The inaugural New Jalpaiguri-Tiruchirappalli Amrit Bharat Express, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 17 at Malda in West Bengal, reached Kumbakonam around 2.30 pm on Monday.
The train received a warm welcome at Kumbakonam railway station by passengers and representatives of various passenger/traders associations led by A. Giri, Secretary, Thanjavur District Railway Users Association, V. Sathyanarayanan, Secretary, Kumbakonam Federation of All Industries and Trade Associations, and T. Saravanan, Secretary, Papanasam Train Passengers Association. They praised the locomotive pilots Jacob Jayaraj and Gnanaprabhu and the train conductor Kuppusamy.
Sweets were distributed on the occasion to passengers and Muruganandam, Station Master.
The train will help workers from Odisha and West Bengal in Delta districts to get direct connectivity to their native places. According to Mr. Giri, the train is for the first time providing people in the delta areas with a direct link to Kolkata and a historic tourist train to Darjeeling from New Jalpaiguri.
According to him, passengers from the delta areas have been demanding more long-distance trains to promote spiritual tourism in the region. Representatives of the railway users’ body also met the railway minister with the help of BJP state general secretary Karuppu M. Muruganandham to present their demands for the new trains. Officials of the Thanjavur District Railway Users Association (TANDRUA) and the Kavery Delta Train Passengers Association met Jitendra Malhotra, Member (Operations and Business Development), Railway Board, during a recent visit to Kumbakonam and Thanjavur and asked him to get approval for proposals to introduce new trains through the region.
Amrit Bharath Weekly Express between Tiruchi and New Jalpaiguri (20609) passes through Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Mayiladuthurai, Chidambaram, Tirupadiripuliyur, Villupuram, Chengalpattu, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Gudur, Vijahuvanespatawam, Vizak Visak, Visak Cuttak, Balasore, Kharagpur, Andul and Dhankuni near Kolkata and Malda.
The train will depart from New Jalpaiguri every Friday at 4:45 PM and from Tiruchi every Wednesday at 5:45 AM.
Published – 19 Jan 2026 19:20 IST
