The 12961 / 12962 Avantika Superfast Express is a superfast express train belonging to

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

that runs between and in India. It is a daily service. It operates as train number 12961 from Mumbai Central to

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

and as train number 12962 in the reverse direction.

Background

When this train was introduced back in 1985 it was called as Bombay–Indore Superfast. Later it was renamed as Avantika Superfast Express. For about a couple of years, in mid 1990s, the termination of train was changed from Mumbai Central to Bandra Terminus (A western Suburban terminus station). The order was reversed and from 1998 the train started going up to Mumbai Central. File:12962 Avantika Express.jpg The name Avantika is from 'Avanti', the former name of

Ujjain Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...

, a historical city located near Indore. This is one of the two Superfast train connections between Indore and Mumbai, the other train is Indore Duronto Express. In February 2019, it was upgraded to

LHB coach Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany and produced by rail coach manufacturing units at Kapurthala, Chennai and Raebareli. They have been used since 2000 on ...

Service

It is a daily train and covers the distance of 829 kilometres in 12 hours 10 mins as 12961 Avantika SF Express (68 km/h) and 13 hours 5 mins as 12962 Avantika SF Express (64 km/h). It is one of the fastest train on this route and one of the only two trains connecting MMCT to INDB, the other one being Mumbai Indore Duronto Express which covers the distance of 829 kilometers in just 11 hours 15 mins (73 km/h) due to its premium priority and less stoppages. Avantika Superfast Express is highly rated amongst its commuters and railfans due to its cleanliness, safety, and punctuality, more often than not this train usually reaches the stations before its scheduled time.

Schedule

Coaches

Coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways depending on demand. In February 2019, it was upgraded to

from

ICF coach The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coach is a conventional Passenger railroad car, passenger coach used on the majority of Indian Railways (IR) lines. Between 1955 and 2018, more than 54,000 were produced and some were exported to other countries ...

. *Note – The coach composition shown here is for 12961 (Mumbai to Indore).For 12962 (Indore to Mumbai) the composition will be flipped.

Gallery

File:Avantika SF Express Three Tier AC.jpg File:AVANTIKA THIRDAC.jpg, AC Coaches File:AVANTIKA SLEEPER.jpg, Sleeper Coaches File:AVANTIKA EOG.jpg, Generator Car File:12962 Avantika Express.jpg, Former nameplate of ICF rakes File:Avantika Express - Sleeper coach.jpg, Former Sleeper Coach in ICF rakes File:Avantika model.jpg, Former nameplate of ICF rakes (notice the first digit added later on in different colour as the trains in IR earlier followed 4 digit numbering system) File:12961 Avantika Express.jpg, Former nameplate for ICF rakes (notice the first digit added later on as the trains in IR earlier followed 4 digit numbering system) File:Avantika Express at Indore Lokmanya Nagar.jpg, Former ICF rakes being sheltered at Indore File:Avantika Exp at INDB.jpg, Former ICF rakes being backed into INDB station File:Avanti Gn.jpg, General Unreserved coach of former ICF rakes File:AC First Class Coach Indore.jpg, AC First Class coach of former ICF rakes

Locomotive link

When Avantika Superfast was first introduced it was hauled by

WDM-2 The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel–electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for 5 ft 6 in gauge railway, broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), ...

for the whole journey. After some time, WCAM-1 became its regular link from Mumbai Central till Ujjain, After Ujjain WDM-2 hauled it complete its journey to Indore. When Mumbai's WR was converted into AC current,

WAP-4 The Indian locomotive class WAP-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1993 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic (P) l ...

took incharge of Avantika till Ujjain. After sometime Ujjain–Indore line got electrified and WAP-4 hauled it for whole journey. After some years, Avantika SuperFast got India's fastest locomotive

WAP-5 The Indian locomotive class WAP-5 is a class of electric locomotives used by Indian Railways. The first ten locomotives were imported from Adtranz in Switzerland in 1995 and later manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in India. On 3 Jul ...

for its regular link. When Avantika SuperFast got upgraded into

in 2019 February, its regular link also got upgraded into

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

(usually HOG mode). *All the diesel locomotives were provided by Ratlam Loco Shed (RTM) *All the DC-traction electric locomotives were provided by Valsad Loco Shed (BL) *All the AC-traction electric locomotives are provided by Vadodara Loco Shed (BRC) File:RTM based WDM-2A loco - 16813 at Vadodara.jpg, WDM2A File:Pune bound 11095 (ADI-PUNE) Ahimsa Express.jpg, WCAM1 File:BRC WAP4E ^22676 sleeping silently - Flickr - Dr. Santulan Mahanta.jpg , WAP4e File:WAP5 with Indore Pune Exp.jpg , WAP5 File:BRC FORTUNE WAP7.jpg, WAP7

References

External links

Avantika Express
India Rail Info *https://expresstrainroute.com/trains/12961-avantika-sf-express {{DEFAULTSORT:Avantika Express Express trains in India Rail transport in Madhya Pradesh Rail transport in Gujarat Rail transport in Maharashtra Transport in Mumbai Transport in Indore Transport in Ujjain 1985 establishments in Maharashtra Railway services introduced in 1985 Named passenger trains of India