Godavari Express

Godavari Express (numbered:12727/12728) is an express train of South Central Railway, operated between Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.

On 1 February 1974, the Indian Railways announced the first railway service between Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, with the Waltair-Hyderabad Express. The train was run on a daily basis and would depart Visakhapatnam at 5:30 pm and arrive in Hyderabad at 6:45 am, the next morning. On the return journey, it would depart Hyderabad at 5:15 pm and arrive in Visakhapatnam at 6:45 am the next morning. As the train provides rail connectivity to at nine stations in the deserted cities of East and West Godavari districts, it was officially named Godavari Express. It was regularly hauled by a steam locomotive and had 17 coaches. It reached its highest speed of 50 km/h between Samalkot and Rajahmundry. A slip service was introduced in the train during 1975, and the train was run up to Kakinada. Five more coaches were added, as a result. The train also entered a Rake Sharing Agreement or RSA with the Simhadri Express which ran between Visakhapatnam and Rajahmundry. However, in 1980, both the slip service and the RSA were cancelled as the Simhadri Express was extended up to Bhimavaram and the Kakinada-Secunderabad Goutami Express was introduced.

The train retained its 5 new coaches and ran with a diesel locomotive end to end. By 1990, the train had become very popular and two more coaches were introduced, taking the total to 24. It then became one of the longest trains in India. As the Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada line and the Vijayawada-Kazipet-Hyderabad lines were electrified, the train started running with the WAP 4 electric locomotive. Soon, the Godavari Express became the first train belonging to the South Central Railway to run with 5 air-conditioned coaches. In June 1999, the train met with its first incident, as it derailed at Ghanpur near Warangal. In the year 2000, the Godavari Express became the first train in the South Central railway to run with its own air conditioned first class coach and was also the first train in the Zone to have 6 air-conditioned coaches.In the year 2011, the train was re-numbered to 12727 on becoming a Superfast train and was hauled by a WAP 7 between Vijayawada and Hyderabad. The train timings were modified again and the journey time was further reduced by 15 minutes. In July and August 2011, the passengers of the air-conditioned coaches of the Godavari Express were robbed twice and a hoax call was made regarding a bomb in the sixth coach of the train. As a result, safety was enhanced and the train started running with a WAP 7 from end to end. This train then became the first to run with a WAP 7 between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.  Hundreds of people from viziangaram and srikakulam districts are travelling to secunderabad daily through godavari express. So,There is a proposal to extend godavari express up to viziangaram junction.

Halts 

 Visakhapatnam Junction (Waltair)
 Duvvada Junction
 Anakapalle
 Yelamanchili
 Narsipatnam Road
 Tuni
 Annavaram (Alight here for Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Vari Devasthanam)
 Pithapuram
 Samalkot Junction
 Anaparti
 Rajahmundry
 Nidadavolu Junction
 Tadepalligudem
 Eluru
 Vijayawada Junction
 Khammam
 Mahabubabad
 Warangal
 Kazipet Junction
 Secunderabad Junction
 Hyderabad Deccan Nampally

See also 
 List of named passenger trains in India

References

External links 
 12727/Godavari SF Express India Rail Info

Category:Transport in Hyderabad, India
Category:Transport in Visakhapatnam
Category:Named passenger trains of India
Category:Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh
Category:Rail transport in Telangana
Category:Railway services introduced in 1974
Category:Express trains in India