New Delhi–Kathgodam Shatabdi Express
Indian train
The 12040 / 12039 New Delhi–Kathgodam Shatabdi Express is an Indian train of the Shatabdi Express category belonging to Northern Railway zone that runs between New Delhi and Kathgodam, the nearest rail-head to many tourist destinations in Uttarakhand like Nainital, Ranikhet etc.
It currently operates as train number 12040 from New Delhi to Kathgodam and as train number 12039 in the reverse direction, serving the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Inception of the service
As the need of a fast, air conditioned train to Haldwani, Lalkuan and Kathgodam was raised by several political leaders and citizens, Northern Railways decided to run an "AC Superfast" special service on temporary basis in late 2011. The train used to run on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from both ends and on a time-table similar to today's Shatabdi Express. On receiving a satisfactory response, the 12039/40 Shatabdi Express was introduced on the same slot on other four days. The first run was made on 17 March 2012. Later by May 2012, the frequency of the Shatabdi Express was increased to six days a week and the AC Special was done away with.
Service
The Kathgodam-bound train covers the distance of 282 kilometres in 05 hours 35 mins (49 km/h) while in the return direction it takes in 05 hours 35 mins (50 km/h). The service was initially slower but speeded up by 5 minutes and 20 minutes respectively in the time-table revision of 2014 but again slowed down by 10 minutes and 20 minutes respectively in the time-table revision of 2022.
The train is the slowest member of the Shatabdi category of trains owing to the steep gradients in the Lalkuan-Kathgodam section, and single-line operation after Rampur Junction.
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This entry incorporates text from “New Delhi–Kathgodam Shatabdi Express” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.