Netaji Express
{{short description|Train in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox rail service
| color = FFCCCC
| name = Netaji SF Express
| type = Superfast Express
| logo =
| image = Kalka Mail.jpg
| caption = Netaji Express at Kalka railway station.
| status = Active
| locale = West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab & Haryana
| first = {{start date and age|df=yes|1866|07|01}}
| last =
| operator = Eastern Railway
| ridership = Daily
| start = Howrah (HWH)
| stops = 38
| end = Kalka (KLK)
| distance = {{convert|1715|km|0|abbr=on}}
| journeytime = 29 hrs 05 mins
| frequency = Daily
| class = AC First Class, AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier, Sleeper Class, Unreserved
| seating = Yes
| sleeping = Yes
| autorack =
| catering = Available
| observation = Large windows
| entertainment =
| baggage = Available
| otherfacilities = Below the seats
| stock = ICF coach
| gauge = {{RailGauge|1676mm}}
| el =
| trainnumber = 12311 / 12312
| speed = {{convert|110|km/h|0|abbr=on}}
| map = {{Kalka Mail}}
| map_state =
}}
The 12311 / 12312 Netaji Express (formerly known as Kalka Mail) is one of the oldest running trains in India. This train connects Howrah in Kolkata, capital of the State of West Bengal to Kalka in Haryana. Kalka is the railhead for the Kalka-Shimla Railway which runs till Shimla, the once summer capital of the British Raj. This train connects with the Shivalik Deluxe Express that runs between Kalka and Shimla.
Timings
- 12311 departs Howrah at 21:55 IST and reaches Kalka at 03:00 IST on the third day. {{Cite web|title=Howrah Kalka Netaji Superfast Express|url=https://indiarailinfo.com/train/901=|website=indiarailinfo.com}}
- 12312 departs Kalka at 23:55 IST and reaches Howrah at 08:05 IST on the third day. {{Cite web|title=Kalka Howrah Netaji Superfast Express|url=https://indiarailinfo.com/train/902/1982/1|website=indiarailinfo.com}}
Coach Composition
This train has 24 Utkrisht ICF coaches.
Howrah to Kalka {{Cite web|title=Howrah Kalka Netaji Superfast Express|url=https://indiarailinfo.com/train/901=|website=indiarailinfo.com}}
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders unsortable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |Loco ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |1 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |2 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |3 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |4 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |5 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |6 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |7 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |8 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:red;" |9 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |10 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |11 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |12 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |13 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |14 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |15 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |16 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:purple;" |17 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |18 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |19 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |20 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |21 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |22 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |23 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |24 |
| 25x25px
|SLR |GEN |GEN |S1 |S2 |S3 |S4 |S5 |PC |B1 |A1 |B2 |B3 |B4 |A2 |A3 |HA1 |S6 |S7 |S8 |S9 |GEN |GEN |SLR |
Kalka to Howrah {{Cite web|title=Kalka Howrah Netaji Superfast Express|url=https://indiarailinfo.com/train/902/1982/1|website=indiarailinfo.com}}
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders unsortable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |Loco ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |1 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |2 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |3 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |4 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |5 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |6 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |7 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:purple;" |8 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |9 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |10 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |11 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |12 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |13 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:rgb(0,0,255);" |14 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:lightskyblue;" |15 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:red;" |16 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |17 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |18 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |19 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |20 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:orange;" |21 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |22 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |23 ! rowspan="1" scope="col" style="background:yellow;" |24 |
| 25x25px
|SLR |GEN |GEN |S9 |S8 |S7 |S6 |HA1 |A2 |A1 |B4 |B3 |B2 |A1 |B1 |PC |S5 |S4 |S3 |S2 |S1 |GEN |GEN |SLR |
At Chandigarh Junction; coaches S1 to S5 , PC, B1 and A1 are detached from 12311 bound to Kalka. These coaches are re-attached with 12312 bound to Howrah. This is done as the platforms of Kalka are too short to fully fit the 24 coach rake.
Traction
This train is hauled end to end by a WAP-7 or a WAP-4 electric locomotive based in Electric Loco Shed, Howrah.
