The Rameswaram (Boat Mail) Express, previously known as Boat Mail or Indo-Ceylon Express, is an express train that connects

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilo ...

with the state capital

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

via

Devakottai Devakottai is a first-grade municipality in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Located in the Sivaganga district, the town is situated close to the Karaikudi, near Rameswaram National Highway Road (NH-210). It is one of the major cities comes und ...

. During 1900's it was a combined

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

and steamer

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

service between India and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

). Connecting

and

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, the system initially utilised a rail-to-sea operation, but changed to a rail-to-sea-to-rail operation.http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-seltrain.html Famous Trains Passengers could buy a single ticket for the journey. Now at present, it runs from

Chennai Egmore Chennai Egmore, formerly known as Madras Egmore, also known as Chennai Elumbur (station code: MS), is a railway station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore, it is one of the four intercity railway terminals in t ...

via

Villuppuram Viluppuram, Villupuram, or Vizhuppuram () is a Municipality and the administrative headquarters of Viluppuram district. Located south west of a Tiruvannamalai and north west of Cuddalore null The town serves as a major railway junction, ...

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum) or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the headq ...

Trichy Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

Pudukkottai Pudukkottai is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a large city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different times, by the mutharaiyar dynasty , Cholas, ...

Karaikkudi Karaikudi is a Greater municipality in Sivagangai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 21st largest urban agglomeration of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of the area commonly referred to as " Chettinad" and ha ...

Manamadurai Manamadurai is a Municipality Town in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Manamadurai falls under Manamadurai Legislative assembly. Upgradation of Manamadurai to Municipality Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru made ...

Paramakkudi Paramakudi, also Paramagudi, is the largest town in the district of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, with a population of over 95,579 (2011 census). It has been the taluk headquarters since 1918, i.e. from the date of formation of Ramanathapura ...

Ramanathapuram Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a town and a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) in ...

Mandapam Mandapam is a panchayat town in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The famed Pamban Railway bridge and Vehicular bridge lie to the East of this Panchayat Town. Mandapam is Tamil Nadu’s largest refugee camp for Sri L ...

and

Pamban Pamban is a town in the Rameswaram taluk of Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu. It is at the west edge of Pamban Island and is a popular fishing port. The town gives its name to the whole island. Pamban railway station is the first station on t ...

History

The train's name commemorates the 19th century mail service between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). It is one of the top most prestigious trains of Indian Railways and it has completed 100 years of service in 2014. Before cyclone, the train was running as a metre-gauge train from to via , ,

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

, , , , ,

, ,

, , and

. Due to the conversion of meter gauge to broad gauge, the train was stopped. After the completion of broad-gauge track in Chennai–Madurai–Rameswaram line, the train is resumed via . Later the conversion of Tiruchirappalli–Manamadurai line, this train is rerouted via that route which skips Madurai. Finally the Mayiladuthurai to Thanjavur line is converted to broad gauge once again this train is rerouted via Thanjavur which is the present route of Boat Mail Express.

Tuticorin–Colombo era

In the late 19th century, the railway portion of the route within India was from Madras (

) to

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and he ...

. At Tuticorin, passengers embarked on the boat mail steamer to

in Ceylon. The train took 21 hours and 50 minutes for the journey from Madras to Tuticorin. The Boat Mail was one of the early trains to be given vestibuled carriages, in 1898.

Dhanushkodi–Talaimannar era

In 1914, after the

bridge was built, the train's route changed and it went from Madras to

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclo ...

. A much shorter ferry service then took the passengers to

Talaimannar Talaimannar ( ta, தலைமன்னார்; si, තලෙයිමන්නාරම) is a settlement in Sri Lanka located on the northwestern coast of Mannar Island. Transport Sri Lanka's northern railway line was destroyed, disrupted ...

in Ceylon, from where another train went to Colombo. The long ferry journey was considerably shorter than the long Tuticorin-Colombo route.

Post cyclone

In 1964 a passenger train was washed into the sea by huge waves during the 1964 cyclone, when nearing

. The railway tracks and the pier at Dhanushkodi were also destroyed. Following this, the Indian portion of the train service now only operates up to

, while the ferry service to

has restarted from

has been discontinued from 1984 due to

Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam ( ta, தமிழீழம், ''tamiḻ īḻam''; generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independent state that many Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora as ...

issue. It now runs between and via , , ,

, , , , , , , , Devakottai Road, Kallal,, , and .

Schedule

* 16851 – Starts from Chennai Egmore daily at 19:15 IST and reaches Rameswaram next day at 08:20 AM IST * 16852 – Leaves Rameswaram every day at 17:20 IST and reaches Chennai Egmore next day morning 06:45 IST

Traction

The Rameswaram to Tiruchchirappalli section is hauled by a

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 ...

Diesel locomotive and Tiruchchirappalli to Chennai Egmore by a

WAP-4 The Indian locomotive class WAP-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1993 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic (P) ...

electric loco. The same locomotive types are used on the return journey. Between Tiruchchirappalli Junction and , this train achieves a maximum speed of 110 km/hr.

Coach composition

The train consists of 23 coaches, which shares its rakes with Sethu Superfast Express, operates daily and covers a distance of . It includes One AC First Class cum 2nd AC (HA), AC 2 Tier (A), AC 3 Tier (B), Sleeper Class (SL), Unreserved general sitting coach (GS) and End on Generators (SLRD).

Alternative proposals

At one time the

South Indian Railway The South Indian Railway Company operated a number of gauge lines in South India from 1874 to 1951. History The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company w ...

considered constructing a bridge long across the shallow waters and sand shoals and reefs known as Rama Sethu between India and Sri Lanka. However, this plan was shelved when World War I broke out.

Rake

Locomotive

* Rameswaram (Boat Mail) Express Running Chennai to Trichy with

Locomotive from

Erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the E ...

Arakkonam Arakkonam () is a railway town and suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with a population of 78,395 per the census 2011. It is in the newly created Ranipet district, about from Ranipet head ...

Electric Shed. * Trichy - Rameswaram

WDP-3A The Indian locomotive class WDP-3A also known as Toaster is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 1998 by Banaras Locomotive Works, Varanasi for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Passen ...