Bajaj Dominar vs Rajdhani Express: Who wins? [Video]

Over the years, The Rajdhani Express has remained as India’s fastest train over long distances. Even though there are faster trains like Gatimaan Express, Duronto Express and Shatabdi Express, the Rajdhani trains are most popular due to their connectivity. But fast is the Rajdhani? Can it beat Bajaj’s fastest bike, the Dominar? MotorBeam raced against a Rajdhani on a Dominar to find out just that.

Bajaj Dominar 400 Vs Rajdhani Express

The race happened between the Rajdhani Express that runs between Vadodara in Gujarat to Mumbai in Maharashtra. Mind you that all Rajdhani Express trains in India start from New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi and the Motor Beam team started the race from Vadodara. The August Kranti Rajdhani’s scheduled departure from Vadodara is at 4:23 AM and arrival at the Mumbai station is 9:45 AM. There are quite a few challenges as the Rajdhani trains get priority over the other trains and they are almost always on time. The biker had no such special privileges and had to go through city traffic. Also, Rajdhani Express uses an electric engine, which means no refuelling on the way.

The race started as soon as the train left the Vadodara station at night and started its journey towards Mumbai. The biker on the Dominar 400 had to negotiate the night traffic on the Indian highways and reach the destination. The train has to travel 392 km to reach the Mumbai station, while the biker had to take the 414 km route, which is longer and had traffic on it.

The biker rode through the traffic and also refilled the tank on the way. In the end, the biker reached the designated spot at 9:39 AM, while the Rajdhani Express entered the station at the scheduled 9:45 AM. This was a close race but the Dominar did overcome the challenges to show that it can move fast on the road. The average speed of the train comes out to be around 73 km/h, while the bike’s average speed was around 78.6 km/h. The Rajdhani can go up to 140 km/h, while the Dominar’s top speed is 148 km/h.

Bajaj markets the Dominar 400 as a hyper rider and a sports tourer. It targets Royal Enfield motorcycles directly through the advertisements, but the Dominar has not become as popular as the Royal Enfield motorcycle even though it has a lot of features to offer and is loaded to the brim.

The Bajaj Dominar 400 offers features like a full-LED headlamp, optional ABS and a large 13-litre tank. It is powered by a 373cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected engine that produces a maximum of 35 Bhp and 35 Nm. It gets a 6-speed transmission and returns a maximum fuel efficiency of 26.5 km/l, according to ARAI. The fuel tank gives it a maximum range of 344.5 km. The features of the bike make it quite value for money in the Indian market and this race proves that it is very handy during the long-distance rides.

Source: MotorBeam