Service type Express Train Current operator(s) Southern Railway zone | Status Active End Kanniyakumari (CAPE) | |
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First service 1980; 37 years ago (1980) Start Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) | ||
Himsagar Express is a weekly express train of the Indian Railways running between Kanyakumari in India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra in Jammu and Kashmir- the northernmost state of India. It is currently the second longest running train on the Indian Railways in terms of distance and time, surpassed only by the Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express. In 72hours, the train covers a distance of 3787 km at a speed of 52 km/h, and transverses twelve of India's states halting at a total of 73 stations.
Contents
Route and frequency
It runs weekly, starting every Friday at 14:05 hours from Kanyakumari, reaching Katra on Mondays at 15:20 hours. It starts from Katra on Mondays at 21:55 hours and reaches Kanyakumari on Thursdays at 21:30 hours. Because of this schedule, it needs just one rake to complete its entire run. There is a Slip Route of this train, running from Erode Junction to Tirunelveli Junction & Chhindwara Junction to Bhopal Junction. The train travels through states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Katra to Kanyakumari: There are several long halts for this train like New Delhi (150 min) and in Thiruvananthapuram Central, Ernakulam Junction, Erode Junction, Bhopal Junction, Nagpur, Itarsi Junction, Jhansi, Gwalior Junction and Vijayawada (10-15 min each).
Kanyakumari to Katra: The fastest speed is achieved near Kila Raipur (108 km/h) and the slowest speeds on the Hazrat Nizamuddin to New Delhi (24 km/h) and Bhopal Habibganj to Bhopal Junction (19 km/h) . It takes around three hours for the train to clear the Delhi area.
Coach Composite
The train has 19 bogies comprising One Second AC (2AC), Two Third AC (3AC), Ten Sleeper class (SL), Three Unreserved coaches (UR/GS), Two Luggage rakes (SLR) and One Pantry car (PC).