Ranchi Rajdhani Express: High Speed Full Journey Compilation

Presenting a full journey compilation aboard the 12454 New Delhi Ranchi Rajdhani Express between New Delhi and Ranchi. This is a bi-weekly train operating via Garhwa and Daltonganj, covering the districts of Garhwa and Palamau in western Jharkhand. The train covers the 1,340 kilometres between the national and the Jharkhand capital in 18 hours and 40 minutes, at an average speed of nearly 75 kmph. The train is fully air-conditioned with plush LHB coaches and also has a wonderful catering staff offering special evening snacks in the form of chilli chicken and chicken chowmein.
This compilation presents the Rajdhani's high speed evening passage through the plains of Uttar Pradesh, led by a Ghaziabad WAP4, and crossing a number of Delhi bound trains, including the Ghaziabad WAP5 hauled Lucknow Shatabdi and racing through the large stations of Aligarh. We were also lucky to stop just in time and not hit a herd of nilgais strolling across the tracks. At night, the Rajdhani skips Allahabad at a sedate pace, crosses Mughal Sarai at around 1, and veers off southwards along the Sone river after Dehri-on-Sone.
Dawn breaks out as we cross Daltonganj and we are joined by the Koel river which provides us company for a few kilometres as the sun peeps out through the skies. We swing eastwards across the magnificent Barwadih curve, with monsoon clouds shrouding the Chhota Nagpur hills, and race through the forest ranges of western Jharkhand, past beautiful blue hills.
Through Latehar, we cross the site where a train had been attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) by left-wing militant groups and the area was heavily patrolled by personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
We continue on our merry ways through and past some towering hill ranges till Barka Kana where the Rajdhani has a technical halt and the Hatia crew takes over. There is some slow progress after Barka Kana till our approach into Muri where there is another halt. Finally, we travel into the beautiful Muri-Ranchi ghat section where the train climbs nearly 1,500 feet into the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, across some stunning curves. The steady progress also means that we enter Ranchi at around 1005, despite the numerous halts after Barka Kana - a fully 40 minutes before schedule.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this video to my dear friend and fellow rail enthusiats, Anindya Roy, hailing from Dankuni, West Bengal, who first recounted the hidden wonders of this wonderful route and strongly encouraged me to pay a visit.