Avadh Express/19038

Somewhere after 1991 the following discussion took place on IRCFA...
click here
A brief account of the history of the Avadh Express follows. It probably holds the record for the most extensions.
It started in the early 1970s and ran between Agra Fort and Lucknow.
It was soon extended to Gorakhpur on one side and Kota on the other.
It was further extended to Ratlam. A couple of years ago the Lucknow-
Gorakhpur leg was dropped and it ran between Ratlam and Lucknow.
...
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This reminds one of the fate of the line between Haldibari and
Siliguri/New Jalpaiguri. This is its history:
1) Built in the late 19th century in MG.
2) Converted to BG in the 1920s (after the Hardinge Bridge came, it was
desirable to have through trains between Calcutta and Siliguri).
3) Converted back to MG in around 1950. (Due to partition, this was
an isolated BG line of no use to India. So it was converted to MG
to facilitate through running with the other MG lines in north Bengal).
4) Finally converted back to BG when the new BG line through New Jalpaiguri
was being built.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now, Gorakhpur itself is not a very significant place. Even in UP
there are many larger places like Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad,
Dehradun etc which are not so well served. A cynic may say there is
nothing in Gorakhpur except the Gita Press. In fact, there are a
number of central government establishments there-the NE headquarters,
a major Air Force base and some fertilizer unit-so there is some
demand for passenger traffic to faraway parts of the country. I think
this has something to do with the lack of terminal capacity at
Kanpur and Lucknow.
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Extensions:
1. Avadh Express extended to Gorakhpur and Bombay! This sets up a
train from Bombay to Agra, Tundla, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Gorakhpur via
Western Railway, which IMO was long overdue. But this sets up *THREE*
daily trains between Bombay and Gorakhpur; which rivals the trains
between Bombay and Calcutta as well as Madras, and exceed the number of
trains from Bombay to a number of important cities such as Bangalore,
Secunderabad, Patna, etc... Has Gorakhpur secretly sprouted a silicon
valley or something I am unaware of ? :-)