Gowthami Express

The 12737 / 12738 Gowthami Express is a train running from the port city of Kakinada Port, (Andhra Pradesh) to Lingampalli, (Hyderabad, Telangana). It is named after the River Gowthami, a tributary to the River Godavari. It runs with train numbers as 12737 Up / 12738 Down.

History
Gowthami Superfast Express was introduced on 3 October 1987 and is considered as a sister train to Godavari Express which runs between Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. It was considered to be one of the most prestigious trains of the South Central Railway (SCR), and connects Hyderabad with the port city Kakinada

The Gowthami Superfast Express is considered to be one of the best ways to commute to the state capital, in united Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad from Delta districts of Andhra Pradesh. People of Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Tadepalligudem, and Eluru prefer the Gowthami Express to travel to Secunderabad. It was upgraded to superfast category in July 2007. It is operated with 12737 / 12738 as train numbers; it used to be 7047 / 7048 prior to being upgraded.

It is one of the longest trains running with 24 coaches and also runs with full capacity throughout the year. Currently, it has two first class cum second class air conditioned coaches, two second class air conditioned coaches, two third class air conditioned coaches, 13 sleeper class, three second class general compartments and two luggage cum brake vans. In total it has six air conditioned coaches. It was the first train in South Central Railway zone (before been transfer to South Coast Railway) to run with two first class cum second class air conditioned coaches. It has such a huge patronage such that a supplementary train, Cocanada AC Express, a fully air conditioned train, was introduced between Kakinada and Lingampalli in 2012 to cater to the rush. Both these trains run jam packed almost throughout the year.

Gowthami Express is expected to run with 26 coaches very soon, and it will be the first train in SCoR and one among very few in Indian Railways to do so. It is also known for best maintenance of coaches and it was considered as a model rake of South Central Railway, Vijayawada Railway Division (but now it is in SCoR).

Gowthami Express has been diverted from Vijayawada Junction to Rayanapadu railway station bypass from 13 April 2019 to ease bottle necks at Vijayawada Junction. Stoppage at Vijayawada junction has been officially removed from time table of the train.

Loco links
The train is regularly hauled by a Lallaguda Loco Shed based WAP-7 electric locomotive from Kakinada Port to Lingampalli.

Incidents
In July, 2008 Gowthami Express supposedly was short-circuited and fire accident broke out during the night. Those wakened by the sounds escaped by pulling the emergency chain to slow down the train. 40 people died in this incident. It occurred while the train crossed Kesamudram station in Warangal district at around 01:07.