What is the Gatimaan Express and how does it compare to the fastest train in India?

 •Gatimaan Express is the semi high speed train.Introduced in 5 April 2016.

•It runs between Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin and Jhansi via Agra ,Train No.12049/12050 and has a top speed of 160 km/h. It is a premium day train similar to Shatabdi Express offering on board meals and comfortable seating

•Initially, it ran between Delhi and Agra, later, it was extended to Jhansi on 1 April 2018.

•The name Gatimaan implies "speed" or "velocity" in Hindi

The Gatimaan Express features livery with a bright grey and sky-blue base, accented by a bold horizontal yellow band,specialised for India's semi high speed service.

•At the time of its launch it was considered fastest train in India.

•Today the fastest train is Vande Bharat Express.

⭐Comparison:-

•Vande Bharat and Gatimaan Express have top speed 160 km/h

•However Vande Bharat is a modern train set (no separate locomotive) while Gatimaan is a Loco Hauled Train.

•Vande Bharat has better acceleration,advance features and wider proof coverage

⭐Conclusion:-

•Even both trains have the same top speed,Vande Bharat is considered faster and more advanced due to its Technology and performance and also next generation train.

How do train drivers know which way to go on tracks?

 Officially there are no train drivers. The name changed to Loco pilots. Similarly there are no guards. The name changed to Train Managers.

Coming to the question u have asked, loco pilot work for only a particular section of rail network. They would take LR (Road Learning) in that section & work only for that section. Loco pilots cannot change the route or direction to whatever direction he wanted to go.

On Railway track, point will be set to one particular route (in above image it was set to right most line when going towards upward direction). Section controller will decide the route of the train & at what time the train to be started. He will give instructions to the particular station master at which train was there. Then SM will give signal through his signalling panel as shown in below picture.

According to the instruction from head office/ section controller, station master will give signal signal to the train to go in that direction. The points will be set automatically in that direction before the proceed/ green light signal appears.

Loco pilot can only control the train speed or troubleshoot in case of any problem but cannot change the direction of train. He follows only the given signal to move the train.

What if the signal is in danger/ red & locopilot tries to move train?

Incase of danger signal, the point will be set to danger i.e if loco pilot moved the train the train will get derailed there will be chance of accident.

Image source: Google