The 17063/64 Ajanta Express is an

Express Express or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid Music * ''Express'' ...

train belonging to the

South Central Railway Zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

that runs between

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

and

Manmad Manmad ( ənmaːɖ is one of the towns in Nashik district in the state of Maharashtra in India. It is the third largest city in Nashik district, with a population of approximately 80,000. Geographically it lies within Nandgaon Tehsil in Nash ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

in India.

History

Ajanta Express runs through eastern

(

Marathwada Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...

region) and the north-western region of

. It was known as ''Kacheguda Express'' very often by the people travelling on Kacheguda– Nizamabad–

Nanded Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state, India. It is the tenth largest city in the state and the seventy-ninth most populous city in India. It is the second largest city in Marathwada region. It is the district headquarters of Nanded distric ...

–

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...

route on former Hyderabad–Godavari Valley Railways. The train was introduced on 1st April, 1967 as a

metre-gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

train between Kacheguda and

via Nizamabad,

and

. The train became popular in a short time as

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

was the point to take broad gauge trains to other destinations. After the track from Manmad to

Parbhani Parbhani (, IPA ) is a city in Maharashtra state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Parbhani District. Parbhani is one of the largest cities in Marathwada region. Parbhani is around away from regional headquarters of Aurangaba ...

was converted to broad gauge in 1992–95 and the track from Parbhani to

Mudkhed Mudkhed is a city and a municipal council in Nanded District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. well known for Flower merchants. Transport Mudkhed Junction as in 2010 is the junction of three railway lines. A Broad gauge line goes to Mumb ...

and Nizamabad was still not converted, the train was re-routed between Kacheguda and Manmad via

Bidar Bidar (/ biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider ''Bidar Metropolitan area ...

and Parbhani in 1995–1996 because the metre gauge had been converted between

Vikarabad Vikarabad is also Known as Gangawaram(Ancient name) a town and mandal in Vikarabad district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Vikarabad mandal of Vikarabad revenue division. History Vikarabad was known as Gangawaram ancient ...

and Parbhani by then. In 2007, the train again diverted to its old route which had been converted into broad gauge in 2002–2003. Ajanta Express (Kacheguda–Manmad) was the fastest metre-gauge train in India with an average speed of in 1967.

Overview

The train is named after the

Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are approximately thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures des ...

. It runs daily and connects important stations such as Nizamabad,

, Aurangabad and

Nagarsol Nagarsol, sometimes spelled Nagarsul, is a small Indian village in located in Maharashtra, with some housing colonies built around railway station, a rural hospital, a small public bus stand and an English medium school apart from couple of verna ...

. The 17063 Manmad–Secunderabad Ajanta Express has an average speed of 52 km/h and covers 620 km in 12 hours. The 17064 Secunderabad–Manmad Ajanta Express has an average speed of 47 km/h and covers 620 km in 13 hours and 15 minutes.

Timings

The train departs from

Secunderabad Junction Secunderabad Junction (station code: SC) is a major intercity junction railway station and a commuter rail hub in the Hyderabad urban area. In the city centre, the station is in the South Central Railway zone of Indian Railways. Built in 1874 b ...

at 6:50 p.m. and arrives at Manmad Junction at 8:05 a.m. the next day. It departs from Manmad Junction at 8:50 p.m. and arrives at Secunderabad Junction at 8:50 a.m. the next day.

Halts

* Manmad Junction * Nagarsol * Rotegaon * Lasur *

* Jalna * Parbhani Junction * Purna Junction *

Hazur Sahib Nanded Hazur Sahib (; ), also known as Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib, is one of the five takhts in Sikhism. The gurdwara was built between 1832 and 1837 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839). It is located on the banks of the Godavari ...

* Mudkhed Junction * Umri *

Dharmabad Dharmabad is a town and a municipal council in Nanded district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is located near the state border with Telangana. Dharmabad has an average elevation of . It is connected by railway. An industrial training i ...

* Basar * Nizamabad Junction * Kamareddi * Wadiaram * Medchal *

Bolarum Bolaram is a locality in Secunderabad Cantonment in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region. The distance from Bolaram to Secunderabad is 10 km. Demographics As per the Census 2001, Bolaram had a populati ...

Classes

The train usually consists of 24 standard ICF coaches: * 1 AC first cum II tier * 1 AC II tier * 5 AC III tiers * 12 sleeper classes * 1 pantry car * 4 second sittings As it is customary with most other train services in India, coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways, depending on demand.

Coach composition

Rake sharing

Since 1 January 2018, it started to share its rakes with 12703/04

Falaknuma Express The 12703 / 12704 Falaknuma Express is a Superfast Express train belonging to South Central Railway zone that runs between Secunderabad and Howrah, ( Kolkata) in India. It is currently being operated with 12703/12704 train numbers on daily ba ...

with Primary Maintenance at Secunderabad Junction.

Loco link

As the route is not completley electrified, Moula Ali (MLY)-based

WDM-3A The Indian locomotive class WDM-3A is a class of diesel–electric locomotive that was developed in 1993 by Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), Varanasi for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Mixed traffic (M) ...

WDG-3A The Indian locomotive class WDG-3A is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 1994 by Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW),Varanasi for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad-gauge (W), Diesel (D), Goods traffic (G) engin ...

twins haul the train to complete its full journey.

References

External links

Ajanta Express Time Table
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajanta Express Transport in Manmad Transport in Secunderabad Railway services introduced in 1967 Named passenger trains of India Transport in Aurangabad, Maharashtra Rail transport in Maharashtra Transport in Telangana Transport in Nanded 1967 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Express trains in India 1967 establishments in Maharashtra