Longest non-stop run (distance):

This refers to longest possible non-stop runs; of course a train may have to stop at a a signal, there may be track work, loco or rake failures, etc. The Trivandrum Rajdhani does not have a technical halt at Ratlam and, therefore, travels non-stop between Vadodara and Kota (528km), covering the stretch in about about 6.5 hours, the longest continuous run on IR today. (Vadodara-Kota: 6h 20m, Kota-Vadodara: 6h 55m). The August Kranti Rajdhani until recently had no halts here either, but now halts at Ratlam. (However, the Trivandrum Rajdhani is marginally slower than the August Kranti Rajdhani in this stretch - 7 minutes slower from Vadodara to Kota and 19 minutes slower in the other direction.) The Mumbai Rajdhani does the 469km stretch between New Delhi and Kota non-stop. The Tamilnadu Exp. and the Coromandel Exp. (Up direction), as well as some other express trains between Guwahati/Howrah/Patna and Bangalore/Ernakulam/Trivandrum share the longest non-stop run for non-Rajdhani trains: 431km between Chennai Central and Vijayawada. The Tamilnadu Exp. also has an impressive 270km average distance between passenger halts and a commercial speed above 65km/h. In the late 1970s it had a commercial speed of 73km/h and an average distance of 360km between passenger halts. It also used to have a 453km non-stop run between Balharshah and Vijayawada. The Purushottam Exp., Jharkhand S.J. Exp., Swatantrata Sainani Exp., Gorakhdham Exp. and Lichhavi Exp. (Up) have a non-stop run of 435km between New Delhi and Kanpur. This non-stop run was also a feature of the North East, Gomti, Vikramshila Expresses and the and Delhi-Varanasi Superfast. The Coromandel Exp. had a 462km non-stop run between Howrah and Bhubaneshwar via Narajmarthipur. The Gitanjali used to have (1970s) a 453km non-stop run betweeen Raurkela and Durg. A possible 445km non-stop run between CSTM (Bombay VT) and Bhusaval for this same train was broken by a technical halt at Igatpuri to change locos; CR had no AC-DC locos, and WR's AC-DC locos could not be used on the Bhore Ghats. The Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala-Karnataka Expresses had non-stop runs of 414km between New Delhi and Jhansi. Before Independence the longest non-stop run was by the Punjab Mail: Khandwa to Itarsi. The table below shows the current long (over 300km) non-stop runs on IR. (Compiled by Vijay Balasubramanian.)
Distance (km) Section Trains
528 km Vadodara - Kota Trivandrum Rajdhani
468 km New Delhi - Kota Mumbai Rajdhani
462 km H. Nizamuddin - Kota Trivandrum Rajdhani
453 km Balharshah - Vijayawada Chennai Rajdhani
435 km New Delhi - Kanpur Central
Kolkata/Sealdah/Bhubhaneswar/Patna/Guwahati/Hatia Rajdhanis, Purshottam Exp., Jharkhand S.J. Exps., Swantrata Senani / Gorakhdham Exps., Lichchavi Exp, Sampoorna Kranti Exp.
431 km Chennai Central. - Vijayawada
Chennai Rajdhani, Tamilnadu Exp., Coromandel Exp. (2841), Guwahati/Howrah/ Patna - Bangalore/Ernakulam/Trivandrum Exps. (6310, 6324, 5628, 5624, 5626)
408 km H. Nizamuddin - Jhansi
Chennai/Bangalore/Bilaspur Rajdhanis
402 km Mughalsarai - Dhanbad Sealdah Rajdhani
393 km Bhusaval - Nagpur Howrah - Hapa Superfast Exp.
392 km Mumbai Central. - Vadodara Mumbai Rajdhani
361 km Chennai Central. - Bangalore City Mysore Shatabdi
346 km Kanpur Central - Mughalsarai
Sampoorna Kranti Exp., Sealdah/Bhubhaneswar/Guwahati/Hatia Rajdhanis
345 km Vasai Rd. - Vadodara Trivandrum Rajdhani
335 km Bhusaval - Surat Howrah Hapa Superfast Exp.
334 km Chennai Central. - Salem Cheran Exp. (2673)
317 km New Delhi - Gwalior Tamilnadu Exp.
313 km New Delhi - Ambala Cantt Jammu Rajdhani
311 km Gwalior - H. Nizamuddin Tamilnadu Exp.
308 km Igatpuri - Bhusaval
Jnanesvari / Samarasata Superdeluxe Exps., Pushpak Exp., L.T.T. - Patna Superfast Exp., Godaan Exp., L.T.T. - Bhubaneshwar Exp.
305 km Ajmer - Abu Road Ahmadabad Rajdhani
302 km Bhusaval - Itarsi
L.T.T. - Varanasi Superfast Exp., L.T.T. - Patna Superfast Exp., Godaan Exp., Valsad-Patna Exp.