Jamshedpur: The Tatanagar-Howrah Steel Express (12813/12814), a vital superfast train connecting Kolkata and Jamshedpur, completed 55 years of service.
To mark the occasion, a celebration was organized at Tatanagar Railway Station by South Eastern Railway in collaboration with the Combined Railfans Group on April 1.
Railfans decorated the locomotive and coaches, with key contributions from Somanko Tiru, Vikas Kumar, Shashank Shekhar Swain, and Anuj Kumar Pandit.
Special 55th-anniversary boards were designed by Anuj Kumar Pandit, while smaller boards were created by Soham Das.
The event honoured the train’s legacy in facilitating connectivity and economic growth.
Shashank Shekhar, a club member, described the train as the “heartbeat of Jamshedpur,” highlighting its evolution, including the transition to an LHB rake. As part of the celebration, the train was decorated with flowers, and sweets were distributed to the driver, conductor, and manager.
Club members stated that they regularly organize similar programs for other significant trains, honoring their role in regional connectivity and history.
The Steel Express was introduced on April 1, 1970, in response to growing passenger demand. With Jamshedpur emerging as an industrial hub and Kolkata being a crucial economic and cultural center, there was a pressing need for a fast and efficient train service between the two cities. Thus, the Howrah-Tatanagar Steel Express was born, bridging the distance between the steel city and the capital of Bengal in record time.
