Howrah Chennai Mail

Howrah Chennai Mail

Howrah bound Chennai Mail hauled by WAP 4 class electric locomotive at Anakapalle station in Andhra Pradesh
Overview
Service type	Superfast/Mail
Locale	West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
First service	15 August 1900 (1900-08-15)
Current operator(s)	South Eastern Railway zone
Route
Start	Howrah
End	Chennai Central
Distance travelled	1,661 km (1,032 mi)
Average journey time	28 hours 05 minutes as 12839 Howrah Chennai Mail, 28 hours 30 minutes as 12840 Chennai Howrah Mail
Service frequency	daily
On-board services
Class(es)	AC first, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper Class, General Unreserved. 27 coaches in all.
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	Pantry Car attached
Observation facilities	Large Windows
Baggage facilities	Below the seats
Technical
Rolling stock	Standard Indian Railway coaches
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	59 km/h (37 mph), including halts

Howrah-Chennai Mail is a superfast mail train of Indian railways connecting two metropolitan cities of India, Kolkata and Chennai, and the major cities of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Bhubaneswar.

History

The train made its inaugural run on 15 August 1900, which makes it one of the oldest running trains on Indian Railways. It rightly deserves to be categorised as one of the classic trains of India, having run and served the country on this route from very early days of Indian Railways through all its stages of development(over 112 years),first hauled by steam engines, including the WP class engines, then by diesel, and now by electric WAP-4 locomotives. It was the first passenger train to be dieselised on South Eastern Railway, in 1964/65. Till the introduction of the Coromandal Express in the mid seventies, it was the main and fastest train link between Howrah and Chennai (then Madras) with much less number of halts. Presently, this train is the second most important train on the Howrah-Chennai main line after the high speed Coromandal Express. It covers 1661 Kilometers at an average speed of 62 km/h.

Coach composition

Loco	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
	SLR	UR	RMS	UR	S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7	S8	S9	S10	S11	PC	S12	B1	B2	B3	A1	A2	HA1	UR	SLR

This train has Ac first, Ac two tier, AC three tier, Sleeper, General classes. A Pantry car facility is available in it. It is the only train in India with 25 coaches. All its classes except General require prior reservation; General class coaches of this train are usually crowded, and can be boarded with a general daily ticket.Tatkal scheme is available in this train,and additional premium tatkal facility is also available.

Rake sharing

It shares rakes with Coromandal Express.

Route

Important stations through which it passes are Kharagpur, Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada , Nellore , Gudur.

Timings

12839 Howrah Chennai Mail leaves Howrah at 11:45 P.M. everyday and reaches Chennai Central on second day early morning at 3:50 a.m. 12840 Chennai Howrah Mail leaves Chennai Central at 11:40 p.m. everyday and reaches Howrah at 4:10 a.m. second day.