The 'Panchvati Express' आदर्श पंचवटी एक्सप्रेस or Ideal Panchvati Express, is one and only Indian itercity superfast express train that connects Mumbai with Nashik. It is a daily means of transport for thousands of passengers travelling between the two cities. It is recorded in the Limca book of records[1] as an ideal train as the train preserves some of its features. Almost 5000 daily up-downers up-down by this train. It is also called as "Lifeline of Mumbai Based Nashikkars" It is It is a prestigious train of the Indian Railways.
Contents |
The Panchvati Express daily departs Nashik Road Station at 07:15 IST and reaches Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Mumbai at 10:35 IST. The train departs Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus(CST), Mumbai daily at 18:10 IST (6:10 PM IST) and reaches Nashik Road Station at 21:25 IST (9:25 PM IST). These are the scheduled time. The starting time and arrival time is always as per schedule at both the stations. The train covers a distance of 186 km between Nashik Road and Mumbai. The train number is 12110 (Up) while travelling from Nashik Road to Mumbai, whereas it is 12109 (Down) during the return journey
After leaving Nashik Road, the train stops at Deolali, Igatpuri, Kasara, Kalyan and Dadar stations before the Mumbai destination. The train also halts for a few minutes at a Vada Road Tunnel in the middle of a steep descent in order to check its brakes. This is known as a "technical halt" and is not a scheduled halt at a station.
| Stations | Arrives Time | Departs Time | Halt Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nashik Road - NK | - | 07:15 | - |
| Deolali - DVL | 07:25 | 07:27 | 2 min |
| Igatpuri - IGP | 08:05 | 08:07 | 2 min |
| Kasara - N | 08:35 | 08:37 | 2 min |
| Kalyan - KYN | 09:38 | 09:40 | 2 min |
| Dadar - DR | 10:25 | 10:27 | 2 min |
| Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - CSTM | 10:35 | - |
During the journey from Mumbai, the train's first halt is at Dadar, then Kalyan and then Kasara to attach banker locomotives at the rear to enable the train to climb the mountainous route. The train then halts at Igatpuri after climbing to the top, and then halts at Deolali station near Nashik before finally terminating at the main Nashik Road railway station.
| Stations | Arrives Time | Departs Time | Halt Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chhataapati Shivaji Terminus - CSTM. | - | 18:10 | - |
| Dadar - DDR | 18:25 | 18:27 | 2 min |
| Kalyan - KYN | 19:15 | 19:17 | 2 min |
| Kasara - N | 20:15 | 20:20 | 5 min |
| Igatpuri - IGP | 20:45 | 20:47 | 2 min |
| 21:15 | 2 min | - | - |
Panchvati Express started on 1 June 1973 as an up-downer train from Nashik to Mumbai as that time there were less means to go from Nashik to Mumbai and even Bus services were very less. Also Nashik-Mumbai Road was having very poor infrastructure. Day by day as the Nashik became an industrial centre population growed exponentially. Also cost of living and house rates in Mumbai went such a high that common Nashikkar who was working in Mumbai was not able to purchase house in Mumbai and live there that's why more and more people chosen the way to up-down to Mumbai and there was only the Panchvati Express who helped such people.After some years, due to rising crowd Panchvati Express was moving as a double deck train for few years. But due to some reasons again it was made single deck. Even in today's era of high inflation Panchvati Express gives service to a common up-downer by mean of Monthly Service Pass (MST) in just Rs. 460 ($10) for second class and Rs. 1850 ($37) for first class for 30 days. But day by day the number of passengers is growing fast and Panchvati Express been found to be insufficient to carry a large number of passengers. So demand is going on for a parallel train to Panchvati Express. In recent budget Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee has announced a new Rajya Rani Express between Nashik and Mumbai. It will start soon.
Panchvati Express is famous for its feature of disciplined travelling. All the passengers use the time taken to cover the distance between Nashik and Igatpuri stations (7 am to 8 am) to read newspapers and answer personal calls. The 8 am-8.30 am slot (from Igatpuri to Kasara) is breakfast time. During the following 50-minute segment from Kasara to Kalyan, commuters are expected to remain silent. The last section of the journey from Kalyan to Dadar is 'reserved' for phone calls and exchange of notes.
Also nobody in the train is allowed to drink liquors, chewing tobacco, gutkha, playing cards etc.
Panchvati Express is totally chair car train. It has 5 Reservation Chair Car coaches, 2 AC Chair Cars, 1 First class MST coach, 1 second class MST coach, 2 Ladies Chair Car coaches, 1 handicapped compartment and 11 General Chair Car coaches with electric engine.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=904030129&cat=&n_date=20090403