Introduction

Hi all,

This is my first ever blog post. I'll start by giving a brief history about Poorva Exp. This train started in 1956 as the first fully air-conditioned train between Amritsar-Howrah/Bombay and was initially called "Air-Conditioned Exp". There were 2 pairs of trains - 1 went from Amritsar-Bombay and the other from Amritsar-Howrah. Both passed through New Delhi.

The former is now called 2926/2925 Paschim Exp and still goes from Amritsar-Bandra Terminus in Mumbai. A portion of this train comes from Kalka(near Chandigarh,Punjab) which an important base for tourists going to hill resort and capital of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla. There is a Narrow Gauge(NG) toy train connecting the 96-Km distance in 4 & 1/2 hrs.

The latter is now called Poorva Exp and now runs just between New Delhi - Howrah. Initially, there was only one route going as 81/82 Exp through the Grand Chord(Mughal Sarai(Near Varanasi)-Gaya(for Bodhgaya)-Dhanbad(Coalfields)-Asansol(in WB)-HWH) and the net distance was 1441 Km. MGS-BSB-ALD is a single un-electrified track and 2381 takes 03.35 hrs to cover it as compared to 2303 which takes 02.05 hrs via. MGS-Mirzapur-ALD. Both the distances are almost same.

But, later, another sister of 81/82 Exp, 03/04 Exp was started between NDLS-MGS-PNBE(Patna or Patliputra)-ASN(Asansol)-HWH. This line remained un-electrified until the advent of the 21st century and this longer route covered 1530 Km.

Paschim Exp became the 1st vestibuled train in IR. The trains(Paschim and Poorva) became popularly known as Deluxe Exp during the 60s and 70s and even now I hear some people referring Poorva as Deluxe. All the while through my childhood I wondered about the strange nomenclature among my elders while the name was clearly "Poorva" and not "Deluxe" in any Time-Tables. It now is clear to me that it was renamed as Poorva in early 90s, around the same time Sleeper class(SL) was introduced.

To end this nostalgia, here's an account of a journey I took aboard 2303 Poorva Exp as a 7-year-old:
I remember travelling by 2303 UP Poorva in early 2000(or maybe 1999) and the train was double-headed by a pair of WDM2s between Chittaranjan(CRJ)-MGS, where it changed to electric traction (WAP4). That was probably one of my most memorable journeys aboard 2303. Right from the beginning, being the peak of summer, we got reservation in an extra SL coach marked as "RUSH" which was 2nd from the 2 WDM2s. The train at that time comprised of 23 coaches, 5 AC, 1 Pantry, 2 GS, 2 SLR and 13 SL(+1 Rush), making the composition 24. It was one of the very few 24-coachers at that time. The train kept getting late through the barren plateau of north Bihar but made up time at night and reached NDLS 10 min before schedule. Could you believe it !!! Compare this to today's situation, where almost no train arrives at NDLS on time, owing to the dense morning traffic on the CNB-NDLS sector. Another highlight of that journey was the constant sweet & melodious honking of the P4 throughout the night. This was probably because of the fact that I was in the 2nd coach from loco. Another memorable moment was me witnessing the detaching of the 2 WDM2s probably for the last time at MGS(Nowadays a single HWH P4 takes it all the way to NDLS).

Stay tuned for more. I will be able to write only a weekly post because of my studies(I don't have access to PC in college).

Best Wishes,
Animesh Kishore
Raipur, India