The 'Panchvati Express आदर्श पंचवटी एक्सप्रेस or Ideal Panchvati Express, is one and only India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n itercity superfast express train that connects Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 with Nashik. It is a daily means of transport for thousands of passengers travelling between the two cities. It is recorded in the Limca book of records

Limca Book of Records

Limca Book of Records is a record book of Indian origin. First published in 1990, when the Limca Brand was owned by Parle Group. The book continued to be published by Coca-Cola, when they bought the Limca Brand. The 20th edition of this book was released by Amitabh Bachchan in March 2009...

 as an ideal train as the train preserves some of its features. Almost 5000 daily up-downers up-down by this train. It is also called as "Lifeline of Mumbai Based Nashikkars" It is It is a prestigious train of the Indian Railways

Indian Railways

Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

.

Schedule

The Panchvati Express daily departs Nashik Road Station at 07:15 IST

Indian Standard Time

Indian Standard Time is the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971...

 and reaches Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus , is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and historic railway station in Mumbai which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. Situated in the Bori Bunder area of Mumbai, it was built as a new railway station on the location of the Bori Bunder Station in 1887...

 (CST), Mumbai at 10:35 IST. The train departs Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus , is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and historic railway station in Mumbai which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. Situated in the Bori Bunder area of Mumbai, it was built as a new railway station on the location of the Bori Bunder Station in 1887...

(CST), Mumbai daily at 18:10 IST (6:10 PM IST) and reaches Nashik Road Station at 21:25 IST (9:25 PM IST). These are the scheduled time. The starting time and arrival time is always as per schedule at both the stations. The train covers a distance of 186 km between Nashik Road and Mumbai. The train number is 12110 (Up) while travelling from Nashik Road to Mumbai, whereas it is 12109 (Down) during the return journey

Nashik Road to Mumbai

After leaving Nashik Road, the train stops at Deolali

Deolali

Deolali is a small hill station and a census town in Nashik district, Maharashtra. It has several army establishments including the School of Artillery of Indian Army and nearby Airforce station...

, Igatpuri

Igatpuri

Igatpuri is a city and a Hill Station municipal council in Nashik District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located in the Western Ghats. The station lies in Nashik District between Mumbai and Nashik Road on the Central Railway. Igatpuri is known for its Buddhist Pagoda for Meditation...

, Kasara, Kalyan

Kalyan

Kalyan is a city in Thane district of Maharashtra, and a major railway station lying at the junction of the north-east and south-east lines of the suburban Mumbai division of the Central Railway, 53 km north-east of Mumbai. Kalyan is also a major Taluka place, a tehsil of the Thane district...

 and Dadar

Dadar

Dadar is a place in Mumbai, and is also a railway station on both the Western and Central lines of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Dadar is situated in the heart of Mumbai, and Dadar station is the only railway station common to both the Central and Western lines...

 stations before the Mumbai destination. The train also halts for a few minutes at a Vada Road Tunnel in the middle of a steep descent in order to check its brakes. This is known as a "technical halt" and is not a scheduled halt at a station.

Stations	Arrives Time	Departs Time	Halt Time
Nashik Road - NK	-	07:15	-
Deolali - DVL	07:25	07:27	2 min
Igatpuri - IGP	08:05	08:07	2 min
Kasara - N	08:35	08:37	2 min
Kalyan - KYN	09:38	09:40	2 min
Dadar - DR	10:25	10:27	2 min
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - CSTM	10:35	-

Mumbai to Nashik Road

During the journey from Mumbai, the train's first halt is at Dadar

Dadar

Dadar is a place in Mumbai, and is also a railway station on both the Western and Central lines of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Dadar is situated in the heart of Mumbai, and Dadar station is the only railway station common to both the Central and Western lines...

, then Kalyan

Kalyan

Kalyan is a city in Thane district of Maharashtra, and a major railway station lying at the junction of the north-east and south-east lines of the suburban Mumbai division of the Central Railway, 53 km north-east of Mumbai. Kalyan is also a major Taluka place, a tehsil of the Thane district...

 and then Kasara to attach banker locomotives

Bank engine

A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

 at the rear to enable the train to climb the mountainous route. The train then halts at Igatpuri

Igatpuri

Igatpuri is a city and a Hill Station municipal council in Nashik District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located in the Western Ghats. The station lies in Nashik District between Mumbai and Nashik Road on the Central Railway. Igatpuri is known for its Buddhist Pagoda for Meditation...

 after climbing to the top, and then halts at Deolali station near Nashik before finally terminating at the main Nashik Road railway station.

Stations	Arrives Time	Departs Time	Halt Time
Chhataapati Shivaji Terminus - CSTM.	-	18:10	-
Dadar - DDR	18:25	18:27	2 min
Kalyan - KYN	19:15	19:17	2 min
Kasara - N	20:15	20:20	5 min
Igatpuri - IGP	20:45	20:47	2 min
21:15	2 min	-	-

History

Panchvati Express started on 1 June 1973 as an up-downer train from Nashik to Mumbai as that time there were less means to go from Nashik to Mumbai and even Bus services were very less. Also Nashik-Mumbai Road was having very poor infrastructure. Day by day as the Nashik became an industrial centre population growed exponentially. Also cost of living and house rates in Mumbai went such a high that common Nashikkar who was working in Mumbai was not able to purchase house in Mumbai and live there that's why more and more people chosen the way to up-down to Mumbai and there was only the Panchvati Express who helped such people.After some years, due to rising crowd Panchvati Express was moving as a double deck train for few years. But due to some reasons again it was made single deck. Even in today's era of high inflation Panchvati Express gives service to a common up-downer by mean of Monthly Service Pass (MST) in just Rs. 460 ($10) for second class and Rs. 1850 ($37) for first class for 30 days. But day by day the number of passengers is growing fast and Panchvati Express been found to be insufficiant to carry a large number of passengers. So demand is going on for a parallel train to Panchvati Express. In recent budget Railway Minister

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

 Mamta Banerjee has announced a new Rajya Rani Express

Rajya Rani Express

Rajya Rani trains are a series of express trains operated by Indian Railways to connect state capitals with other cities important for tourism, pilgrimage or business.-History:...

between Nashik and Mumbai. It will start soon.

Idealness of Panchvati Express

Panchvati Express is famous for its feature of disciplined travelling. All the passengers use the time taken to cover the distance between Nashik and Igatpuri stations (7 am to 8 am) to read newspapers and answer personal calls. The 8 am-8.30 am slot (from Igatpuri to Kasara) is breakfast time. During the following 50-minute segment from Kasara to Kalyan, commuters are expected to remain silent. The last section of the journey from Kalyan to Dadar is 'reserved' for phone calls and exchange of notes.

Also nobody in the train is allowed to drink liquors, chewing tobacco, gutkha, playing cards etc.

Structure of Panchvati Express

Panchvati Express is totally chair car train. It has 5 Reservation Chair Car coaches, 2 AC Chair Cars, 1 First class MST coach, 1 second class MST coach, 2 Ladies Chair Car coaches, 1 handicapped compartment and 11 General Chair Car coaches with electric engine.