The train was announced as a Duronto but introduced with commercial halts so as to give stations such as Lucknow, Moradabad, etc. their fastest connection to Kolkata. Initially, it used to have only a technical halt at Varanasi but better sense prevailed and it was converted to commercial. Thankfully, it chooses to go via the shortest route (Gaya-Dhanbad) and has also not been dumped with halts such as Bhabua Road, Sasaram, Dehri-on-Sone, Koderma. When I traveled on it from LKO to KOAA back in August 2011, it covered Gaya to KOAA in 6.5 hours flat with just three halts - Dhanbad, Asansol, Barddaman (unscheduled).