Today I'm going to be riding India's FASTEST train, the Gatimaan Express!
From India's bustling capital, New Delhi, travelling at up to 160km/h, we'll cover the
route to Agra in record time.
I'll be travelling in Executive Class, the highest level of service on Indian Railways.
And this even includes an at-seat meal, so join me for an incredible trip on India's
fastest train.
Hello and welcome back to another video, today I'm here at Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi,
and I'm going to be catching India's fastest train, the Gatimaan Express down to Agra.
So, let's go!
Welcome to Hazrat Nizamuddin, one of Delhi's five major stations.
Let's head straight into the building - trying to dodge the traffic on the way, of course.
Hazrat Nizamuddin is intended to relieve congestion at the crowded New Delhi station to its north.
It serves as a terminus for many long-distance trains around the country, including some
of the most prestigious services.
Like many stations in India, an airport-style security check is required to access the platforms.
But I do have to question how effective this is, given you can just walk around it, if
you are in a rush like me.
This station sees a lot of traffic, including passing freight trains.
But the main attraction here is the passenger service, the station serving around 350,000
passengers every day - over 120 million per year!
As a result, the station is well catered to, with numerous food and drink stalls being
found on every platform.
Anyway, my train today will be departing from platform 4, which can be accessed via the
bridge.
Escalators are also available, should you need them.
So after battling through the crowds, I've arrived at my train for today's ride down
to Agra.
This is the Gatimaan Express, running from Delhi to Jhansi via Agra and Gwalior.
Our train today is hauled by this incredible WAP-5 electric locomotive, boasting 5900 horsepower,
and capable of running at up to 160km/h (100mph) in service.
Despite its rather dated appearance, this loco was built at the end of 2021, making
it barely a year old at the time of recording.
The train has two classes on offer.
A couple of carriages in the centre of the consist feature Executive Chair class, where
I'll be travelling today, while the remaining eight have the rather simply named Chair class,
which entails a denser seating layout.
We'll take a look at that later, but for now, let's find my seat.
I'll be travelling in Coach E2.
Seating in Executive Class is in a 2+2 layout, mostly in airline style, with a pair of tables
in the centre.
My seat will be number 9, a rear facing seat at the window.
Today's route sees us heading south from Delhi, running at high-speed for nearly all of the
journey.
At Mathura Junction, we will branch off to head southeast over to Agra.
The journey is scheduled to take one hour and forty minutes to cover 187 kilometres,
or about 116 miles.
We end up departing Hazrat Nizamuddin a couple minutes behind schedule, at 08:12.
Now, we'll have a look at the interior once we've got up to our maximum speed, but first,
let's take a look at the views.
Our journey begins winding through Delhi's seemingly endless suburbs.
We can also catch a glimpse of an Indian commuter train, used by many of the capital's 30 million
inhabitants to travel around the city.
Not long after departure, the complimentary breakfast service begins.
This starts with a litre of water for every passenger.
Next, a breakfast tray is brought to your seat.
This consists of two slices of bread, a carton of fruit juice, with some sort of chocolate
cake, a pack of two biscuits, as well as jam and butter.
A tea set is also included, though you have to wait nearly an hour to get a cup of hot
water.
Though perhaps the most annoying thing about breakfast was how the tray doesn't actually
fit on the table.
The train passes through some of Delhi's poorest neighbourhoods, on its way out of the city.
The contrast in wealth here in India is starkly apparent, and it's sad to see people living
in such conditions.
We're now rapidly building speed, as we pass through Tuglakabad.
This may look like your average local station, but for the Gatimaan Express, it means we're
now cleared for our maximum speed of 160km/h (100mph)!
Other trains on the route are also capable of higher speeds too, but are mostly limited
to 130km/h (80mph).
The sensation of speed here on the Gatimaan Express is truly incredible, you can really
feel how fast the train is going!
This train offers a non-stop service from Delhi to Agra, where you can find one of the
Seven Wonders of the World, the spectacular Taj Mahal.
Thanks to the speed of the service with the convenient departure times, it's no wonder
that the train is so popular with foreign tourists!
As we pass under one of India's fascinating dedicated freight railways, a bowl of hot
milk is delivered to the seat along with some cornflakes.
This was shortly followed by a warm tray, containing crinkle-cut chips and peas, and
some unknown brown thing.
Non-veg options are also available.
And finally, I received a cup of hot water to make some tea.
And all this while running at our maximum speed of 160km/h (100mph), it's amazing to
watch the Indian landscape pass by at such speed, even despite the haze.
Not only is the train fast, but it feels fast too, and has some fantastic suspension resulting
in a very smooth ride.
Anyway, let's take a look around the interior, starting with the seat.
As I mentioned before, seating is in a 2+2 layout, which would normally be a bit too
cramped for what is effectively a First Class product.
However, thanks to Indian Railways using a wider bodyshell than your average train, there's
still plenty of room.
The seat itself is a luxurious dark red colour with yellow highlights, which I think looks
great!
There's plenty of padding here too, which made for a very comfortable trip.
Beside the seat you can find a recline lever, which made the seat even better.
All seats have these stubby folding armrests, which didn't quite go down as far as you would
expect.
As for legroom, the seats here in Executive Class are very generous, with plenty of room
to stretch out.
There's also a footrest, which can be adjusted...but the one at my seat was broken.
Above this, you can find a small storage net, with a drinks holder found beside it.
Finally, there's a seatback table.
Whilst a bit wonky, this was fairly sturdy - at least enough to hold my meal tray.
As for luggage storage, you can find plenty of room in the sizable overhead luggage racks.
Smaller items can be placed beneath your seat.
Our journey is progressing smoothly, despite a few periods of slow running, most likely
due to congestion on the network.
Today's route runs past many large freight yards, and a lot of long freight trains.
Last year, Indian Railways transported some 1.4 billion tonnes of freight, the third highest
amount in the world.
Oh, and for an equally impressive statistic on the passenger side of things, the Indian
Railways network has over 7000 stations!
Now let's have a look around the rest of the train.
We'll take a look at the toilets soon, but first here's the Chair Class.
With a 2+3 seating layout, it's a lot less spacious than Executive Chair, but looks perfectly
acceptable for this trip.
If on a budget, this is a good option, at just half the price of Executive Chair.
But if you can afford it, then it's definitely worth the upgrade!
Another benefit of Executive Chair is a complimentary newspaper in English.
Not of much interest to me personally, but a nice touch regardless.
Anyway, let's take a look at the toilets.
Each carriage has three toilets, with at least one toilet per carriage being western-style.
The rest are Indian-style squat toilets, and to be honest they're fairly clean.
Soap was available, but the water wasn't working.
We're not far away from Agra now, so let's have a look at the rest of the amenities here
in Executive Chair Class.
All windows have effective sunblinds, which can be locked at halfway and all the way down.
Above your seat, you can find sliding coathooks.
There are also individual reading lights, which were very bright.
Finally, a singular plug socket can be found between windows, compatible with Indian, American,
and European style plugs.
Oh, and one more thing; these windows have a strong tint applied to them, which I've
managed to edit out.
An unedited clip looks like this, which is sure to ruin any photos and videos you might
want to take.
Just a heads up.
So now on to how much this journey costs.
For a one-way ticket here in Executive Chair Class, I paid 1520 Indian rupees.
For Indian Railways, this sort of price is very high, but when you consider the speed
and comfort of the service, as well as the included catering, I think it is overall good
value.
As we approach Agra, our journey begins to slow down.
This station is Raja Ki Mandi, the last we will pass before Agra, indicating we're now
just a few minutes away from our destination.
Agra Cantonment station was opened in 1904, and has six platforms.
It's a major junction on the network, with routes from Delhi to both Mumbai and Chennai
passing through.
[In a short while, we will be reaching Agra Cantt.
This city is famous for magnificent Taj Mahal.]
We arrive at Agra Cantt with a delay of about 12 minutes.
Overall, I enjoyed my journey on the Gatimaan Express.
Travelling at high-speed through India was a unique experience, and doing it in comfort
with a meal service made it even better.
As always, let me know what you thought in the comments - would you ride India's fastest
train?
If you enjoyed this video on India's fastest train, then you'll love my video on Turkey's
high-speed trains too, which you can watch by clicking up here.