The 12559 / 12560 Shiva Ganga Express is a daily superfast express train of the North Eastern Railway Zone. It runs between and , named after the two jewels of Varanasi: Shiva and the Ganges river.
The two main cities along the route are Prayagraj and Kanpur. It is the best train to travel from New Delhi to Banaras and vice versa. As of October 2025 Shivganga Express's timetable is scheduled to overtake 5+ premium SF and mail express trains and hence Shiv Ganga Express along with Lucknow Mail, Shram Shakti Express, Prayagraj Express and Shaan-e-Bhopal Express has highest priority all over the route.
In September 2017, a major disaster was averted by alert gangmen after the train was decoupled from the coaches.
Gallery
Time table
From Banaras to New Delhi it starts with number 12559 and time table is as:
S.No. Station Arrival Departure Halt (min.) Day Elevation 1 Starting Station 22:15 – 1 80m 2 23:02 23:04 2 1 92m 3 Prayagraj 00:30 00:35 5 2 100m 4 Kanpur Central 02:45 02:50 5 2 129m 5 08:25 Destination – 2 216m
From New Delhi to Banaras it starts with number 12560 and time table is as:
S.No. Station Arrival Departure Halt (min.) Day Elevation 1 Starting Station 20:05 – 1 216m 2 Kanpur Central 01:00 01:05 5 2 129m 3 Prayagraj 03:45 03:55 10 2 100m 4 05:00 05:02 2 2 92m 5 06:10 Destination – 2 80m
Reservation People have to take an advanced reservation ticket to travel in the train except for the general class. It records a rush of passengers throughout the year in both peak as well as non-peak period. Because of its comfortable time of arrival and departure, it is fairly popular among masses.
Coach composition
This train has 22 coaches between Banaras Station to New Delhi station.
1 AC 1 Tier Coach (H1) 2 AC 2 Tier Coach (A1-A2) 9 AC 3 Tier Coach (B1-B9) 5 Sleeper class Coach (S1-S5) 3 General compartments (unreserved) 1 SLR 1 EOG
Coach composition for 12559 BSBS-NDLS Shiv Ganga Express:
Loco 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14-| 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 HCPVEOGA1A2H1B1B2B3B4B5B6B7B8B9S1S2S3S4S5URURURSLR
Coach composition for 12560 NDLS-BSBS Shiv Ganga Express:
Loco 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 SLRURURURS5S4S3S2S1B9B8B7B6B5B4B3B2B1H1A2A1EOGHCPV
Journey It takes around 10 hours 7 minutes to cover its journey of with an average speed of .
See also Patna Express Neelachal Express Kanpur Shatabdi Gyan Ganga SF Express Banaras–New Delhi Superfast Express Kashi Vishwanath Express
References