Amaravati Express is the name given to two services operated by Indian Railways. As at December 2015, these train services are 17225 Vijayawada–Hubli Amaravati Express 17226 Hubli–Vijayawada Amaravati Express This service runs daily each way and is operated by the division of South Central Railway (SCR). The train runs across southern India from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka. 18047 Howrah– Amaravati Express 18048 Vasco da Gama–Howrah Amaravati Express This service runs four times a week each way. It operates via Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nandyal, Guntakal, Bellary, Hospet, Gadag, Hubli, Dharwad, Londa, Madgaon. This service is operated by the South Eastern Railway (SER), division. The train travels from West Bengal through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh in the east of India to Karnataka and Goa in the south-west of India. The Amaravati Express is popular with the inhabitants of Andhra Pradesh particularly those living in the cities and towns of Guntur, Narasaraopet, Markapur, Cumbum, Giddaluru, Nandyal, Mahanandi, Guntakal and Bellary and the surrounding regions. History The Amaravati Express runs on the historical Machilipatnam–Mormugao railway track. The service was first introduced during the 1950s as the metre-gauge train between Guntur and Hubli. The Guntur–Hubli fast passenger service was upgraded to an express service between 1987 and 1990 and was then named the Amaravati Express. The train coaches were hauled by a YP steam locomotive and had a slip coach from Vasco da Gama to Guntur. This slip coach to Guntur was attached to the Gomantak Express along with slip coaches to Gadag. These slip coaches were then attached to the Miraj Gadag link express at Londa and the slip coach to Guntur was then attached to the Hubli Guntur fast passenger service at Gadag. This practice of attaching/detaching the slip coaches was discontinued at Gadag and instead the slip coaches went as far as Hubli after the introduction of the Amaravati Express. This practice continued until the gauge conversion work started in the mid-1990s and the train tracks were standardised in 1997. The train service was extended to Vijayawada in 1994. While the gauge conversion activities were taking place in the mid 1990s, the train service was split into different segments and the full service was not fully restored until 1997. By the beginning of 2000, the train service had been extended to Londa Junction, Castle Rock and eventually to Vasco da Gama as the gauge conversion progressed. The train was finally commissioned as