Editing Rajdhani Express (section)

== History ==
In 1960, the [[Ministry of Railways (India)|Railway Board of India]] commissioned a study to increase the speed of its trains, which was restricted to {{cvt|96|km/h}} on the existent [[broad gauge]] lines.<ref name="HT">{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/railways-golden-girl-50-years-of-the-rajdhani/story-YycT0iir0GObqjuCUqrhKL.html|title=Railways golden girl: 50 years of the Rajdhani story|newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]]|date=9 March 2019|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> A target of {{cvt|160|km/h}} with an intermediate stage of {{cvt|120|km/h}} was set for passenger trains. [[Research Design and Standards Organisation]] (RDSO) started work on the same in 1962 with field trials commencing in 1967.<ref name="HT"/> The coaches were manufactured by the [[Integral Coach Factory]] at [[Madras]] and hauled by [[diesel locomotive]]s.<ref name="HT"/>

[[File:Guard giving green signal to start inaugural Rajdhani from Howrah to New Delhi.jpg|left|thumb|Guard S. O. Levi giving the green signal to start the journey of Rajdhani express on 3 March 1969 from Howrah<ref>{{cite web|title=The Giant Leap of |url=https://eastrailindia.tripod.com/the_giant_leap.html|access-date=30 December 2023|publisher=Eastrailindia}}</ref>]]

On 19 February 1969, the [[Government of India]] introduced a new express train capable of reaching speeds of up to {{cvt|120|km/h}} as announced in the [[Railway budget of India|railway budget]].<ref>{{cite report|url=https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/finance_budget/Previous%20Budget%20Speeches/1969-70.pdf|title=Railway Budget of 1969–70|publisher=[[Indian Railways]]|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> On 1 March 1969, the first Rajdhani Express with nine [[railway coach|coaches]] was flagged off from [[New Delhi railway station|New Delhi]] to [[Howrah railway station|Howrah]] with the return journey commencing on 3 March.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkata-loses-last-connect-to-first-rajdhani/articleshow/52386071.cms|title=Kolkata loses last connect to first Rajdhani|date=22 May 2016|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> The train completed the {{cvt|1450|km}} trip in 17 hours 20 minutes and was the only such train in operation till 1972, when the second [[Mumbai Rajdhani Express|Rajdhani]] was introduced from [[Mumbai Central|Mumbai]].<ref name="HT"/> 

''Rajdhani'', derived from the [[Sanskrit]] means "capital" and later, with subsequent up-gradation of the tracks, new Rajdhani expresses were introduced connecting major cities with the capital [[New Delhi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/how-did-rajdhani-shatabdi-duronto-express-get-their-names-know-here-123052600563_1.html|title=How did Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto Express get their names? Know here|date=26 May 2023|newspaper=Business Standard|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref>