Tea Garden Express is the most popular night express train in Southern Railway

Southern Railway (India)

The Southern Railway is the earliest of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways created in independent India. It was created on April 14, 1951 by merging three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway. The South Indian Railway...

 zone 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....

, runs between Kochi

Kochi

-Places:* Kochi, a city in the state of Kerala, India, formerly known as Cochin* Kingdom of Cochin, a former feudal city-state on Malabar Coast, India** Fort Kochi, one of the three main urban components which constitute the present day city of Kochi, Kerala, India...

 and Nagore

Nagore

Nagore is a town in the Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located approximately 16 km south of Karaikal and 4 km north of Nagapattinam. Tiruvarur , Mayiladuthurai , Muthupet are nearby towns. It has a population of approximately 90,000. The prime attraction is the renowned...

. The train numbered 6866 departs from Ernakulam Junction

Ernakulam Junction

Ernakulam Junction is the largest railway station in the city of Kochi. The station has six platforms and two terminals...

 at 22.05 Hours and reaches Nagore at 11:45 hours the next day. The parallel train numbered 6865 starts at 16.30 Hours from Nagore and reaches the Ernakulam Junction around 06.15 hours the next day. This train is the very popular train among commuters travelling between Kochi with Trichy and Velankanni, one of the important Roman Catholic shrine

Shrine

A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....

 in Southern India.

History

When introduced in 1960s, the train ran between Cochin Harbour Terminus

Cochin Harbour Terminus

Cochin Harbour Terminus is one of the railway stations in the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. It is located on the Willingdon Island. The Cochin Harbour Terminus is the principal station providing rail connectivity to the southern segment of the Port of Kochi located on the...

 and Mettupalayam. This train's main purpose, as the name suggests, to transport tea and related products from the Nilgiris

Nilgiri tea

Nilgiri tea is generally described as being a dark, intensely aromatic, fragrant and flavoured tea grown in the southern portion of the Western Ghats mountains of Southern India...

 to Cochin for export. Later, a portion of this train started running to Tiruchchirappalli. In the early 1990s, the Mettupalayam portion was discontinued. Then it extended to Nagore in 2010. The train now exists as the 16865/16866 Nagore-Ernakulam express.

Composition

Tea Garden Express is the only train from Kerala State to have coaches of all the Six classes - A/C First Class, A/C 2-Tier, First Class, A/C 3-tier, Second class sleeper and General compartments. The train usually runs full.

Schedule

Running Schedule Between Nagore and Ernakulam for Train Number 16865
#	Station Name	Arrival Time	Dep. Time	Distance	Day
1	NAGORE	Source	16.30	0	1
2	NAGAPATTINAM	16:40	16:45	8	1
3	THIRUVARUR JN	17:25	17:30	31	1
4	NIDAMANGALAM	17:54	17:55	55	1
5	THANJAVUR	18:20	18:25	85	1
6	TIRUCHIRAPALLY JN	20:00	20:10	135	1
7	TIRUCHIRAPALLY FORT	20:19	20:20	139	1
8	KULITALAI	20:59	21:00	172	1
9	KARUR	21:40	21:45	211	1
10	PUGALUR	21:59	22:00	226	1
11	KODUMUDI	22:14	22:15	238	1
12	ERODE JN	23:00	23:05	276	1
13	UTTUKULI	23:35	23:40	313	1
14	TIRUPPUR	23:54	23:55	326	1
15	COIMBATORE JN	00:55	01:00	377	2
16	PODANNUR JN	01:19	01:20	383	2
17	PALGHAT JN	02:20	02:25	431	2
18	OTTAPPALAM	02:49	02:50	463	2
19	WADAKKANCHERY	03:24	03:25	492	2
20	THRISSUR	03:50	03:55	508	2
21	IRINJALAKUDA	04:19	04:20	532	2
22	CHALAKUDY	04:29	04:30	539	2
23	ANGAMALI	04:49	04:50	554	2
24	ALUVA	05:12	05:15	563	2
25	ERNAKULAM EDAPALLY	05:24	05:25	574	2
26	ERNAKULAM TOWN	05:35	05:38	580	2
27	ERNAKULAM JUNCTION	06:15	Destination	582	2

Running Schedule Between Ernakulam and Nagore for Train Number 16866
#	Station Name	Arrival Time	Dep. Time	Distance	Day
1	ERNAKULAM JUNCTION	Source	22:05	0	1
2	ERNAKULAM TOWN	22:10	22:12	3	1
3	ERNAKULAM EDAPALLY	22:21	22:22	9	1
4	ALUVA	22:34	22:37	20	1
5	ANGAMALI	22:46	22:47	29	1
6	CHALAKUDY	23:03	23:04	44	1
7	IRINJALAKUDA	23:13	23:14	51	1
8	THRISSUR	23:40	23:45	75	1
9	WADAKKANCHERY	00:04	00:05	91	2
10	OTTAPPALAM	00:59	01:00	120	2
11	PALGHAT JN	01:40	01:45	152	2
12	PODANNUR JN	02:49	02:50	200	2
13	COIMBATORE CITY STATION	03:00	03:05	206	2
14	TIRUPPUR	03:49	03:50	256	2
15	ERODE JN	04:40	04:45	307	2
16	KODUMUDI	05:14	05:15	345	2
17	PUGALUR	05:29	05:30	357	2
18	KARUR	05:47	05:50	372	2
19	KULITALAI	06:34	06:35	411	2
20	TIRUCHIRAPALLY FORT	07:24	07:25	444	2
21	TIRUCHIRAPALLY JN	07:45	07:55	532	2
22	THANJAVUR	08:40	08:45	498	2
23	NIDAMANGALAM	09:14	09:15	528	2
24	TIRUVARUN JN	09:35	09:40	552	2
25	NAGAPATTINAM	10:05	10:10	575	2
26	NAGORE	11:45	Destination	582	2