Vaigai Express Ran As Fast As Vande Bharat And Cut Down Chennai-Madurai Travel Time By 2 Hours

Vaigai Superfast Express recently made up for lost time and completed a 430-km stretch between Chengalpattu, near Chennai, and Madurai in just five hours and 35 minutes, rather than the usual seven hours and 35 minutes. The train reached on time despite starting its journey late and facing delays along the way.

The train maintained speeds of up to 110 kmph, comparable to those of Vande Bharat trains, on most parts of the route. According to an ETV Bharat report, the train completed the journey on October 24. 

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Vaigai Express starts late but makes up for lost time

The Vaigai Superfast Express, operated by Southern Railway, departed from Chennai Egmore at 1:25 pm on October 24, around 10 minutes behind schedule. It also faced a nearly 20-minute delay near Kodambakkam due to track maintenance and obstructions along the route. However, the train continued its journey and maintained speeds of up to 110 kmph on most sections. The train had to slow down near Madurai because construction work was underway on that stretch.

Arun Pandian, a frequent traveller who has also studied train speeds, told ETV Bharat that the train reached Tambaram around 2:25 pm and departed at 2:30 pm, reaching Chengalpattu at about 2:58 pm. From Chengalpattu, the train covered the 103-km stretch to Villupuram in one hour and four minutes. At Villupuram, the locomotive pilots, assistant locomotive pilots and train manager were replaced, and the operating crew from the Madurai Division took charge. The train reached Madurai Junction at around 8:37 pm and arrived at Platform 7.

Pandian compared the train's performance with services such as the Rajdhani Express, Coromandel Express and Tamil Nadu Express on the Chennai-Vijayawada route.

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This was not the first time the Vaigai Express made up for lost time.

On March 3, 2022, the train was scheduled to leave Madurai at 7:05 am but departed at 7:26 am because of a mechanical issue. Despite the 21-minute delay, it reached Chennai at 2:07 pm, earlier than its usual scheduled arrival time of 2:30 pm.

Vaigai Express's milestones

The Vaigai Express was introduced on August 15, 1977, to connect Chennai and Madurai. Since then, the train has recorded several milestones in Indian Railways' history. It was India's first metre-gauge train to run at 100 kmph. The train was also the first metre-gauge service to have a pantry car.

In 1994, it introduced the first 42-seat air-conditioned coach on a metre-gauge train. In 2019, Southern Railway introduced modern Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches on the Vaigai and Pallavan Express trains.