Kovai Express

Kovai Express

Overview
Service type	Superfast
Locale	Tamil Nadu
First service	14 April 1977 (1977-04-14)
Current operator(s)	Southern Railways
Route
Start	Chennai Central
Stops	10
End	Coimbatore
Distance travelled	497 km (309 mi)
Average journey time	7 hours 25 minutes
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	12675/12676
On-board services
Class(es)	Coach (Chair Car, A/C Chair Car, Unreserved Compartment)
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	No
Catering facilities	Pantry Car
Observation facilities	Large windows
Technical
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph) average with halts
Route map

The Kovai Express (Train Number: 12675/12676) is a daily superfast express train on Indian Railways, running between Chennai Central and Coimbatore city Junction. The train made its inaugural run on 14 April 1977 ^[1] and was one of the fastest Express trains in India, with an average speed of 65 km/hr including stops . It is also one of the most prestigious trains of Southern Railway.

Service

This train is an all day, day time superfast and has a Chair Car (Coach) seating arrangement with air-conditioned and non-air conditioned coaches and Pantry car. The 12679/Chennai Central-Coimbatore Intercity Express is its opposite route partner.

Eventhough it is a superfast train, due to the addition of more stoppages, almost in all days it runs late. In the UP direction, we miss the Salem-Karur passenger at Salem and in the DOWN direction, we miss the local EMU trains and bus services at Chennai. Another problem is the heavy disturbance of unlicensed Hawkers Sales in these moving trains. Southern Railway must attend this problem.

Schedule

Chennai Central - Coimbatore (Main)

Kovai Express, train number 12675, departs Chennai daily at 06:15 hours and arrives in Coimbatore at 13:45 hours.^[2] The return train, train number 12676, departs Coimbatore at 14:55 hours and reaches Chennai at 22:25 hours.^[3] This train gets overtaken by train number 12243, Chennai Central - Coimbatore Junction Shatabdi Express sometimes in the down direction. The return journey has one additional stop at Perambur, a suburb in Chennai for passengers disembarking towards east & central part of the city.

This train also provides connectivity for Mettupalayam / Ooty by the Coimbatore - Mettupalayam passenger and for passengers bound to Palakkad, Shoranur and beyond by the 56651/56650 Coimbatore - Kannur Fast Passenger / 6346 Thiruvananthapuram - Lokamanya Tilak (T) Netravathi Express.

Route and Stations

Kovai Express, or popularly referred to as Kovai, connects Tamil Nadu's state capital Chennai and its second largest city Coimbatore, a major textile, educational and engineering center. This train covers 6 corporation cities out of 10 in the state: Chennai, Vellore, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur and Coimbatore. The route covers most of the major industrial hubs in the north west part of Tamil Nadu. En route, starting from Coimbatore, it covers important towns of Tirupur, an international hosiery goods exporting town, Erode, a principle agricultural town, Salem which is a major steel and mineral town,^[4] Morappur, a station that serves passengers from Dharmapuri and surrounding areas, major leather goods exporting centers Ambur, Vaniyambadi,^[5] and Vellore-Katpadi which has both a medical center a university.^[6]

Time Table

Rake

Coach Position

Kovai express is a single rake unit. Total number of Coaches are 24.

SLR

UR

C2

C1

D1

D2

D3

D4

PC

D5

D6

D7

D8

D9

D10

D11

D12

D13

D14

UR

UR

UR

SLR

Locomotive

All electric Locomotive WAP4 from Erode and Royapuram Loco shed. At times, more powerful WAP7 loco is used.

Historic information

The old number was 75/76, later changed in 80's to 2675/2676, as per new four digit format numbering system later adopted by the Indian Railways.From December 2011 onwards 5 digit train number system was introduced all over India and accordingly Kovai express train number was again changed as 12675/12676.

See also

• Famous trains
• The Grand Trunk Express
• Pallavan Express
• Nellai Express
• Rockfort Express
• Pandian Express
• Pearl City Express
• Tamil Nadu Express
• Cheran Express

References

External links

• Kovai Express Route

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Agitations and accidents	1928 South Indian railway strike 1932 Madras and Southern Mahratta railway strike 1974 railway strike in India 1988 Kollam Peruman train accident Nellore train fire
See also	Indian Railways Bholu (mascot) Transport in Guntur Madras Time Thiruvananthapuram–Mangalore high-speed passenger corridor Annual passenger earnings details of railway stations in Kerala
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