West Coast Superfast Express

The 22637 / 22638 West Coast Superfast Express is a daily superfast express train connecting the city of Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, with the port city of Mangaluru in Karnataka via Palakkad Junction. It is one of the trains connecting the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea and the oldest train on this route. Since August 1, 2021, the train runs with new timings.
The name traces to the location of Mangalore which is on the west coast of India. It is one of the oldest trains and also provides a day-time connectivity to Coimbatore from Chennai.
The train shares its rake with the Mangalore Mail which also traverses the same route.
In 2014 Ministry of Indian Railways Announced the Service Type of West Coast Express as Superfast The Schedule and Train Number also Changed from 16627/16628-> 22637/22638.

History

Introduced in 1965 as an Express train sharing rakes with Mangalore Mail, It was later upgraded to Superfast Express train in June 2014. When introduced, it ran with a WDM-2 from Erode Diesel Loco Shed for the whole journey. Later after 1990 when the route electrified till Erode, it used electric locomotive from Chennai to Erode and a diesel loco from Erode to Mangalore. After electrification till Mangalore was completed, it now uses WAP-4 / WAP-7 in its entire journey. It used to take 17 hrs 15 mins to cover running at speed.

Loco link and coach composition

When introduced, it ran with a WDM-2 from Erode Diesel Loco Shed for the whole journey. Later after 1990 when the route electrified till Erode, it used electric locomotive from Chennai to Erode and a diesel loco from Erode to Mangalore. After electrification till Mangalore was completed, it now uses WAP-4 / WAP-7 in its entire journey.
It has a total of 23 coaches excluding the locomotive. It has 1 HCPV or High Capacity Parcel Van, 2 Guard Vans. 4 General Compartments, 11 Sleeper coaches, 4 AC Three Tier, 1 AC Two Tier. and an RMS. When it departs Mangalore Central as 22638 for the return journey to Chennai, the RMS or Rail Mail Service coach is put at the end of the train.