QUEEN | 16589 Bengaluru - Kolhapur Rani Chennamma Express Royal Departure from KSR Bengaluru City

Train : 16859 Bengaluru - Kolhapur Rani Chennamma Express
Loco : Krishnarajapuram WDP4D #40279
Origin : Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Bengaluru City
Destination : Shri Chattrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus Kolhapur


The Rani Chennamma Express is a daily train connecting the City of Bengaluru with the Maharashtra cities of Miraj & Kolhapur. This is one of the prestigious trains of the South Western Railway and generally gets the best coaches and locomotives that the infrastructure can support. This train operates daily and covers a distance of 797 km.This train ran up to Miraj Junction till 2002. It was extended up to Kolhapur in 2002 Railway Budget.

The train makes an over-night journey to major cities in north western part of Karnataka - Hubballi-Dharwad , Gokak and Belagavi from Bengaluru. This train leaves Bengaluru at 21:15 and reaches Kolhapur at 13:40 after bifurcating from the main line at Miraj.

This train traces its name to the historic queen Rani Chennamma who ruled the northern part of Karnataka state in India. She was a mighty warrior queen who had her capital at Kittur in Belagavi District. The origin of train can be traced to 1940s when meter gauge train was running between Bengaluru and Pune.

Kittur Chennamma (21 October 1778 – 21 February 1829) was a rani (queen) of the Nayakas of kingdom of Kittur ruled Mallarudra Sarja, who were vassals of the Maharaja of Mysore. She is a famously remembered freedom fighter who led an armed force against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse to retain control over her territory, but was defeated in the third war and died in a prison. She was one of the first female freedom fighters to resist British colonisation, she is a national heroine well known in Carnatica and a symbol of the independence movement in India.

This train apart from connecting major cities of Karnataka like Hubballi, Dharwad, Belagavi, Haveri, Davangere, Kadur, Tiptur and Tumkuru to Bengaluru, also caters to smaller towns of Alnavar, Khanapur, Gokak, Miraj, Kudchi, Raibag.