THE FATE OF DIRECT CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN TATANAGAR AND MADRAS
Presenting the 3rd issue of my analysis, this time a mix of several services from the 70s to the current time. You may call it Tata Madras, Bokaro Madras, Bokaro Tata Madras Slip, Bokaro Tata Madras Alleppey Slip, Dhanbad Bokaro Tata Madras Alleppey Slip, Dhanbad Alleppey, Tata Ernakulam or whatever you like :D

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train was started in 1970 to cater the needs of people willing to travel to the south. Before this, they were dependent on Kharagpur or Visakhapatnam for Madras and south bound trains. 89/90 Express eased out this tension. Although the days of run are unclear, it supposedly ran twice a week.

In 1970 it was introduced between Tatanagar and Madras Central and ran with an average speed of 40 kmph, with a travel time of 40h 35m, taking the route via Titlagarh-Visakhapatnam-Bhimavaram-Gudur. In 1975, it was extended to Bokaro Steel City via Muri. The distance as well as time of travel increased, and average speed fell by 1 kmph in up, and soared up by 1 kmph in down.

A blunder happened in 1981 wherein the train got screwed up. It was split into two parts, one part came from/to Tatanagar (89A/90A) and another from/to Bokaro Steel City (89/90) via Muri-Ranchi. This surely saved time for the passengers from Bokaro Steel City, the train also got speeded up by 3-4 hrs in both directions (This splitting remains my least favourite part of the tale). The amalgamation and bifurcation took place at Rourkela, spelled Raurkela that time. Tatanagar and Bokaro both lost a full rake train to south from their origin. The bifurcation was followed by route diversion. The train was diverted to run via Eluru instead of its original route, via Bhimavaram.

The train was again sped up in 1984, reducing the journey time by two hours towards south India and by more than 3 hours from south India. 1989 gave the two trains their new numbers, Bokaro Madras Bokaro Express was now 8689/8690 and Tatanagar Madras Tatanagar was 8189/8190.

On 16th July 1991, the then Railway Minister for India, Mr. C.K. Jaffer Sharief presented the rail budget for 1991-92. In this budget, he announced the extension of Bokaro Madras Tata train services to Alappuzha, which was then known by its old name, Alleppey. The route decided was via Arakkonam-Salem-Shoranur-Ernakulam. Both trains got a new slot, owing to this extension. While both, Bokaro and Tatanagar parts of this train were made to depart 7 hours earlier, they were made to arrive about 6 hours ahead of their previous schedule at Tatanagar and Bokaro.

Between 1991 and 1995, the train was diverted to run via Perambur, bypassing Madras Central/Chennai Central. This saved a reversal. In my records, till 1999, the train was via Perambur. Between 1999 and 2006, it was again diverted via Central.

2003 brought yet another change in the stars of this train. Mr. Nitish Kumar, the then Railway Minister for India and the current Chief Minister of Bihar, presented the 2003-04 rail budget on 26th February 2003. He declared the extension of Bokaro Alleppey Express to Dhanbad. The route selected was via Chandrapura - Katrasgarh. The Dhanbad part of the whole train got a new number, 3351/3352 as the zone was changed from South Eastern Railway to East Central Railway.

In 2010, Indian Railways switched over to 5 digit train numbering system. Dhanbad Alleppey Express got 13351/13352 and Tatanagar Alleppey Express got 18189/18190. Over the years, the train was constantly sped up and/or slowed down in both directions. In 2017, the DC (Dhanbad-Chandrapura) line was closed due to underground mine fires. Railways had no alternative except to divert and cancel trains. Some trains were cancelled and some were diverted. This train was diverted via Gomoh, increasing a reversal. Four reversals is quite a big number (Gomoh, Visakhapatnam, Chennai Central and Shoranur). People protested, and the DC line was re-opened. In 2019, again this train was diverted via Katrasgarh. Meanwhile in the same year, Shoranur bypass came up. Two reversals were dropped but the journey time was still nearly the same.

All train services were suspended from March 2020 owing to pandemic outbreak. Gradually from May 2020, trains were restored in phases. During this period, railways came up with a plan to curtail the slip services. Three trains of Tatanagar were running on slip method, including this. Dhanbad Alleppey was restored, but Tatanagar Alleppey wasn't. During early 2021, a special express between Tatanagar and Ernakulam was started. This train served as a replacement for Tata Alappuzha Express. Though initially weekly, the frequency was increased to bi-weekly in 2022 and LHB rake was given. Both Dhanbad Alappuzha and Tatanagar Ernakulam Expresses run with LHB rake now. Tatanagar Ernakulam Express treated as an independent train, bypasses Visakhapatnam by halting at SCMN, Chennai Central by halting at PER, Coimbatore by halting at Podanur and also bypasses Shoranur. It takes the original path of via Bhimavaram. But the fact which remains, is a daily dedicated connectivity between South East Jharkhand and South India was lost.

