This express train was, numbered 6355/6356, introduced during the 1999–2000 Railway Budget as a new weekly train extending the
Tiruchirappalli – Howrah Superfast Express, thereby truncating the service of the latter from tri–weekly to bi–weekly. The train connecting
Howrah/
Kolkata in
West Bengal and
Kanyakumari in
Tamil Nadu made its inaugural run on 1 July 2000. This train was converted to Superfast category and re-numbered to 2665/2666 from 1 December 2006 onwards. Later, the train number was changed to 12665/12666 from December 2010 onwards as a part of train management system over the entire Indian Railways network. ==Rakes==