Indian Railways Train Routes

Look up the various Trains routes listed in an alphabetical order, search for the popular stations and junctions of Indian Railways, this includes the big metro cities and also smaller towns, places of pilgrimage like Varanasi, Tirupati etc, and also important trade centres like Vadodara, Ahmedabad etc.

The fourth largest railway network in the world - Indian Railways operates more than 20,000 passenger trains daily, on both suburban and long-distance routes, from 7,349 stations across India. The Indian Railways carried 8.26 billion passengers by the close of March 2018. Around 20 million passengers travel every day using the network of the Indian Railways. And to cater to such a high demand the railways has to run several trains between stations.

The Indian Railways network is divided into 16 zones. The main railway zones of the Indian Railways are Western, Eastern, Southern, Northern and Central. The 16 zones are categorised into subdivisions, each having its zonal headquarter. The first zone to be established post the independence was the Southern zone. Five more zones were added to the network in 2005 namely: North Central, East Coast, South East Central, South Western and West Central.

The vast network of the Indian railways covers the length and breadth of the country. And to keep a track of the network of trains, a database for trains between two stations is maintained by the railways. It provides the users and passengers with the necessary information on the train status between stations and train routes along with train route map across India.

The availability of information has become ever so easy in the digital age. With an increase in the speed of internet and affordable smart devices, getting information at your fingertips is not a task anymore. You can now search for the train between station whenever you want, anywhere, anytime. And the entire process to get the details on the train between stations is absolutely hassle-free. Simply enter the names of two stations and get the list of information like departure time, arrival time, running days and more.

What to Know About Train Between Stations

An enquiry at the Indian Railways between two stations provides a list of all available trains for a specific route. You can also search about trains between stations through a mobile app, and get an overview of the trains running on a particular route. Users can choose filters on IRCTC according to their preferences. You can only see the list of trains with the reservation on IRCTC Online. There is no list for the non-reserved trains. You can visit eRail.in which has the information on every train being run by the Indian Railways be it reserved, non-reserved and local trains.

Train Status

You can get the live train status for the Indian railways trains with the exact location and real-time delay status. The status might also show the estimated arrival time of the train. You need to keep two things in mind: Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) and Last Reported Location. ETA means the station on which the current live train running status is based on while the Last Reported Station informs whether the train has arrived or departed or crossed the specific station.

ETA shows the time within which the train is expected to arrive at the station. This helps the user or passenger to know when the train is going to arrive at the station and when they should reach the station to board the train. The Last Reported Station could either be a stop or an intermediate station which is usually a station where the train doesn’t stop but passes.

It is estimated that most of the live train status updates for a specific station are notified to the user within 10 minutes of the train arriving or departing the station. It is to be noted that a train delay update for a station may be less than the actual notified time from the last reported station. You need to check the status of the trains between stations every 2-5 minutes as it is updated very frequently. The live status gets more accurate as it nears the ETA.

Follow the steps below to check the train schedule live:

# Type in the train name or number in the search box.
# Select Find Train.
# You will now be able to check your train’s timetable live with details like route information, timings, seat availability, and schedule.

Popular routes
Some of the popular rail routes in the Indian Railway network are New Delhi To Mumbai, New Delhi to Ranchi, New Delhi to Patna, Howrah to Puri, New Delhi to Howrah, Patna to New Delhi.

New Delhi to Mumbai:

This is one of the busiest train routes in the country. The New Delhi to Mumbai train journey covers a distance of 1,357 km and 1,542 km, depending on the train route - direct or with stoppages stretching to 16 to 31 hours. There are 35 different trains that run between New Delhi and Mumbai. The earliest is Haridwar-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak AC Express leaving from Hazrat Nizamuddin station in New Delhi while the last train from New Delhi to Mumbai is Hazrat Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram Central Superfast Express leaving from Hazrat Nizamuddin station as well. A few trains that run from New Delhi to Mumbai are Garib Rath, Rajdhani, Superfast, Duronto, Goa Sampark Kranti Express, Mumbai Rajdhani, and Swaraj Express among others.

Howrah to Puri:

The shortest distance required to cover Howrah and Puri is 494 km and takes somewhere around 7 to 10 hours to complete the route. Currently, there are around 13 trains operating on the route. The earliest train from Howrah to Puri is Dhauli Express departing from Howrah station while the last train is the Kamakhya-Puri Express which also departs from the Howrah station. Some of the popular trains running from Howrah to Puri are Sealdah-Puri Duronto Express, Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Puri Garib Rath Express and more.

