Gitanjali Express


The 12859 / 12860 Gitanjali Express is a daily train running between two metro cities, Kolkata, in West Bengal and Mumbai, in Maharashtra connecting the East with the West. Numbered 12859/60 this train belongs to the Superfast category. 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.

Relevance

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 & Halts

The 12859/12860 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 & 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 or Howrah based WAP 4 / WAP 7 locomotive powers the train for its entire journey.

Coach composition