Train 18 - तेरी प्यारी प्यारी Livery को किसी की नज़र न लगे

"TN alone escaped the additional halts" - Yes it did, because there was already GT in the same route with a lot of halts as I said earlier /blog/post/2205741
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"KK being somewhat of an exception" - KK too had to cater to the home state as the lonely train connecting HK region of Kalaburagi, Raichur, Yadgir to the state capital for a long time. It travels around some 300 Kms of the state too.
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TN has the luxury of being in a route where there are a lot of trains to Delhi. Apart from GT, there are a lot of trains on the Kazipet-Delhi route. On the MAS-Kazipet route too many trains are there now.
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Kerala and Karnataka have no such luxury. Even today Kerala is the sole "daily" train to Delhi from a major city like Coimbatore, Salem or the pilgrim center Tirupati. There are a few weeklies to take off some load.
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Its even worse for Karnataka. It the ONLY train from a major city like Kalaburagi or divisional HQ SUR. Even for KA/AP cities like Raichur, GTL, AD, MALM, YG - it is the only non-premier train to Delhi, no weeklies to off-burden it.
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You said it right - TN is poster child for the Railways - so no halts in keeping with requirements. A favourite of railfans, for no 30 halt, 40 halt trains impresses them.
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