I used to travel Bombay to Varanasi quite a bit in the 70s to 90s. In those days, the only superfast used to be Ganga Kaveri with halts only at Satna and Jabalpur (Katni came later). It used to cover ET-JBP in 2 hrs. 49 mts flat, the fastest I have ever seen for this section. And it had a brilliant orange-yellow-blue livery as well. After that, there were no superfasts in this section for nearly 13 years - can you imagine that? The first superfast in this section in the 90s was the LTT-BSB Ratnagiri when it got speeded-up. Then they introduced the Patna-LTT superfast (12141/12142) with just two commercial halts at MGS and JBP. And I had the good fortune of traveling on this train in Jan 2000 from MGS to LTT with still two commercial halts. Later...
more...

I also did Ratnagiri from BSB to LTT in Dec. 2008 (a terrific run from ALD to BSL with just three halts - STA, JBP, ET). Naturally, I am very excited to do the Duronto trip on my pet route. Still remember when Jukehi to Naini was all single line with a scissors crossing between Manikpur and Satna. Mahakoshal was introduced as Qutub Narmada Exp. between JBP and NZM. The predecessor of 13202/13203 was the Bombay-Bhagalpur Janata Exp. with many loco changes. DC loco from Bombay to Igatpuri, WAM4 from IGP to BSL, steam from BSL to ALD, WAM4 from ALD to MGS, and steam again. Hence, they still call this train the Janata. Traveled on this train twice. Many wonderful memories!