The 12859 / 12860 Gitanjali Express is a Daily Superfast Express train of Indian Railways running between Two Major Metro Cities

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

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, (

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), also known sometimes as Victoria Terminus (VT), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The term ...

) in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

connecting the East with the West. Numbered 12859/60 this train belongs to the

Superfast Express India has a system of express trains, operated by Indian Railways which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. , it maintains over of tracks, spanning across in route length, and operates nearly 3,000 ex ...

category. This train takes 30½ hrs to cover the distance of 1968 km between Mumbai and Howrah while the return takes 31 hrs 15 mins. This is first train which depart behind pure AC Loco from Mumbai CSMT after conversion of Mumbai CSMT to Thane from DC to AC. It has the top most priority in Howrah Mumbai route.

Relevance

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, a famous poet of India, wrote the book ''

Gitanjali __NOTOC__ ''Gitanjali'' () is a collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, for its English translation, '' Song Offerings'', making him the first non-European and the fi ...

''. Since this train, too, starts from

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

this train has the same name. This is the first Classless train in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, introduced by Ex Railway Minister Prof. Madhu Dandvate on 26 December 1977.

Train schedule

From Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Howrah — 12859. The train starts from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus everyday. Note : Train stops at

Kasara Kasara is a census town in the Thane district of Maharashtra, India. The town is located on the busy Mumbai– Nashik route, which is one of the four major routes that lead into Mumbai. Kasara is served by a railway station on the Mumbai Subur ...

Igatpuri Railway Station Igatpuri railway station serves Igatpuri in Nashik district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It stands at the head of Thal Ghat. This station used to serve as a loco change-over point for trains moving out of Mumbai as well as trains ent ...

only for Bankers Loco attachment & removal at the back of the Train. There is no Commercial halt at these Stations. From Howrah to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus — 12860. The train starts from Howrah everyday.

Arrival and departure

Train No.12859 leaves source point, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai Daily Early Morning at 6:00 am and reaches its destination station Howrah Junction daily at 12:30 PM in afternoon the next day. Train No.12860 leaves Howrah Junction at 2:05 pm daily and reach its destination, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at 9:20 pm next evening it is a daily Superfast Express service with Top Most High Level Priority.

Traction

It is hauled by a Santragachi Loco Shed / Ajni Loco Shed / Kalyan Loco Shed 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 on its entire journey.

Coach composition

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gitanjali Express Rail transport in Howrah Transport in Mumbai Named passenger trains of India Express trains in India Rail transport in Maharashtra Rail transport in Odisha Rail transport in Chhattisgarh Rail transport in Jharkhand Railway services introduced in 1977