The Pandian Express is a Superfast overnight express train of the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways which runs daily between Madurai Junction and Chennai Egmore via Villupuram, Vridhachalam and Tiruchirappalli. The inaugural run of this express train is during Oct 01, 1969 on Wednesday.

Introduction

The name of the train commemorates the 6th century BC to 17th century AD Pandyan Dynasty or Pandian Kingdom of Tamil Nadu. It is a standard train consisting of 23 coaches. The main stops on the way are Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Vriddhachalam, Tiruchirappalli and Dindigul. The train operates daily and covers a distance of 493 km. The train runs at a top speed of 110 km/h. It is a Prestigious train with Southern Railway Zone. It is now running with LHB rakes (Linke Hoffman Busch) from 15 August 2016 and is maintained at Madurai. 50th Anniversary of Pandian Express was celebrated by Railfans and Rail users on 1/10/2019 at Madurai Junction with a cake cut. This train had the livery changed twice - first it had the "Olive-Green livery", separated by 2 yellow-lines between the upper & lower part of the windows & later on it was changed to "Maroon colour" on the MG. This train was numbered as 6717/6718 when it was run on MG. It is now hauled by WAP-7 loco from Royapuram Loco Shed from Madurai to Chennai Egmore and via the same route.

Locomotive

This train was numbered as 6717/6718 when it was run on MG. It is now hauled by 6350HP Fitted WAP-7 loco from Royapuram Loco Shed from Madurai to Chennai Egmore and via the same route.

Rake

Pandian Superfast Express running Brand New LHB Coaches. CCTV Cameras are fitted all Compartments

Coach composition

In total 22 coaches are there. It includes One AC First Class (1A), AC 2 Tier (2A), AC 3 Tier (3A), Sleeper Class (SL), Unreserved general sitting coach (UR) and End on Generators (EOG). RSA with Rockfort Superfast Express/Cholan Express.