What is the Difference between Mail/Express, Superfast trains and Premium Trains ?

Indian Railways has one of the biggest rail network in the world .

India’s Ministry of Railways handles more than 12000 passenger trains to carry over 23 million passengers daily.

These trains are divided into two categories:

Short distance trains and Long distance trains .

Trains for short distances are EMU trains, DMU trains , Shuttles , Passenger trains and Fast passenger trains whereas trains for long distances are mail/exp. trains, super fast trains, premium trains like Rajdhani exp. , Duronto exp., Shatabdi exp. , Double Decker exp., Vande Bharat exp., Humsafar exp., and few more.

There are few special services as well like Yuva exp, Antyodhya exp., Garib-Rath exp., and few more .

Below are the explanation of different types of Trains

1. Mail/express trains:

 - MAIL / EXPRESS / PASSENGER

As per passengers point of view there is no such difference between mail trains and express trains but for the Railways one or two additional mail coaches are attached to transport the mail .Mail trains connects two big cities are and they are long distance travelling trains .

Express trains are of two types : First is intercity exp. Such trains connect two cities and finish their up/down service on same day. Second is same as mail trains, exp. trains are also long distance travelling trains.

There average speed varies between 32–55 km/h. There might be few exceptional exp. Trains with average speed more than 55 Km/hr.

These trains have rake composition of general Coaches , Sleeper coaches and AC coaches .

Note: Intercity trains generally runs with general coaches and AC Chair-Car Coaches . They do not run with Sleeper Coaches as they are not overnight trains

2. Super-Fast Trains :

 - SUPER FAST TRAIN

Such trains are slightly faster than mail/exp. trains with less number of stops and their average speed varies between 40 Km/hr to 65 Km/hr. There might be few exception super-fast trains with average speed more than 65 Km/hr.

Super-fast trains are given priority over goods trains , all short distance trains and mail exp. trains .

They also have rake composition general coaches , sleeper coaches and AC coaches 

3. Premium Trains :

     a)Rajdhani exp

Rajdhani means capital and as per the name these trains connect other state capitals or major cities of India to the Capital city of India which is New Delhi .

This is a Premium Train and gets highest priority in Indian Railways.

There average speed varies between 70 Km/hr to 98 Km/hr .

These trains runs with AC coaches only .

 - RAJADHANI EXPRESS

 -

Shatabdi exp./ Vande Bharat exp./ Gaatiman exp. They are the fastest running trains of Indian Railways .

 - VANDE BHARAT EXPRESS

 - SHATABDI EXPRESS

They connect two cities and returns back to their source station on the same day .

They have rake composition of AC chair car and Executive class coaches .

The average speed is generally over 80 Km/hr

There might be two or three Shatabdi trains with the average speed below 80 Km/hr.

Gaatiman exp. is India’s fastest running train with operational speed of 160 Km/hr. -  GAATIMAN EXPRESS

These trains also gets highest priority on their respective routes.

Note: India has more than half dozen of such trains which are capable of running up to 200 Km/hr .

4. Special Services : Indian Railways runs few special services as well .

         a) Duronto exp:

 - DURONTO EXPRESS

These trains are well known for their speed and comfort and they comes under type : Duronto

Such trains do not have two many commercial halts and are considered as one of the fastest trains of Indian Railways .

            b) Yuva exp:

        - YUVA EXPRESS

This train is also a better option over exp. And Super-fast trains on their respective routes.

There are few other services as well like Suvidha Special , Tatkal Special , Festival special etc. such trains do not have so many halts but runs with nominal priority over short distance trains only .

Hope now you are well aware of the difference .

If you have any question ask in the comment section below .

Thank You
Kalyan Bharadwaj :-)