The 12703 / 12704 Falaknuma S. F Express is a Daily Superfast Express train belonging to

South Central Railway zone South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka. It has three divisions under its administration, wh ...

that runs between

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

and

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

, (

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

) in India. It is currently being operated with 12703/12704 train numbers on daily basis. It is The Most Busiest and Most Crowded Daily Superfast Express Train On Hyderabad -Howrah Route

Overview

The train is named after the world-famous

Falaknuma Palace Falaknuma is a former palace and currently a luxury hotel in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It originally belonged to the Paigah (Hyderabad), Paigah family, and was later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It is on a hillock and covers a area in F ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. "Falaknuma" is a Persian word (Persian—فلک ا نمایش), which means "Reflections of Sky/Heaven". It runs daily and connects important stations such as , ,

Eluru Eluru ( ) is a city and the district headquarters of Eluru district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the List of municipal corporations in India#Andhra Pradesh, 14 municipal corporations ...

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

Vizianagaram Vizianagaram, also known as Vijayanagaram, is a city and the headquarters of the Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in the Eastern Ghats, about west of the Bay of Bengal and north-northeast of Visakhapa ...

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

and

Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...

. It is a fast alternative to other trains such as

East Coast Express The 18045 / 18046 East Coast Express is a daily train that runs between Charlapalli (Hyderabad) and Shalimar (Kolkata). Earlier this train's terminating stations were Hyderabad Deccan and Howrah. From 2022 the terminal has been shifted from Ho ...

, Guwahati–Secunderabad Express,

Shalimar–Secunderabad AC Superfast Express The 12773 / 12774 Secunderabad–Shalimar AC Superfast Express is a Superfast Express trains in India, Superfast AC Express (Indian Railways), AC Express train of the Indian Railways connecting Secunderabad Junction railway station, Secunderabad ...

and Shalimar–Secunderabad Superfast Express. Compared to the other trains from Secunderabad to

, it covers lesser distance as it runs via the

Nalgonda Nalgonda is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the Nalgonda district, as well as the headquarters of the Nalgonda mandal in the Nalgonda revenue division. It is located about from the state c ...

, Guntur Junction route. It is the fastest Superfast Express between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam other than

Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad Duronto Express The Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad ''Duronto Express'' is a superfast AC express train of the Indian Railways, announced in 2011-12 Railway Budget by Mamata Banerjee, the then Minister of Indian Railways, connecting Secunderabad (SC) to Visak ...

Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad Garib Rath Express The Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad Garib Rath Express is a daily running Superfast Express trains in India, superfast garib rath train of the Indian Railways connecting Secunderabad Railway Station to Visakhapatnam. This is the first and only Gari ...

. The train runs jampacked throughout the year because people prefer this train as it has lesser halts than other trains on this route. Besides being Superfast, the train is most neat and clean after trains like

Shatabdi Express Shatabdi Express () are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways. Shatabdi Express are day trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains run at a maximum permissible speed of depending on the ...

Rajdhani Express The Rajdhani Express () is a series of passenger train services in India operated by Indian Railways connecting the national capital New Delhi with the capitals or the largest cities of various states. ''Rajdhani'', derived from the Sanskrit m ...

and

Duronto Express Duronto Express, translating to "restless" in Bengali, is a class of long-distance rapid trains operated by Indian Railways. Initially conceived to operate non-stop between origin and destination stations, since January 2016, these trains hav ...

and other Superfast trains in India. The 12703/Howrah–Secunderabad Falaknuma Express has an average speed of 60 km/h and covers 1544 km in 25h 40m. The 12704/Secunderabad–Howrah Falaknuma Express, with the same average speed, covers the same distance in 25h 50m.

Timings

The train departs from Platform #21 of Howrah Junction at 08:35 IST and arrives in Platform #9 of Secunderabad Junction at 10:10 IST, the next day. From Platform #2 of Secunderabad, the train departs at 15:55 IST and arrives in Platform #20 of Howrah at 17:45 IST, the next day.

Route and halts

The train runs from Secunderabad via , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , to Howrah.

Classes

The train usually consists of a massive load of 23 standard

LHB Coaches 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 ...

: * 1 AC First * 2 AC Two Tier * 8 AC Three Tiers Economy * 6 Sleeper classes * 1 Pantry car * 2 General (unreserved) * 1 Generator * 1 Seating (Disabled/Ladies) cum Luggage Rakes * 1 High Capacity Parcel Van(HCPV) As is customary with most other train services in India, coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways, depending on demand.

Coach composition

The train usually consists of a massive load of 23 standard

; * 1 AC First * 2 AC Two Tier * 6 AC Three Tiers Economy * 6 Sleeper classes * 1 Pantry car * 4 General (unreserved) * 1 Generator * 1 Seating (Disabled/Ladies) cum Luggage Rakes * 1 High Capacity Parcel Van (HCPV) As is customary with most other train services in India, coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways, depending on demand.

Loco link

* A

Lallaguda Lallaguda is a suburb of Secunderabad, India.Lallaguda Police Station
It is about 7 km from ...

-based

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 ...

electric locomotive pulls it from Secunderabad to

. * The train reverses direction at Vishakhapatnam and gets a or

-based

electric locomotive for the rest way up to .

Rake sharing

* The 12703/12704 Falaknuma Express previously used to share its rakes with 12733/12734 Narayanadri Express. * From 1st Jan 2018 till 14th Dec 2023 it shared its rakes with 17063/17064

Ajanta Express The 17063 / 17064 Ajanta Express is an Express trains in India, express train belonging to the South Central Railway Zone that runs between Kacheguda in Telangana and Manmad in Maharashtra in India. History Ajanta Express runs through eastern ...

. * From 15th Dec 2023 it share its rake with 12709/12710

Simhapuri Express The 12709 / 12710 Simhapuri Express is an express train operated by South Central Railways of Indian Railways between Secunderabad and Gudur in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Route & Halts The train runs from Secunderabad Junction via , ...

Accident and incident

1.On October 16, 2013, the link between the train bogies and the engine broke at Mangalagiri in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. 2.on 26 March 2022,3 bogies separated from the train while running. The engine separated from the bogies. 3.on 8 July 2023, while coming to Secunderabad at 10:20 in the morning, a fire broke out in S4 coach.

References

External links

Falaknuma train status
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falaknuma Express Rail transport in Howrah Named passenger trains of India Transport in Secunderabad Express trains in India Rail transport in Telangana Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh Rail transport in Odisha