Origins of Train Names :-
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Abida Begum Express : Delhi Jn. - Raxaul [OLD - used only briefly]
(Abida Ahmed Begum, wife of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed)
Agniveena Express : Howrah - Asansol...
more...

(former Bidhan Exp.)
(name of work by Bengali poet Nazrul Islam)
Ahilyanagari Express : Cochin - Indore
(another (older) name for Indore, built by Holkar queen Ahilyabai)
Ahimsa Express : Ahmedabad - Pune
(Ahimsa = non-violence, associated with Gandhi)
Air-Conditioned Express (AC Express) : Name used for several trains in the past when air-conditioning was rare. Howrah - New Delhi / Amritsar [OLD], Mumbai Central - New Delhi / Amritsar [OLD], Madras Central - New Delhi [OLD], Bombay VT - Howrah [OLD], Bombay VT - Madras Central [OLD], Madras Central - Howrah [OLD]. The last three existed at the same time and probably shared rakes in a three-way arrangement.
Ajanta Express : Secunderabad - Mudkhed
(Ajanta caves near Aurangabad)
Akal Takht Express : Sealdah - Amritsar
(Sikh holy site at the Golden Temple in Amritsar)
Ala Hazrat Express : Delhi - Bareilly
(Shrine of Muslim saint Ala Hazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan)
Amarkantak Express : Durg - Bhopal
(source of the river Narmada)
Amarnath Express : Gorakhpur / Barauni - Jammu Tawi
Amarnath is a Hindu shrine in the Himalayas
Amaravati Express : Vijayawada - Hubli - Vasco da Gama
(name of town - location of Buddhist stupa)
Amrapali Express : Amritsar - Barauni [OLD}
(name of a character in a legend in the Jataka tales)
Amrapali Express : Amritsar - Katihar Jn. [unofficial}
(from the name of the earlier train that terminated at Barauni, see above)
Amrita Express : Palghat Town - Trivandrum
(named for Mata Amritanandamayi, a spiritual leader in Kerala)
Ananya Express : Sealdah - Ajmer (formerly Millennium Exp.)
('unique')
Ananthapuri Express : Trivandrum - Chennai Egmore
(One of the classical names of Trivandrum)
Andaman Expess : Jammu Tawi- Chennai
(apparently just to keep the tradition of having a train named after every state or territory -- the Andamans are islands and cannot have train services from the mainland, but at least can have a train named for them!)
Andhra Kesari Express : Vijayawada - Mumbai [PROPOSED]
'Lion of Andhra Pradesh')
Andhra Pradesh Express : Hyderabad - New Delhi
(name of state)
Aradhana Express : Howrah - Okha [unofficial?]
('worship', ??)
Aranyak Express : Bankura - Shalimar - Adra
('of the forest', perhaps referring to a novel of this name by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Aravalli Express : Bandra - Jaipur
(a mountain range)
Archana Express : Rajendra Nagar - Jammu Tawi
(Worship ritual, 'pooja')
Arunachal Express : Kamakhya - Murkong Selek
(name for the state, 'hills of the dawn')
Ashram Express : Ahmedabad - New Delhi
(Gandhi's ashram at Ahmedabad)
Assam Mail : Delhi - Barauni (BG), Barauni - Guwahati (MG) [OLD]
(name of state)
August Kranti Rajdhani Express : Mumbai - Hazrat Nizamuddin
('August Revolution', the Quit India movement started in 1942) This train was the Bombay AC Rajdhani, and renamed in October 1992.
Avantika Express : Mumbai - Indore
(Avantika is another (older) name for Ujjain, near Indore)
Awadh Assam Express : Guwahati - New Delhi
(Awadh, also Avadh -- name of a region)
Awadh Express : Gorakhpur - Bandra
(Awadh, also Avadh -- name of region)
Awadh (Audh) Tirhut Mail : Lucknow - Guwahati (MG) [OLD]
(Awadh, also Avadh -- name of region; Tirhut -- name of a place. See also Tirhut Express)
Azad Express : Shalimar - Haldia
('free, independent')
Azad Hind Express : Pune - Howrah
('Free India') The Azad Hind Fauj was a nationalist militia raised by Netaji Subhashchandra Bose against the British.
Baidyanathdham Express : Puri - Patna
(Hindu holy spot near Bihar)
Bagh Express : Howrah - Kathgodam
(may be 'garden', or more likely 'tiger' the latter could be a reference to Corbett National Park near Kathgodam)
Bagha Jatin Passenger : Howrah - Bhadrak
(Bagha Jatin or Jatindranath Mukherjee was a freedom fighter from West Bengal)
Barak Valley Express : Lumding - Silchar
(river valley in Assam)
Barisal Express : Sealdah - Jessore / Khulna [OLD]
(name of place)
Basava Express : Yeshwantpur - Bijapur
(Basava, also known as Basaveshwara or Basavanna, was a 12th century reformer and theologian from the Bijapur area)
Beas Link Express : Jodhpur - Jat
(Beas river)
Begumpura Express : Jalandhar - Goverdhanpura (Varanasi)
(Area near Jalandhar)
Bhagirathi Express : Sealdah - Lalgola
(name of river, tributary of the Ganga)
Bhagirathi Express : Chapra - Allahabad City (NER, MG) [OLD]
(name of river, tributary of the Ganga)
Bhagya Nagar Express : Secunderabad - Sirpur Kagaznagar
(Bhagyanagar is an old name for present-day Hyderabad)
Bharat Darshan : Tourist journey, billed as a pan-Indian economy tourist train
('vision of India')
Bharat Tirth : Tourist trains with circular itineraries run by IRCTC, primarily in the south
('pilgrimage of India')
Bhopal Express : Hazrat Nizamuddin - Habibganj
(Bhopal is the real destination near Habibganj)
Bidhan Express : Howrah - Asansol [OLD, unofficial?]
