WAM 4 - Father of the Nation for RailFans - Vikas Kumar

I had the oppertunity to travel to Mumbai via 12262 HWH CSTM Duronto express. Early on the 3rd October morning, I reached Howrah station. The empty rake came to platform number 22 at 7.45AM well before the departure timing. As the passengers boarded the train, the security staff checked each of our tickets before boarding. The windows were cleaned and the rail staff sprayed the perfume and welcomed us on board. The train started at 8.25am, 5 minutes behind the scheduled departure time. The view was great from the side lower seats that I got after exchanging ity with an elderly man. Soon Satragachi crossed along with all other small stations. Suddenly after travelling 29 Kms, the train stopped abruptly at Phuleswar station for 2 minutes. Breakfast was served at 9.45Am which consited of 2 breads, 2omlettes, jam, butter, tetra pack juice and potato fry. The train was approaching Kharagpur at...
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9.50AM. The train did not take the route for a platform but navigated by the side lines to Kharagpur outer. While having this breakfast, Inoticed Jhargram cross by at 10.30AM at 155 Kms. 3rd October was the Saptami day of the Durga puja, so I noticed a few Durga Puja pandals. The speed of the train is OK as I have travelled on this section many times earlier. 1 thing I noticed is that while a staion approaches, the train just reduces the speed drastically and fetr crossing, the speed is again normal. Soon Tatanagar approached at 11.28Am we were having our first tech halt. Platform no 3 was designated for this train. The halt was for 10 mins. After that Chakradharpur (310 km) crossed at 12.30Pm. Lunch was served at 13.10 when the train was nearing Rourkela. Ispat Express to Sambalpur was standing at platform no1, while 12262 took the route from platform no 3. Bamra (477km) crossed at 14.20 and the speed was well over 80km/hr. Soon after that 12262 crossed Jharsuguda (514 km) at 14.50 by platform no 1. A few Bhushan steel workiers were video recording the entire train sequence from the platform. Saw the line to Sambalpur banking towards the left guarded by a giant red signal. Then it was the turn of IB station at 15.00 followed by Brajrajnagar. Next was my hometown of Belpahar (537kms) which went across at 15.10 hrs. It was such a nice sight to see Belpahar being transformed into a modern station. Ther is also a video attached along with this blog post so that people all across the world could have a glimpse of Belpahar. South Bihar express was standing on platform no 1 and it gave way for 12262 to pass by Belpahar. The speed of the train was now close to 90 kmph as measured by mathematical calculations. Soon after Belpahar crossed, i decided to take a small nap till the train reaches Bilaspur. In th evening we were awaked by the souts of coffee./ tea as the train was approaching Bilaspur. Temp halt of 10mins was enuf to refresh myself at the well maintained washroom. The toilet boys made sure that the toilets are cleaned soon after 1 uses the same. After that we were served with soup and breadsticks as we crossed Durg at 7pm. Next was the turn of the dinner. Dinner was served at 8.45pm while we were crossing Rajnandgaon. By the time dinner was over. the 3rd tech halt for the day at Nagpur came in. It was close to 10pm, so I decided to call it a day.
In the morning I woke up at Igatpuri at 8Am, and soon after that Kalyan passed, followed by Thane and the train reached CST at 10.30Am at platform no 18. I hope I have provided enough Information for the rest of the passenger of Duronto express for a detailed journey. I hope my post helps all of you with some of the valuable information regarding 12262 Hwh CSTM Duronto express. Till then next time !!