History
In the late 1850s, the British Government in India decided to relocate their capital from Calcutta to Shimla during the summer months to protect the European population from the intense heat of the Bengal plains. To facilitate the annual migration of British officials, their families, and accompanying staff between the imperial capital at Calcutta and the summer capital in Shimla, the East Indian Railway Company inaugurated a train service on July 1, 1866. Departing from Howrah Railway Station, the service was designated as 1 UP (Up Line) / 2 DN (Down Line), known as the East Indian Railway Mail. Initially, this service operated exclusively between Howrah and Delhi.{{cite web | url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020420/windows/main2.htm | title=The Tribune - Windows - Feature }}
The extension of the Ambala – Kalka railway line in 1891 enabled the East Indian Railway Mail to extend its route to Kalka. The subsequent opening of the Kalka – Shimla route on November 7, 1903, facilitated the further extension of the train service to Shimla, involving a gauge change at Kalka. Passengers traveling to Shimla from Kalka transitioned from a broad gauge train to a narrow gauge East Indian Railway Mail for the final leg of the journey. Notably, both Howrah and Kalka stations featured internal carriageways along the platforms to allow the Viceroy and other dignitaries to access their rail coaches directly. The carriageway at Howrah remains in use between Platforms 8 and 9, while the carriageway at Kalka has been repurposed into a platform.{{cite web | url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020420/windows/main2.htm | title=The Tribune - Windows - Feature }}
The revered freedom fighter Netaji Subash Chandra Bose boarded this train from Gomoh on the night of 17 January, 1941 while escaping the British Raj to Peshawar. With the rationalisation of train numbering system in the 1990s, the iconic designation 01 UP / 02 DN was discontinued. {{Cite web |title=A Train Ride Through History: Kalka Mail Gets a New Name For its Role in Netaji's Great Escape |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/subhash-chandra-bose-birth-anniversary-kalka-mail-netaji-express-great-escape-3327005.html |website=News18 |language=en}} On July 10, 2011 this train was involved in a derailment at Malwan station in Fatehpur district that killed 70 and injured 300.{{cite news | url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Toll-climbs-to-70--300-injured/816260/ | title=Toll climbs to 70, 300 injured | author=indianexpress.com | date=12 July 2011 | access-date= 28 January 2014}} On 2 October, 2018 the train started running with Utkrisht rakes, becoming the first train in Indian Railways to do so.
In popular culture
This train is featured in a short story by Satyajit Ray, the Indian film director and writer. In the story, The Mystery of the Kalka Mail (Baksho Rahasya), the three main characters travel from Calcutta to Delhi and on to Kalka on the train. The plot involves a stolen diamond and an unpublished manuscript.{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A59706138 |title= The Feluda Films of Satyajit Ray |publisher= h2g2| access-date = 28 January 2014}} The story was also made into a radio play and a film.
Renaming
This train was renamed to Netaji Express in honour of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to commemorate his 124th Birth Anniversary on 23 January 2021.{{cite news | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/railways-renames-howrah-kalka-mail-as-netaji-express-7153534/ | title=Railways renames Howrah-Kalka Mail as Netaji Express | author=indianexpress.com | date=20 January 2021}}
Accidents
=Fatehpur derailment, 2011=
{{main|Fatehpur derailment}}
15 coaches of the Kalka Mail derailed on the Kanpur-Fatehpur line near the Fatehpur railway station on the afternoon of 10 July 2011. Causation is unsolved though poor maintenance of the locomotive is suspected because the engine had begun swaying sideways just before the accident. More than 70 persons died and 300 were injured. The injured were taken to hospitals in Kanpur, Lucknow and Allahabad.{{cite news | url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Toll-climbs-to-70--300-injured/816260/ | title=Toll climbs to 70, 300 injured | author=indianexpress.com | date=12 July 2011 | access-date= 28 January 2014}}{{cite news|title=Kalka Train Accident by OneIndia|url=http://news.oneindia.in/2011/07/10/kalka-mail-accident-derailed-near-kanpur-many-injured-aid0101.html|access-date= 28 January 2014|newspaper=OneIndia}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Historical trains in India}}
{{Railway lines in Eastern India}}
{{Railways in Northern India}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalka Mail}}
Category:Rail transport in Howrah
Category:Rail transport in Jharkhand
Category:Rail transport in Bihar
Category:Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh
Category:Rail transport in Delhi
Category:Rail transport in Haryana