Service type Superfast Current operator(s) East Coast Railway End Howrah | First service 26 December 1977 Start Mumbai CST | |
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Stops Dadar, Kalyan, Nashik Road, Bhusaval, Akola, Badnera, Wardha, Nagpur, Gondia, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Tatanagar, Kharagpur and Santragachi | ||
Gitanjali Express is a daily train running between two metro cities, Kolkata, (Howrah Station) in West Bengal and Mumbai, (Mumbai CST) in Maharashtra connecting the East with the West. Numbered 12859/60 this train belongs to the superfast category. This train takes 30½ hrs to cover the distance of 1968 km between Mumbai and Howrah while the return takes 31.5 hrs. This is first train which depart behind pure AC Loco from Mumbai CST after conversion of Mumbai CST to Thane from DC to AC.
Contents
Relevance
Rabindranath Tagore a famous poet of India wrote the book Geetanjali. Since this train, too, starts from Bengal this train has the same name. People love the train as much the book. This is the first Classless train in India introduced by Ex Railway Minister Prof. Madhu Dandvate on 26 December 1977.
Route
This train goes via Dadar, Kalyan, Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Malkapur, Shegaon, Akola, Badnera, Wardha, Nagpur, Bhandara Road, Gondia, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Chakradharpur, Tatanagar, Kharagpur and Santragachi to reach Howrah Junction and vice versa.
Arrival And Departure
Train No.12859 Leaves source point, Mumbai Cst (CSTM) at 6:00 am and reach its destination station at 12:30 noon the next day. Train No.12860 leaves Howrah Jn (HWH) at 1:50 pm and reach its destination, Mumbai CST (CSTM) at 9:20 pm next day.
Technical information
This train belongs to the East Coast Railway and shares its rakes with 18410 / 09 Sri Jagannath Express, plus its coaches are also maintained by the same i.e. ECoR at Puri. This train is hauled by an Santragachi (SRC) or Bhusaval based WAP-4 from Howrah Junction to Mumbai CST and vice versa.