CHENNAI: Nearly a decade after the unique push-pull rake — featuring an engine at the rear and a driving cabin at the front — was replaced by a conventional ICF rake, Southern Railway has announced that the Chennai-Tirupati Sapthagiri Express will soon be upgraded with modern LHB coaches equipped with enhanced safety features.
The new LHB rake will include 10 second-class chair cars, one AC coach, four general coaches and one disabled-friendly luggage van. The revised composition will take effect from September 20, according to an official notification.
Launched in 1976, the Sapthagiri Express quickly became one of the most popular trains on the Chennai-Tirupati route, covering the 145-km stretch in just 3 hours and 30 minutes. Since its inception, it has offered four services daily — two from Chennai and two from Tirupati -- retaining steady demand among passengers.
Owing to its popularity, Indian Railways introduced a dedicated push-pull rake in the 1990s, even before premium services like Rajdhani and Vande Bharat were equipped with such advanced features. This configuration was designed to reduce the travel time by 30 minutes. The rake remained in service for over two decades before being withdrawn in 2016-17 and replaced with conventional ICF coaches.
S Srinivasan, a rail enthusiast from Tiruvallur, recalled: “The earlier green-and-yellow push-pull rake introduced in the late 1990s was one of the most advanced for its time. It’s heartening that, after many years, the Sapthagiri Express is once again getting a dedicated modern LHB rake.”
Another enthusiast, R Rajendran, said: “Even today, many trains undergo locomotive reversal. But the Sapthagiri had eliminated the need for loco reversal as early as the late 1990s.”