"2285"1 Mangalore Vivek with "2285"5 WAP-4 humiliates Kurla Crawler at Panskura Junction
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Hauled by an extremely arrogant 22855 SRC WAP- 4, the bang on time running 22851 Santragachi (SRC)- Mangalore (MAQ) VIVEK Weekly Superfast Express thrashes HWH WAP- 4 hauled 18030 Shalimar (SHM)- Mumbai LTT (LTT) super crawler Express, which was subsequently late by 20 minutes, and was completing its scheduled halt....
more... Location is Panskura Junction (PKU) on SER's Howrah- Kharagpur stretch. And I fellow railfan Rohit Basu were on- board a Howrah bound EMU.
22851 initially started running with 15 coaches, which included 2 Slr, 3 GS, 7 Sl, 2 3-AC, and 1 2-AC. But due to high patronage, now it runs with 21 coaches, which included 2 Slr, 5 GS, 10 Sl, 3 3-AC and 1 2-AC. It is the solitary Superfast VIVEK Express, uses the Santragachi- Kharagpur- Bhubaneshwar- Vishakapatnam- Vijaywada- Renigunta- Salem- Erode- Coimbatore Main- Palakkad- Shoranur- Kozhikode Main- Kannaur Main- Mangalore Central route to cover 2489 kms in 41h 40m with 36 halts enroute. The train has a very aggressive run in between SRC and VSKP, and as per schedule, it would take just 12h 35 m, whereas Legend Coromandal takes 13h 35m. This train would also have time slot sharing with 12644 Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM)- Trivandrum Central (TVC) Weekly SWANA JAYANTI Superfast Express and 12646 Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin (NZM)- Ernakulam Junction (South) (ERS) Weekly MILLENIUM Superfast Express (both between Vijaywada Junction and Palakkad Junction).
LTT- SHM Express uses the LTT- Kalyan- Manmad- Bhusaval- Akola- Badnera- Nagpur- Gondia- Durg- Raipur- Bilaspur- Jharsaguda- Rourkela- Tatanagar- Kharagpur- Santragachi- Shalimar route, and takes 38 hours 25 minutes to cover the 1947 kms with an irritating 81 halts enroute. The train is still popularly known as KURLA Express.