Gitanjali Express

This article is about Indian Railways train between Howrah and Mumbai. For other uses, see Geetanjali (disambiguation).

Gitanjali Express

Overview
Service type	Superfast
First service	November 1977 (1977-11)
Current operator(s)	South Eastern Railway zone
Route
Termini	Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Howrah Junction
Stops	26 as 12860 Howrah Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Gitanjali Express, 27 as 12859 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Howrah Gitanjali Express (additional halt at Santragachi Junction)
Distance travelled	1,968 kilometres (1,223 mi)
Average journey time	30 hrs 30 mins as 12859 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Howrah Gitanjali Express, & 31 hrs 40 mins as 12860 Howrah Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Gitanjali Express
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	12859 / 12860
On-board services
Class(es)	AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper Class, Unreserved/General
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	Pantry car attached
Technical
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	110 km/h (68 mph) maximum 63.34 km/h (39 mph) including halts
Route map Gitanjali Express Route map

The 12859/60 Gitanjali Express is a daily train running between two metro cities, Kolkata, (Howrah Junction) in West Bengal and Mumbai, (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in Maharashtra connecting the East with the West. Numbered 12859/60 this train belongs to the Superfastcategory. This train takes 30½ hrs to cover the distance of 1968 km between Mumbai and Howrah while the return takes 31.5 hrs. This is first train which depart behind pure AC Loco from Mumbai CST after conversion of Mumbai CST to Thane from DC to AC. It has the top most priority in Howrah Mumbai route.

Sleeper Class coach of 12859 Gitanjali Express

Relevance

Rabindranath Tagore a famous poet of India wrote the book Gitanjali. Since this train, too, starts from Bengal this train has the same name. People love the train as much the book. This is the first Classless train in India introduced by Ex Railway Minister Prof. Madhu Dandvate on 26 December 1977.

Route

12859/60 Gitanjali Express runs from Howrah Junction via Kharagpur Junction, Tatanagar Junction, Rourkela Junction, Bilaspur Junction, Raipur Junction, Durg, Nagpur,Wardha Junction Badnera Junction, Akola Junction, Bhusaval Junction, Jalgaon Junction, Nasik Road, Igatpuri to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and vice versa.

Arrival And Departure

Train No.12859 Leaves source point, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) at 6:00 am and reach its destination station Howrah Junction at 12:30 noon the next day. Train No.12860 leaves Howrah Junction at 1:40 pm and reach its destination, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at 9:20 pm next day.

Traction

Prior to 8 June 2015, a Santragachi based WAP 4 or Howrah based WAP 7 would haul the train from Howrah Junction up to Igatpuri handing over to a Kalyan based WCAM 3 which powered the train up to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

Since the changeover to AC traction, a Santragachi based WAP 4 or Howrah based WAP 7 powers the train for its entire journey.

It has been allotted with LHB coaches from January 2019

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
	EOG	GEN	S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7	S8	S9	S10	S11	S12	S13	PC	B1	B2	A1	A2	GEN	EOG

References

Dedicated Intercity trains of India