Service type Express train Start Vishakhapatnam | First service 1992 Stops 45 | |
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Locale Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab Current operator(s) East Coast Railway Zone | ||
Hirakud Express is a tri-weekly express train which runs between Amritsar and Visakhapatnam. It passes through the cities of Delhi, Mathura, Jhansi, Katni, Bilaspur, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar and Vizaynagaram. It was initially introduced between Sambalpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station (Delhi) in 1992. Later in 2002 it was extended to Bhubaneswar on Sambalpur side and there after up to Visakhapatnam and up to Amritsar on the other side in the coming years.
Etymology
Hira means diamond and Kud means Island in Sambalpuri language spoken in Western Odisha. Sambalpur was famous as an ancient diamond mine and reference about it can be find in the works Claudius Ptolemy, Edward Gibbon, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. Hirakud Express literary means the Diamond Island Express, is named after the famous Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur, Odisha which is one of the longest dams of India.