Hirakud Express
The 20807 / 20808 Hirakud Superfast Express is a tri-weekly express train which runs between Amritsar and Visakhapatnam. It passes through the cities of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Panipat, Delhi, Mathura, Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Sagar, Damoh, Katni, Umaria, Shahdol, Anuppur, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Angul, Talcher, Dhenkanal, Naraj Marthapur railway station, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Palasa, Srikakulam Road & Vizianagaram. Hira means diamond and Kud means island in Sambalpuri language spoken in Western Odisha. Sambalpur was famous as an ancient diamond mine and reference about it can be found in the works of Claudius Ptolemy, Edward Gibbon, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. Hirakud Express is named after the famous Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur, Odisha which is one of the longest dams of India.
History
It was initially introduced between Sambalpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in 1992 as 4087/4088 Hirakud Express with reversals at Katni & Jharsuguda. For the 1st 10 yrs Hirakud Express was covering kms in 25 hrs 30 mins running at speed. Later in 2002 it was extended to Bhubaneswar with number change to 8407/8408 with added reversal at Talcher. Timings were same in Sambalpur - Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station & vice versa direction. In 2012, Hirakud Express was extended to Visakhapatnam from Bhubaneswar and Amritsar from Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station & number was changed to 18507/18508. The 18507/18508 Hirakud Express was taking a whooping 47 hours to cover running at speed. Train used reversal at 3 stops Talcher, Sambalpur & Jharsuguda as it was avoiding reversal at Katni by bypassing via. From 2017 onwards, with the inauguration of, bypass station for Jharsuguda, the train uses reversal at Talcher & Sambalpur only.Coach composition
The coach composition of the 20807/20808 Hirakud Express is:- 1 AC 2 Tier
- 4 AC 3 Tier
- 6 Sleeper Class
- 4 Second Class
- 1 Pantry Car
- 1 EOG
- 1 SRL
| Loco | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | - |
| EOG | GEN | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | PC | S6 | A1 | B1 | B2 | B3 | B4 | GEN | GEN | GEN | SLR |
From Amritsar to Visakhapatnam
| Loco | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | - |
| SLR | GEN | GEN | GEN | B4 | B3 | B2 | B1 | A1 | S6 | PC | S5 | S4 | S3 | S2 | S1 | GEN | EOG |
Timetable
- 20807- Starts from Visakhapatnam every Saturday, Tuesday and Friday at 00.10 am & reaches Amritsar Junction on 3rd day at 21.25 pm.
- 20808- Starts from Amritsar Jn every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 23.55 pm & and reaches Visakhapatnam on 3rd day at 21.10 pm.
Route & halts
- '
- Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station
- '.
Rake sharing