Patna to New Delhi:

There are some 20 trains that run from Patna to Delhi. The train which covers the distance of 998 km between the two cities in the shortest time is Rjpb Rajdhani in 12 hours. The slowest train to reach New Delhi from Patna is the Farakka Express which takes around a day to cover 1,060 km making stops in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The earliest train for the route is the Mahananda EXP and the last is the BGP Ndls EXP. The direct trains running from Patna to Delhi with no stops are S Kranti SUP EX, Vikramshila EXP, Magadh Express, and Poorva Express to name a few.

Let’s take a look at some FAQs.

Q. Can I board the train after two stations?

A: No, you cannot board the train from after two stations and demand the right to your seat. On finding you absent from your booked journey starting station, the TTE or the train conductor will mark a no-show on his chart against your reservation. He further has the authority to release your seat to a Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) ticker holder. A TTE might decide to wait for you to show up in the next station assuming you were late in arriving at the station and had to board from a different bogey, but that would be a gesture on his part and not a protocol. But do not expect to have a reserved berth if you are joining the journey two stations hence. However, you have can make a change to your boarding station by logging on to your IRCTC account 24 hours prior to your train’s departure and making the desired changes.

Q. Can I change the boarding point after chart preparation?

A: Primarily, only those who have purchased their tickets online are eligible for a change in boarding station. You need to make this change 24 hour ahead of the scheduled departure time and at any time beyond that you cannot make the changes. The chart is prepared 4 hours before your journey time and hence it is not possible to make the change after the chart is out. To make a change to your boarding station, login to your IRCTC account, head to booked ticket history and select ‘change boarding point’ from the drop-down. Check with the Indian Railway enquiry for the exact time of chart preparation.

Q. Can I board the train at the next station?

A: You are expected to board the train only from your booked journey starting station as the TTE or train conductor marks this information on his chart. You are even expected to turn up at least 10 minutes prior to your train departure time. In case you don’t show up after the train has left the station, the TTE can treat it as a no-show and can further exercise his authority to allocate the vacant berth to an RAC seat holder on priority. But if the TTE decides to wait until the next station in case you were late and couldn’t board from your compartment, it is a goodwill gesture on his part. However, if you wish to change your boarding station, you can do so 24 hour ahead of your train’s departure by doing an IRCTC account login and changing your boarding station. It is worth a note that passengers with an e-ticket can only avail this privilege.

Q. Can we change the boarding station online?

A: Only passengers who have booked their tickets online are eligible to make a change to their boarding station. The change needs to be done at least 24 hours prior to your train departure time. In order to change the boarding station, you need to login to your IRCTC account, go to ‘booked ticket history’ and choose the train whose boarding station you wish to change. Select ‘change boarding point’. Choose your new boarding point from the drop-down in the ‘change boarding station’ section.

Q. Can I travel before boarding station?

A: No, you need to travel from your booked journey starting station only and not from any station before or after it. It is possible that the particular seat may have been allocated to a different passenger, and will be made available to you only from your designated boarding station. And even if the berth is free and a TTE finds you travelling from a station before your boarding point, he has the authority to penalise you for the same. But you can change your boarding station online by logging on to your IRCTC account and correcting the ‘change boarding point’. This can be done at least 24 hours ahead of your train’s departure time.

Q. Can we board the train after boarding station?

A: You could board the train post your booked boarding station, but do not expect to have a vacant seat waiting for you. In case of a no-show, the TTE strikes your reservation from his chart and allocates your seat to the RAC ticket holder as is the protocol. In case you get lucky that you get there before the TTE comes to check tickets and you still have the seat to yourself. In some cases, the TTE decides to wait it out until the subsequent station assuming you were delayed somewhere. You are, however, advised to make the changes in your booking by logging on to your IRCTC account and changing the boarding station. This needs to be done at least 24 hours ahead of your train’s departure time.

Q. How many times the boarding station can be changed?

A: The change of train boarding station is possible only once that too when done 24 hours prior to your train’s scheduled departure. After making the change, you can no more revert to your original boarding station or to any other. In order to change your boarding station, simply log in to your IRCTC account, go to your booked ticket history and avail the option to change boarding point. Make sure you are carrying the ticket that has the requisite changes on it, else you can be fined. At any rate one must do a PNR status check before boarding the train.

Indian Railways Train Routes