The Andhra Pradesh Express is a superfast South Central Railway train that connects the Andhra Pradesh state capital Hyderabad and the country's capital city New Delhi. It operates daily, taking 26 hours to cover the distance while passing through the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
As per the numbering of the Indian Railways, this train has been numbered 2723 for the Hyderabad - New Delhi run, and 2724 for the New Delhi - Hyderabad run. The train was first started by Madhu Dandavate in 1978. Along with this, Tamil Nadu Express was started to ply between New Delhi and Chennai and it is slightly faster than this train.
Originally covering the distance in a shade under 23 hrs in 1978, the passage of time has seen the running time being increased. When this train was introduced many of the important sections used to be single line territory almost 300 km in a total of 1676 km. The signalling in 1978 used to be semaphore. When introduced, the 14 coach train used to be hauled by a 2600 HP ALCO derived diesel locomotive. In 1981, the capacity was increased to 21 coaches with a double head of 2 ALCO derived locos with 5200 HP. This double headed power used to haul the train up and down the hilly sections (with 1:63 gradient) between Itarsi and Nagpur - a distance of 300 km.
Today the train with 24 coaches is hauled by electric locomotives (WAP 1 / WAP4 - 3900 HP, transformer tapping DC drives - feeding on 25 kV AC) throughout, every inch of the distance is double line with modern concrete sleepers, the signalling is electronic, the drivers keep in touch with the route control on radio communication, but the running time keeps on going up.
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