It was on this day in 1964 that the Brindavan Express travelled for the first time between Bangalore and Chennai.
The express, with its air-conditioned chair car coaches, was the first superfast train in south India to have reached its destination in just five hours and 15 minutes.
The historic train speeding through the two States has been much more than a fast means of transport, as several people speak fondly of what travelling on it meant.
K.N. Krishnaprasad, a retired official and a regular on the train for decades, recalls travelling by the Brindavan Express when it had a diesel engine and ran on single pair of tracks.
“It would reach Chennai just in time for passengers to board the Grand Trunk Express to Delhi,” he says.
Back then, there were only three stops — Bangalore Cantonment, Jolarpet and Katpadi.
Another important milestone was the introduction of a double-decker in the 1980s. But, it did not have much space for luggage and tall passengers ran the risk of hitting their heads against the ceiling.
Pavitra R. remembers how, as a student in Delhi during the 1990s, she travelled every summer from Delhi to Chennai and boarded the Brindavan Express to Bangalore. She says she thoroughly enjoyed travelling in the train’s chair car.
The locopilots, who were proud to drive a superfast train, also have stories to tell.
Retired locopilot R. Subrahmanyam (73) inaugurated the Brindavan’s electric engine in 1992. He was given the train to work independently, after training on working with electric locomotives for seven months at Avadi Training School.
“People would stand all through the journey on unreserved coaches,” he recalls.