Note:

1. *** means no halt
2. TAAG shows only some stations so years where source is TAAG, it is bound to have more ***
3. All halts have not been mentioned otherwise the list would have been too long.

If any quality issues are there, kindly let me know. I'll try to upload a better quality pic.

So last weekly blog of 2019 from my end on the last Sunday of 2019. Posting late as was busy from yesterday. Had 3 days of RailFanning in the week of 22nd to 28th December viz 23rd, 27th and 28th. Pictures of 23rd were posted on 25th's Greetings Blog so here pictures of 27th and 28th are posted. 34 Pictures are in the blog. Pictures 1 to 28 are of 27th December (Vikas and Shashank Swain were present too) and 29 to 34 are of 28th December 2019 (Anish and Sourav Dutta were with me) .
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1 :- DMW made Ex SRC Ex TATA now SRC WAP 7 39094 with 12838 PURI HWH SF at HWH PF 22.
Picture 2 :- Large TB of my train/coach DR2 of 12021 HWH BBN JanShatabdi. Returned too on the same day by the same train and coach. Link was SRC WAP 4 22502.
Pictures 3 and 4 :- DMW made only BNDM allotment WAP 7 39109 is now with TATA. Arrived TATA PF 4 with 58104 BBN TATA Passenger. Another DMW TATA Muh Dikhai 4th to be exact with Vikas.
Picture 5 :- SRC WAP 4 22621 with 12833 ADI HWH Express.
Pictures 6 to 8 :- Another BondaMunda ka maal TATA mein daal loco WAP 7 37266 (Original BNDM transferred to TATA) at PF 5 of TATA with 58662 HTE TATA Passenger.
Picture 9 :- Original SRC was transferred to TATA and now again back to SRC. WAP 7 37162 going to ETS after hauling 18190 ALLP TATA Express.
Picture 10 :- The Rourkela coach TB of 18189/18190 TATA ALLP TATA Express.
Picture 11 :- GMO WAP 7 37231 link of 13301/2 Swarnrekha Express.
Picture 12 :- Full screen view recommended. TATA WAP 7 37266 going towards ETS.
Picture 13 :- WDG 4 12328 of Raipur at TATA ART siding.
Picture 14 :- Clicked in Portrait mode. Original ROU alloted WAG 9HC 32611 it was MUed with ROU WAG 9HC 32612. 💚💚💚💚💚
Pictures 15 and 16 :- Original TATA now BNDM WAP 7 37243 at Pooling Point.
Picture 17 :- Brand new CLW made LGD WAG 9HC 32643 at TATA ETS.
Picture 18 :- The surprise capture of that day original ED allotment CLW made WAP 7 30782 at ETS. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Pictures 19 to 22 :- Ex BNDM now TATA WAP 7 37266 at TATA ETS clicked in various angle. In picture 22 you can see 3 WAP 7s in the frame.
Tales of those WAP 7s are :-
37266 Original BNDM now TATA.
37032 Original SRC now TATA.
30535 Original TATA now BNDM. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Instagram Link click here
Picture 23 :- Another surprise link GZB WAP 5 30101 and dead WAG 9 31246 of AJNI with 58021 KGP TATA Passenger. Later the ED WAP 7 30782 was coupled with GZB WAP 5 30101.
Picture 24 :- Ex GMO Ex SRC Ex TATA now SRC with TATA markings WAP 7 30594 with late running 12262 HWH CSMT Duronto.
Picture 25 :- Large SB of TATA. ❣️
Picture 26 :- GZB WAP 5 30101 at ETS and ED WAP 7 30782 coupled with it.
Picture 27 :- Green Signal for my BBN HWH JanShatabdi.
Picture 28 :- DMW made HWH WAP 7 39060 with 12020 RNC HWH Shatabdi at HWH.
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Picture 29 :- HWH WAP 4 22640 at HWH ELS.
Picture 30 :- Sunkissed DMW made HWH WAP 7 39106.
Picture 31 :- HWH WAP 7 39113 was too present at ELS.
Picture 32 :- The first ever direct WAP 5 allotment of HWH. HWH WAP 5 30189 at HWH ELS waiting for IC-0.
Picture 33 :- WAP 7 37244 of HWH ready for duty. 😎
Picture 34 :- Last picture of the year 2019 from me BRC transferred HWH WAP 5 30095 at HWH ETS.
Have a nice 2020 ahead. Wish me luck for my work and wish me luck so that I can bring more RF blog like this in the future. Thank you. 🙏🙂