Pinakini Express completes 30 years of service

Vijayawada(NTR District): The Pinakini Express of Vijayawada division of South Central Railway on Friday completed 30 years of service par excellence. On this occasion, Electric Loco shed here assigned WAP4 Loco specially painted in vintage WAM-4 livery fashion to power the train on its birthday run.

Pinakini Intercity Express, which derived its name from Penna or Pinakini River flowing through Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, was started on July 1, 1992 from Vijayawada. This is a daily superfast express connecting Vijayawada Junction in South Central Railway Zone to MGR Chennai Central in Southern Railway Zone.

This train travels 430 kms on each side and consists of 12 halts in between. Pinakini Express enjoys amazing patronage and its occupancy rate is more than 100 per cent throughout the year. Many employees, students, season ticket holders of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts daily choose this train as the safest means to travel to their workplaces

and destinations due to its convenient timings and best punctuality performance.

Initially the train consisted of 18 coaches, later coaches were increased to 24 due to heavy demand. Pinakini Express has single standard ICF rake and is being primarily maintained at Vijayawada since its inception. It has three AC Chair Car coaches, nine reserved and nine unreserved non-AC coaches, pantry car and two SLR (Seating-cum-Luggage Rake) coaches. The rake was upgraded with safer CBC (Central Buffer Coupler) coupling by replacing old screw coupling as a measure of enhanced safety. It also equipped with bio toilets and OBHS staff for on board cleaning during the journey.

Senior railway officials Ch Dinesh Reddy, Uday Bhaskar and PRO Nusrat M Mandrupkar and Station Director PBN Prasad flagged off the Intercity service on Friday at platform no 1 of Vijayawada railway station.

The SCR rail fans club and rail enthusiasts decorated the WAM 4 loco and celebrated 30th birth anniversary by cutting a cake at

Vijayawada Station on Friday

and thanked the ELS, Vijayawada for painting the WAM-4 livery on the loco.

Divisional Railway Manager Shivendra Mohan appreciated the efforts of Coaching Depot staff of Mechanical Department for best maintenance of the rake and on completion of 30 years of service.