Top speed of Volvo B7R / 9400 and the JCBL Kinglong bus

UPDATED : SEE THIS VIDEO OF THE VOLVO B7R DOING ALMOST 120KM/H!

Many people have wondered how fast the Volvo B7R or the 9400 series run. Even the Chinese KingLong buses made by JCBL run.

I have travelled numerous times on both the buses now. While on the long distance routes like Mumbai-Bangalore, the Volvo drivers keep the bus around the 100km/h mark for saving fuel, the shorter routes like Mumbai-Pune have these drivers stretching the Volvo to around 110km/h mark to make up time. Neeta travels for example have their old rusty buses running almost full throttle at 110-115mark. I have seen newer Volvo B7Rs of Sharma / VRL keeping 100-105 on long distances, with short bursts of 110-115km/h.

I can safely say that the Volvo B7R / 9400 series can nudge the 120km/h mark and beyond with ease.

Coming to the JCBL KingLong buses, though they are low on power, the taller gearing allows for high speed cruising. At a recent Pune-Mumbai trip, I happened to sit right up front and saw the driver holding 110-115km/h on the expressway with constant bursts of 120-125km/h. Thats bloody fast! The bus was still smooth at 125km/h and i think it would have managed to go past 130km/h as well.

These buses are powerful and fast. I have seen the Volvo B7R do 520km in 7hours. Thats 74km/h avg. Include the toll-booth stops and bad roads and u can imagine how fast these are!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK VOLVO / KINGLONG / MERCEDES BUS TICKETS ONLINE

Pune to Delhi on Goa Express

Goa Express? Thats a train right? Whats a train doing on this Volvo blog?
Well, I have been travelling a lot on Volvo : from Pune to Mumbai / Mumbai to Pune to long distance like Bangalore to Mumbai / Pune to Davanagere etc.

I had been wanting to know how it feels on a distance train journey - how good or bad it is. So i took the Goa Express from Pune to Delhi on the morning of 27th September. The train was running a bit late and we left Pune by 4:35am, reaching Delhi (Nizamuddin station) the next day at around 7am. Thats around 27hours for a 1500odd km journey. Yep, Volvo buses are still faster. Anyday

At the end of the journey, here are a few points i noticed.

1. A/C III tier are cheaper than Volvo buses (per km basis)
2. The berths are not comfy to sit on. Buses have better seats - any day
3. Trains can be boring. No TVs you see.
4. Bus trips give you an insight to so many cities as u tend to pass thru them.
5. Getting reservation in trains is difficult. I got mine on a Tatkal (total fare came out to be around 1500odd bucks)
6. Trains have loos all the time!
7. U have the railway staff serving something or the other all the time.

In the end, the only hassels i see with train services are getting tickets / and the hard seats.

Read these related posts as well

1. How to go from Mumbai to Pune and vice versa on Volvo buses
2. The JCBL Kinglong bus
3. Mercedes Buses come to India

Mercedes Benz Buses come to India

UPDATE : SHARMA TRANSPORTS' MERDECES BENZ BUS CRASH

Mercedes Benz have finally launched their buses in India. The bodies are being made by Sutlej body builders. We already had the Volvo B7R buses and the Chinese King Long buses and now the Mercedes Benz. Three buses have already been picked up by Sharma Transports, Konduskur and Neeta each.

I will keep you updated on how the bus is from the inside and how it feels over bad roads.

Images : www.team-bhp.com, a leading automotive forum in India

ALSO SEE:
JCBL KINGLONG BUSES
VOLVO B7R PICTURES