Chennai Mail

Howrah Chennai Mail

Howrah bound Chennai Mail hauled by WAP 4 class electric locomotive at Anakapalle station in Andhra Pradesh
Overview
Service type	Superfast/Mail
Locale	West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
First service	15 August 1900; 116 years ago (1900-08-15)
Current operator(s)	South Eastern Railway zone
Route
Start	Howrah
End	Chennai Central
Distance travelled	1,661 km (1,032 mi)
Average journey time	28 hours
Service frequency	daily
On-board services
Class(es)	AC first, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper Class, General Unreserved.
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	Yes
Observation facilities	Large Windows
Baggage facilities	Yes
Technical
	Standard Indian Railway coaches
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	59 km/h (37 mph)
Route map

Route map

Howrah-Chennai Mail is a superfast mail train of Indian railways connecting two metropolitan cities of India, Kolkata and Chennai, and the major cities of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Bhubaneswar.

The train made its inaugural run on 15 August 1900, which makes it one of the oldest running trains on Indian Railways. It was first hauled by steam engines, including the WP class engines, then by diesel, and now by electric WAP-4 locomotives. It was the first passenger train to be dieselised on South Eastern Railway, in 1964/65. Till the introduction of the Coromandal Express in the mid seventies, it was the main and fastest train link between Howrah and Chennai (then Madras) with much less number of halts. Presently, this train is the second most important train on the Howrah-Chennai main line after the high speed Coromandal Express. It covers 1661 kilometres at an average speed of 59 km/h.

This train has Ac first, Ac two tier, AC three tier, Sleeper, General classes. A Pantry car facility is available in it.

Important stations through which it passes are Kharagpur, Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada , Nellore , Gudur.