The Vaigai Superfast Express is a

Intercity express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

typed super fast express train running daily between

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

and

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

Tiruchirappalli 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 bei ...

operated by Southern Railway zone of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. Due to the demand for a day train between

and Madras, which gradually began to increase from the 1970s, the Southern Railway decided to introduce a super fast train for the first time on the MG in Southern railway. Vaigai Express is fondly called the "KING OF CHORD LINE" and both Vaigai Express and Pallavan Express are fondly known as 'CHORD LINE BROTHERS".

History and background

The train is named after the

Vaigai River The Vaigai is a river in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India; it passes through the towns of Theni, Dindigul and Madurai. It originates in Varusanadu Hills, the Periyar Plateau of the Western Ghats range, and flows northeast through the ...

which flows from the city of

and the train was first started from there. On 15August 1977 at 6 am, Down Train No. 135 Vaigai Express began its inaugural journey from

Madurai Junction Madurai Junction railway station (station code: MDU) is a railway station in South India and the primary railway station serving the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The station is the headquarters of the Madurai railway division of the Southern ...

Madras 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 ...

, with 16 yellow and green livery coaches and a matching YDM4 diesel loco. When it was introduced in 1977, this train had 16 coaches, hauled by twin-YDM4 diesel locos, and by 1984 it was bifurcated as the

Pallavan Superfast Express Pallavan Superfast Express is an Intercity express typed superfast service operated by the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This service connects the cities of Chennai to Karaikudi via Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tami ...

, comprising eight coaches. The Vaigai express clocked the fastest run between Madurai and Madras Egmore over a distance of on the first day in 7 hours and 5 minutes when it entered

at 1.05 p.m. that afternoon, matching the speed of many Broad Gauge super fast trains on the SR. For safety purposes, the train was slowed down to a journey time of 7 hours and 40 minutes later on. At that time the train had only three stops they are Villupuram Junction,

Tiruchirappalli Junction Tiruchchirappalli Junction railway station, also known as Trichy Junction railway station (station code: TPJ) is a junction station in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. It serves as the headquarters for Tiruchirappalli railway division of the South ...

, and

Dindigul Junction Dindigul Junction railway station (station code: DG) is a junction railway station serving the city of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, India. The station is a part of the Madurai railway division of the Southern Railway zone. It serves as a gateway fo ...

. Later on, the stops were increased due to the demands of people. From 1999 onwards, Vaigai Express has been converted from Meter Gauge to Broad Gauge and hauled by Broad gauge Diesel Locomotives of Golden Rock. From 12February 2014, the Vaigai Express is being hauled by an electric locomotive

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) ...

. 9 July 2015 onwards this train is regularly hauled by

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

class electric locomotives maintained by

Electric Loco Shed, Royapuram Electric Loco Shed, Royapuram is a motive power depot performing locomotive maintenance and repair facility for electric locomotives of the Indian Railways, located at Royapuram on the Chennai Beach–Katpadi section of the Chennai Suburban Rai ...

. This train got updated with modern

LHB coach Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany (renamed Alstom LHB GmbH in 1998 after the takeover by Alstom and now known as Alstom Transport Deutschland) and mostl ...

from 30 June 2019.

Record-breaking run

Vaigai Express made a historic record by covering the distance of 495 km from Madurai to Chennai in 6 hours 40 minutes, on 3 March 2022 12636 MDU-MS Vaigai express departed Madurai with a delay of 21 minutes at 7.26 AM but the train reached its destination 23 minutes before its scheduled time by 2:07 pm, breaking its own best record on the inaugural of 7 hours 5 minutes on 15 August 1977 on

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 ...

section.

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

Madurai edition published this news about the record-breaking run by the Vaigai Express on 5 March 2022. On 15 October 2022, Vaigai Express set a new record for covering the distance of 495 km from Madurai to Chennai in 6 hours and 34 minutes.

History of Uniqueness

It was the only train at that time in SR which had completely tube-lighted interiors and sun-control sliding glass shutters installed for the first time in all its eight-second class coaches. This is the only MG train on the SR to be fitted with specially enhanced buffers and certified to run at 110 km/h. For the first time on the MG, the ICF manufactured two 40-seat AC chair car coaches exclusively for the Vaigai and

Pallavan express Pallavan Express is an Intercity express typed superfast service operated by the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This service connects the cities of Chennai to Karaikudi via Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Th ...

and used in those trains. It was the first train in

Madurai railway division Madurai railway division is a railway division belonging to the Southern Railways (SR), India. Officially created in 1956, it spans over making it the largest railway division of the Southern Railways. Prior to the formation of the Thiruvanant ...

that ran on electric traction after the completion of 92 km long 25-KV overhead railway electrification of

Dindigul Dindigul, also spelt Thindukkal (), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dindigul district. Dindigul is located southwest from the state capital, Chennai, away from Tiruchirappalli, away ...

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 ...

Section on 6 September 2011.

Accident

Between August 1978 to January 1979 Vaigai Express was involved in accidents twice. On 21 December 1978 it dashed against two boulders between Talanallur and Vriddhachalam Town stations and on 22 December 1978, it derailed at Tiruchirappalli station.https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2057/1/lsd_06_07_01-03-1979.pdf Page no. 98

Rakes

References

External links

Vaigai Express39th Birthday Celebration for Vaigai Exrpress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaigai Express Transport in Chennai Transport in Madurai Named passenger trains of India Express trains in India Rail transport in Tamil Nadu Railway services introduced in 1977