The Netravati Express (16345/46) is a daily Express train connecting capital cities of Kerala and Maharashtra. It operates between and

Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (also known by its former name Kurla Terminus, station code: LTT) is a railhead and a major railway terminus in the Kurla suburb of Mumbai, India. LTT is managed by the Central Railway. The and suburban railway station ...

. The train runs on the

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The first passenger train ran on Konkan railway tracks on 20 March 1993, between Udupi and ...

History

Initially the train the Bombay Kurla (LTT)–Mangalore/Cochin Netravati (Cochin–Kurla) Express was plied between

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

as link via the inland

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, Gulbarga,

Guntakal Guntakal is a City in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Guntakal mandal and Guntakal revenue division.It is also the headquarters of the Guntakal Railway Division in South Central Railway. Ge ...

Renigunta Renigunta is a neighbourhood and suburb of Tirupati located in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Tirupati Airport is located in Renigunta. It is a part of Tirupati urban agglomeration. It is also the mandal headquarters of ...

Krishnarajapuram Krishnarajapuram or K.R. Puram, officially Krishnarajapuram, is a neighborhood of in North-Eastern Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is one of the zones of BBMP. It is located from Bangalore City railway station. The ...

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

route parting at Shornur Junction. Trains on the old route used to take 48 hours to reach Mangalore from Bombay. After the

line was operational in 1998, the route has been changed via the Konkan Railway and the Mangalore–Bombay running time was reduced drastically to 16 hours. On March 1, 1998, the Bombay Kurla (LTT)–Mangalore/Cochin Netravati (Cochin–Kurla) Express started running via the Konkan, making it the first scheduled service that ran the length of the Konkan Railway. The link express was made a single train till Kochi and further extended till

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

(which is the capital city of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

) from 10 February 2001.

Background

city is situated at the banks of the

Netravati River The Netravati River or Netravathi Nadi has its origins at Bangrabalige valley, Yelaneeru Ghat in Kudremukh in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka, India. This river flows through the famous pilgrimage place Dharmasthala and is considered one ...

. Since this trains terminating point was Mangalore back then, the name of the train was set as Netravati Express.

Traction

As the route is completely electrified a

Royapuram Royapuram is a locality in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for its beach, and for Royapuram Railway Station. The station is the first railway station of south India, opening in 1856, and is today ...

or an

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 ...

-based

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 Volt, kV Alternating current, AC Electric locomotive, electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for 5 ft 6 ...

hauls the train through out its entire journey.

Routing

The 16345/46 Netravati Express runs from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Thiruvananthapuram Central.

Coach composition

The train was upgraded to modern LHB rake on September 26, 2019, with an MPS of 130 kmph. The train consists of 24 coaches: * 2 AC II Tier coach * 6 AC III Tier coaches * 1 AC III Tier Economy coaches * 8 Sleeper coaches * 1 Pantry car * 2 General coaches * 2 Generator cars No rake sharing. Four dedicated LHB rakes.

References

External links

Konkan Railway

Netravati Express train route

''Times of India''

''The Hindu''

''Revised Coach Position'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Netravati Express Transport in Mumbai Transport in Thiruvananthapuram Named passenger trains of India Rail transport in Karnataka Rail transport in Maharashtra Railway services introduced in 1998 1998 establishments in India Rail transport in Kerala Rail transport in Goa Express trains in India