When it was introduced circa 2011-2012, the Asansol - Chennai Egmore Weekly was a game changer for the Shilpanchal area. Prior to the introduction of Ratna, barring a few long distance weeklies (Vivek, PNBE-ERS) etc these areas were totally were at the mercy of trains from Kolkata and Kharagpur for trains bound for Chennai.

Over time, this once fantastic train has experienced a lot of changes , some favourable, some decisively unpleasant. This train used to take the shortest route between Asansol and Egmore baring the slight deeper detour to accomodate Visakhapatnam...
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Junction.
It was then subsequentally extended to Jasidih on one side and Tambaram on the other side, downgraded to an express status, and then again upgraded to a superfast status.

Recently I had the misfortune/fortune to have taken this train from Asansol to Tambaram. My first choice, Coro filled up quicker than I could end up booking on the Tatkal quota, I was faced with the dilema of choosing between Ratna and Dhanbad Allepey Express. Obviously I went with common sense and booked a 2AC ticket to Tambaram.

I reached Asansol by car from Dhanbad at 2:55 PM sharp. Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to learn that 12376 would arrive at Asansol at platform 6. A quick glance at the train TT would ensure that my bubble of happiness was popped instantly, the slack between Chittaranjan and Asansol was enormous!

Anyways I quickly boarded my reserved berth, a pristine clean side lower berth. As it is my customary for my solo trips my customary crepe bandage was back on my right leg to disuade any prospective aunties and uncles asking me to swap their berths with them. The AC was switched off as the locomotive had still not being attached at the Sitarampur end.

The train was fully packed at Asansol and after a prolonged halt of 1 hour departed at 4 PM sharp. The fully 22 coached train overtook the Shaktipunj express standing on the adjacent platform and slowly crawled into the Adra bound line. We slowly curved out of the Grand chord line and slowly gained speed as we crossed the BNR bridge. However true to it's nature, SER soon ensured that our train got it's unscheduled halt at Burnpur.We departed 5 minutes later.

We continued at decent pace (not 110 mind you) up and until we reached the first scheduled halt Joychandi Pahar Junction. We were about 10-15 mins delayed. 3-4 mins later we were off towards Purulia. The stop and start drama continued and by the time we reached Purulia we were delayed by 20-25 mins. We stopped here briefly around 10 odd minutes.

This however was a mild annoyance to what we were subjected to up next. It was almost akin to this stretch being the trailer and the film set to follow up next! By the time we reached Barabhum we were nearly 40-45 minutes. By the time we reached Chandil we were delayed by 1 hour. A 55 minute held up at Chandil ensured our delay had become about nearly 2 hours. As someone who knows this route all too well, I knew things only get worse as we had entered the area that I refer to as the Tatanagar delay corridor.

Coincidentally I had booked dinner at Rourkela as I wanted to actively avoid the pantry car food. As you might have realised, my fooding ambitions went up in flames courtesy the fantabolous controlling exhibited by Adra and CKP division respectively.

The train was then overtaken by a combination of a freight and a MEMU train. Somehow we reached Kandra with a delay of 2 hours 20 minute delay. Stopped for a further 25 minutes. It was during this time, that I got a call from the food delivery guy asking for my permission to cancel the order, as the train was scheduled to arrive at Rourkela well past midnight. I duly complied and went up to the pantry car angry and with rats running amok in my stomach. I asked whether there was any remaining food. What I got instead was a salty porridge that was supposed to be an egg meal.

By the time we rolled into Chakradharpur, it was nearly 11 PM, I was simply too tired and had resigned duly into my berth. When I woke up, we were at Balangir delayed by more than 4 hours! We rolled into Titlagarh at about 7, I tried for some breakfast, but couldn't find any thing substantial! I kept doorplating for the next two hours, in the meantime the pantry guys tried to sell off breakfast combo (egg omelette, veg cutlet) etc. I had seen them prepare them prepare those the previous night, they were just warming those and selling them off! Trust me, once you have been inside of a pantry car, you won't feel like eating anything from there!

We were more than 5+ hours delayed when we rolled into Rayagada. It had started raining and even the red coloured soil and the picturisque Odisha landscape couldn't cheer me up. The train was barely touching the maximum permissible speed for some stretch and then stopped and started...

The train picked up sustained speeds post joining the Howrah Madras mail line at Vizianagaram ! We reached Vizag at nearly 1 PM but it was likely the only stretch where we actually made up some time. When we reached Vizag, it had started raining very heavily! I somehow ran up to platform number 1, and got some decent food from the IRCTC canteen.

Meanwhile a Kolkata bound train and Allepey Dhanbad got priority over us and we were held up nearly half an hour! I am pretty sure nobody complained as almost my entire coach deboarded and got food for themselves! We departed and actually got a decent run in Waltair division. The moment we entered Bezewada division, we started getting detained more frequently !
We were detained for a long time at Pithapuram, and by the time we rolled into Samalkot, our delay increased to nearly 5.5 hours. It was raining very heavily and it was quite clear that coastal Andhra was receiving huge amounts of rains.
By the time we rolled into Rajahmundry, we had settled into a steady 6 hour delay.
Our train was set to be diverted between Nidadavolu and Vijayawada by Bhimavaram Gudivada, and the disapointment that had set on my mind started to be converted into slight hope and happiness! There has been a slight hope that had started forming that the train gets so delayed that we reach Chennai in the morning...
We had reached Vijaywada bulb cabin with a delay with a 6.5 hours! By the time we reached Vijayawada we were delayed by 7.5 hours.
10 minutes of halttime and we were off! Oh! , in the meantime I had ordered dinner from Vijayawada. The delivery guy cancelled the order and called me citing very heavy rains! Rather than to to the pantry again, I bought a passable meal from Vijayawada Junction...
Had my meal, and went to bed but lay awake. The train actually ran very well post Vijayawada, and actually ran at the maximum permissible speed for sustained times! The train actually didn't lose any much time and actually ran well until TADA where it reached SR territory from where on it was held up for really long time...
We were held up for more than an hour in Tondiarpet and Washermanpet combined, and then got held up in Royapuram and Chennai Beach...
We reached Egmore at around 5 AM and departed 10 minutes later.
Almost the entire train deboarded at MS, and the train started moving towards to the train's terminus Tambaram.
Unfortunately for the select few like yours truly who had chosen to deboard at Tambaram, there were a few last minute trolling left to be endured! We were held up for over an hour at Minambakkam, and I actually had a good hour of planespotting at the magnificent Chennai International airport, then we were held up again for a long time at Pallavaram, and all I could see was tall grass and Chennai Beach and Chengalpattu/Tambaram overtaking/crossing us! There were also some long distance trains crossing us...
We finally made into Tambaram at 7 AM, and I wearily trudged towards my final destination....

Overall positives :-
OBHS facilities and on board train maintanence is top notch. Asansol division does a tremendous job in maintaining this train.
Negatives :-
Pantry facilities could be better!
The route is a disaster. It is clear that Chakradharpur division is incapable of runnning this train on time. This train should be either re-routed ASAP via ADRA-BQA-HIJ-BBS route or DHN-BKSC-RNC route to improve punctuality!

As I see even today's train get held up and delayed between PRR and CKP, I sign off expecting your comments and views to be present when I sign in back in the morning. It is clear something has to be done regarding this train, also apologies if my writeup was shoddy, been years since I wrote a travelogue here. Also no pictures, so apologies for that too...
Signing off
--- Arnab