(named for Dr Bidhan Chandra Ray, former chief minister of West Bengal)
Bihar Express : New Delhi - Darbhanga
(name of state)
Bishwabharati (Vishwabharati) fast Passenger : Howrah - Rampurhat
(Rabindranath Tagore's university at Shantiniketan)
Black Diamond Express : Howrah - Dhanbad
(coalfields)
Blue Express : Chennai - Mettupalayam Nilgiri Express [unofficial]
(from the earlier name, Blue Mountain Express -- see below)
Blue Mountain Express : Chennai - Mettupalaiyam [OLD]
(Nilgiri ranges = Blue Mountain)
Boat Mail (Indo-Ceylon Boat Mail) : Madras Egmore - Dhanushkodi [OLD]
(connecting to Colombo (Sri Lanka) by ferry from Talaimannar pier; predecessor of Rameswaram Exp.)
Bombay Jayanti : Mumbai - Kanyakumari [OLD, unofficial]
(one of the Jayanti Janata trains (see below))
Bombay VT Express : Kurla - Gorakhpur Kushinagar Exp. [unofficial]
(the train used to run to Victoria Terminus)
Brahmaputra Mail : New Delhi - Dibrugarh
(name of river)
Brindavan Express : Chennai - Bangalore
('garden', referring to the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore, since there used to be a connecting link from Bangalore to Mysore for passengers on this train. Note, however, Bangalore is also known as the Garden City.)
Buddha Purnima Express : Sarnath - Rajgir via Gaya
('purnima' = full moon; Buddha Purnima is the day marking the birth of the Buddha)
Buddhist Circuit : Tourist train covering sites of significance to Buddhism.
Bundelkhand Express : Gwalior - Varanasi
(name of region in Madhya Pradesh)
Cachar Express : Lumding - Silchar
(name of region in Assam)
Cape Express : Kanyakumari - Bangalore
(Kanyakumari is at the tip of the Indian peninsula, earlier known as Cape Comorin)
Capital Express : Katihar - Danapur - New Jalpaiguri
(Perhaps originally intended to run from Patna, the capital of the state of Bihar. Danapur is 9km from Patna.)
Cash Local [unofficial]
Name given to the cash collection train run daily by WR on the Mumbai suburban section. This train stops at each station to collect cash receipts from the ticket offices. The southernmost vendor compartment next to the Guard's van is used for carrying the cash, which is in large boxes, or sometimes in leather bags that are then placed in large round drums. Only security and treasury department personnel are allowed to travel in that vendor's compartment. A similar train runs in the Madras section (one of the Tiruttani locals in the morning).
Cauvery Express (see Kaveri Exp.)
Century Express (NER timetable listing of Sanctuary Exp., arising from confusion over the spelling)
Chalukya Express : Bombay - Bangalore via Miraj
(former kingdom in the area)
Chambal Express : Howrah - Agra
(name of river/valley)
Chambal Express : Howrah - Gwalior
(name of river/valley)
Chamundi Express : Mysore - Bangalore
(temple to deity of this name at Mysore)
Chandigarh Express : Kalka - Jodhpur
(name of town)
Chandrabhaga Express : Mumbai - Pandharpur [proposed]
(local name of river Bhima/Bhimarathi at Pandharpur)
Chappra Express : Gwalior - Barauni Jn. Mail [unofficial]
(name of region)
Charminar Express : Chennai - Hyderabad
(Charminar -- medieval minarets at Hyderabad)
Chattisgarh Express : Bilaspur - Amritsar; also Delhi - Durg
(name of region)
Chauri Chaura Express : Kanpur - Gorakhpur
(name of town)
Cheran Express : Chennai - Coimbatore
(historical royal dynasty)
Chetak Express : New Delhi - Udaipur
(legendary battlehorse of Maharana Pratap, ruler of Udaipur)
Chitrakut Express : Jabalpur - Lucknow
(region in Uttar Pradesh)
Cholan Express : Madras Egmore - Thiruchirapalli
(historical royal dynasty)
Circar Express : Chennai - Kakinada
(region in Andhra Pradesh)
Circular Express : Bombay - Madras - Calcutta - Bombay [OLD]
Classical India Tour : Tourist train covering Delhi-Agra-Gwalior-Khajuraho-Varanasi-Patna
Coalfield Express : Howrah - Dhanbad
(coal mines near Dhanbad)
Corbett Park Link Express : New Delhi - Ramnagar
(national park named for Jim Corbett, hunter and pioneer conservationist)
Coromandel Express : Howrah - Chennai
(name of the eastern coastal region)
Dakshin Express : Hyderabad - Hazrat Nizamuddin
('dakshin' = south)
Dakshin Express : Madras - Hazrat Nizamuddin [OLD]
('dakshin' = south)
Dakshin Parcel Express : Calcutta - Chennai (parcels)
('dakshin' = south)
Darjeeling Mail : Sealdah - New Jalpaiguri
(the town and region of Darjeeling)
Day Express : Cochin - Shoranur [OLD]
(Daytime train, predecessor of Parasuram Exp.)
Deccan Express : Mumbai - Pune
(the region - Deccan plateau)
Deccan Express : Pune - Bangalore (MG) [OLD]
(the region - Deccan plateau)
Deccan Odyssey : Maharashtra / Goa round trip tourist train
Deccan Queen : Mumbai - Pune
(the region - Deccan plateau; started 1930, first and second class