New Bhuj-Barauni Amrit Bharat Express to Cover 2,532 km

Indian Railways has cleared a new tri-weekly Amrit Bharat Express that will run between Bhuj in Gujarat and Barauni in Bihar, joining the western and eastern ends of the country over a run of 2,532 km. On the way it will serve Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, four states that send a heavy stream of passengers in both directions.

Timings and running days

Train number 19427, the Bhuj to Barauni service, will leave Bhuj at 17:30 and reach Barauni at 04:05. In the other direction, train number 19428 will leave Barauni at 23:55 and arrive at Bhuj at 13:15. The Bhuj to Barauni train will run on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday; the Barauni to Bhuj train on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Where it will stop

Commercial halts have been given at a long list of junctions along the route, among them Samakhiali, Ahmedabad, Ratlam, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Gangapur City, Bharatpur, Mathura, Hathras, Bareilly, Izzatnagar, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Siwan, Chhapra, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur. For travellers from the Kutch region and from north Bihar, the service adds a direct option where earlier a change of train was needed.

A second approval the same day

The railways also approved extending train number 11901 and 11902, the Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi to Agra Cantt Express, up to Mathura station. With the extension the run of the train grows from 217 km to 270 km. Train 11901 will leave Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi at 16:00 and reach Mathura at 23:00, while train 11902 will start from Mathura at 05:05 and reach Jhansi at 12:50. On the extended stretch, halts have been given at Raja ki Mandi, Runkuta, Deen Dayal Dham and Baad.

Why it matters

The Amrit Bharat class of trains is meant to give long-distance travellers a modern, affordable service, and this pairing of Kutch with north Bihar is among the longer routes to be handed one. The Jhansi extension, smaller in scale, brings Jhansi, Agra and Mathura on a single service and gives the four intermediate stations on the new stretch a train they did not have. Both decisions were announced by the Ministry of Railways on the same day and together they widen the network's reach for pilgrims, students and migrant workers alike.