more likely to be available on a Humsafar than on a comparable express, where AC 3-tier might be four coaches out of twenty. On busy corridors that difference is the reason to look for one.

Humsafar rakes were built with a specific fit-out: LED destination and information screens in each coach, tea and coffee vending, CCTV, smoke and fire detection, bio-toilets, and reading lights and charging points at every berth. Curtains on the berths give a degree of privacy that ordinary AC 3-tier stock does not.

Fares are dynamic on many Humsafar services, meaning the price rises as the train fills. Booking early therefore matters more here than on a train with a fixed fare, and a Humsafar booked late can cost more than AC 2-tier on a conventional express covering the same route.

Humsafar routes are overnight and long: the distance column below shows most services covering well over a thousand kilometres. They are concentrated on corridors carrying heavy migrant and family traffic, connecting the northern and eastern states to the cities of the west and south, which is precisely where affordable air-conditioned overnight capacity was most short.

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.