Indrayani Express

The 22105/22106 Indrayani Superfast Express is a superfast express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Mumbai CSMT and Pune Junction in India.

It is a daily service and is named after the river Indrayani, a culturally significant river that flows through Pune district.

The train earlier numbered as 1021 while running from Mumbai to Pune and 1022 from Pune to Mumbai, has now been upgraded to superfast and renumbered as 22105 (Mumbai CSMT - Pune Junction) and 22106 (Pune Junction - Mumbai CSMT).

The train had white and royal blue livery with red bands. On 2 February 2020 it was upgraded to LHB coaches.

Coaches
The Indirayani Express presently has two AC Chair Cars, eight General Second Class, two General Second Class coaches reserved for pass holders, and five General Unreserved coaches. As is customary with Indian Railways, coaches are added/removed as per the demand.

This train shares its rake with the Pune Solapur Intercity Express, and operational control is with Central Railways.

Service
The Indirayani Express was introduced on 27 April 1988 by Indhira Gandhi and is one of six dedicated Intercity Chair Car trains between Mumbai CSMT and Pune Junction. The other five trains are 12127/28 Mumbai Pune Intercity Express, 11007/08 Deccan Express, 11009/10 Sinhagad Express, 12125/26 Pragati Express and 12123/24 Deccan Queen.

It covers the distance of 192 kilometres in 3 hours 28 mins as 22105 Indirayani Express (55.38 km/h) and 3 hours 20 mins as 22106 Indirayani Express (57.60 km/h).

Traction
Since March 2022, as the route is electrified, it is currently hauled by WAP-7 pure AC locomotive of the Kalyan shed. From November 2009 till March 2022, it was hauled by WDM-3A or WDP 4, to save time in locomotive change, due to the rake sharing with Pune Solapur Intercity Express, as the route after Daund Junction was not electrified.

When the train was introduced back in 1988, it was hauled by WCM 1/2/5 DC locomotives till the mid-1990s as the section between Mumbai CSMT and Pune was under 1500 V DC traction. From the mid-1990s, it was hauled by WCAM 2/2P or WCAM 3 dual traction locomotives of the Kalyan shed till November 2009, when the rake sharing was initiated.

At Karjat, it gets two or three WAG-5, WAG-7, WCAM-2 or WCAM 3 bankers of Kalyan shed to push the train on the ghat section between Karjat railway station and Lonavala railway station, where the gradient is of 1 in 40.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all passenger trains of Indian Railways were suspended for operating from 24 March 2020 due to lockdown. Indirayani Express resumed its operations from 9 October 2020. However, this time train used to be hauled by WAP-7 Electric Locomotive since its rake sharing train Pune-Solapur Intercity Express was not permitted to resume operation.

Time table
The Indirayani Express is the first of six dedicated trains to leave Mumbai CSMT for Pune Junction and is the last train to return.

22105 Indirayani Express leaves Mumbai CSMT every day at 05:40 hrs IST and reaches Pune Junction at 09:08 hrs IST.

On return, the 22106 Indirayani Express leaves Pune Junction every day at 18:35 hrs IST and reaches Mumbai CSMT at 21:55 hrs IST.