Ever since I have started travelling, I have been taking lots of train journey. While I travelled in New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi train for Delhi-Gwalior journey, I had the experience of Gatimaan Express(12049) for the return journey. I again boarded the Gatimaan express when I returned from Jhansi from the Orchha trip.
Gatimaan Express is India’s second fastest train after Vande Bharat Express. It runs between Delhi Nizamuddin station(NZM) and Jhansi station(JHS), Uttar Pradesh. It attains the top speed of 160 km/h. The train was inaugurated in 2016 with the direct train service between Delhi and Agra Cantt. It was later extended to Gwalior and Jhansi in 2018.
Table of Contents
Time Table
The train departs all days except Friday from Jhansi railway station at 3:05 PM and reaches Delhi Nizamuddin station at 7:30 PM, thereby takes 4 hours 25 minutes to cover the total distance of 403 kilometres. It stops at Agra Cantt and Gwalior Junction in between.
The same train leaves Delhi Nizammudin station at 8:10 AM and reaches Jhansi railway station at 12:35 PM.
Seats
The train has 8 AC Chair Car and 2 AC Executive Class coaches. Apart from the difference in the number of chair car coaches from Shatabdi trains (Shatabdi has 14 AC Chair Car coaches), I didn’t see any difference in the quality of seats. Even the colour of the seats and interior of the train is the same as of Shatabdi. If one is taken inside Gatimaan express without being informed name of the train, and if asked whether it is Shatabdi or Gatimaan, he/she may not be able to answer.
ALSO READ: New Delhi – Bhopal Shatabdi Review
Amenities
A 500 ml water bottle is given as soon as the train starts. After a few minutes, tea/coffee is provided along with the meal. As opposed to Shatabdi trains in which fixed menu meal is provided, here you have 3 options to choose from in both veg and non-veg meal. I had opted for a veg meal which had Veg Paneer Kathi rolls, potato wedges, two biscuits, a namkeen(Kurkure Khatta Meetha mix) packet, a beverage(mango juice) and a sweet(coconut barfi) on my journey from Gwalior. The other options in Veg. were Chole Kulcha and Shammi Kabab. I had Chole Kulcha next time on my journey from Jhansi. The food quality was good and slightly better than the one I got in New Delhi – Bhopal Shatabdi. Meal box also had a small packet of sanitizer in it.
Food choice is optional in Gatimaan Express. If one opts out meal while booking the ticket then catering charges (Rs 175) would not be added in total ticket fare.
Difference between Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi and Gatimaan Express
There is not much difference in both the trains. Here I have listed out the difference taking the Jhansi-Delhi stretch only in comparison.
My Verdict
When launched, Gatimaan was touted as the first in the line of semi-high speed premium trains in India. While the ticket costs 35% more than Shatabdi train, the journey takes just 25 minutes less if you travel all the way from Jhansi to Delhi with no visible improvement in amenities. Plus, Gatimaan Express reaches Delhi at Nizammudin railway station which is outside of the city centre and nullifies any saving in time. Instead, it will be more time-consuming as it will cause you to spend more time in the persistent Delhi traffic. And I have not even counted the extra money that will be shelled out to reach your home or hotel.
The only saving grace for the Gatimaan Express is its schedule. For Delhi-Jhansi journey, it departs slightly later in the morning and for the return journey, it arrives Delhi in the evening which is neither too late nor too early for both the trips. Whereas Shatabdi Express leaves Delhi quite early in the morning and arrives Delhi just half an hour before midnight for the return journey which can get very hectic and undesirable for many.
Taking everything into account, such a high cost is not justified for Gatimaan Express. It is basically a Shatabdi train being rebranded after applying cosmetic changes to run on a smaller distance route, thereby making it nothing but an over-priced Shatabdi.
Have you travelled in Gatimaan Express? What are your views? Let me know in the comments below!
Horrible train ride the worst In india the train was late and the journey to Delhi from Agra should take 1 hours exept we were sitting in a train station at some local town for 1 hour and this train ended up turning into a slow train. We were 5;30 HOURS LATE IN TOTAL! I could have flown to Delhi and back in less time than this. Meals were also trash and the shuttle C1 is dirty and the bathrooms are so horrible.
Very very very bad train, especially couch C2. Even after paying high price ticket couches are not up to the mark. Seats handle are broken. Better to go Agra by Vandebharat, but the issue is Vandebharat don’t run on saturday which as per my opinion needs to be change as Saturday is in weekend and lots of people travel on weekends to agra for taj visit
This is amazing for a train ride – would love to travel like this. I particularly like the seat covers telling people not to ride elephants; yes, they should rather ride on this train 😀
Haha Very well put!!
Thanks for all this info on the trains. You’ve really shown the pros and cons here. I haven’t been to India as yet, but when I do visit I’ll know what to look out for when booking the Gatimaan Express.
Done very nicely, these all are very important for Indian travellers. I want to read more such .
Thanks for the detailed info, I love traveling by train but haven’t been to India yet!
This is a very detailed and helpful post. I was just trying to figure out trains in Switzerland. Train schedules and various kinds of tickets can be very complicated!