Tomorrow we, the SER Railfans with permission from SER officials, are celebrating the 45th Birthday of our dear Gitanjali Express. ЁЯШН
All are Welcome.
Venue :- Howrah Station Platform 21.
Yes in those days no Chhattisgarh so no Raipur but when states increase it is natural that stops also increase !
Even with so many loco changes Gitanjali was still faster than today
Yep, each 2 minute stop adds at least 5 minutes. Durg, for example, was a 20 minutes stop compared to 5 minutes now, but Gitanjali didn't stop at Rajnandgaon, Gondia and Bhandara (thats 15 minutes added). And fewer stops also allowed trains to make up time.
I also recall 12810/09 Mail (back then 2 up/1 down) skipping Sakti and Kharsia and covering Raigarh and Champa's 80 km section in about an hour, or less. Since these stops, it consistently takes almost 30 minutes or more and always gets delayed in the process...
more... (even before the SECR idiocy that is plaguing these trains).
If and only if Durg and Bilaspur have been given their own dedicated trains to Mumbai and Howrah this additional of halts wouldn't have taken place
The stops are purely politically motivated. There are plenty of trains to cover Malkapur and Shegaon between Mumbai, Nagpur and Howrah, for example, but Gitanjali was handed these stops anyway. Even Jhargram was tried in SER.