The mighty veteran Purulia Express serving for decades, daily commuters' lifeline and witness to a Rising Bengal! - Soumyadip Mahato

Back in the day, this train went from having plenty of tickets available to shooting up to WL #400 in a flash when the Kota coaching holidays were around. The OG passengers used to spill the tea that the train used to be a piece of cake to catch a ride on ~10 years ago, with crazy waitlists being a rare sight. H1 and all these AC coaches weren't even a thing during the ICF era, man. Thinking about it, I believe this bad boy initially ran as the Lucknow-Mathura Express before getting extended on both ends, but not totally certain, ya dig?

Main yaad karta hu ki ek baar yeh train ka WL number 400 tak badh gaya tha ticket booking ke dauran. Yeh tab hua jab holidays announce hue the Kota coaching institutes mein. Tab ke regular passengers ne bataya ki train pe tickets asaani se mil jaate the aur itni zyada high WL exception thi. Us zamane mein isme H1 coach ya itni saari AC coaches nahi hoti thi ICF era mein.

Mujhe lagta hai, agar hum aur peeche jaye, jab yeh introduce hui thi, toh yeh Lucknow-Mathura Express thi pehle phir dono taraf extend hui lekin main isme 100% sure nahi hoon.