I had travelled in this train for the first time on October 13, 2014 against the normal practice of travelling Rajdhani express. It is value for money, as it is slower by Rajdhani only by about 90 minutes, per time table. I was fortunate to be also upgraded to First AC against my confirmed booking 2AC. The train started about 35 minutes late but in the rest of the leg it was maintaining a delay of only 20 minutes by and large which almost tallied with the official record, as found in the train running status. However, beyond Agra, the train started losing speed, all sorts of trains kept overtaking eventually to reach late about 1 hour and 50 minutes (11:05 am) against the published arrival which was around 10:20 am. Perhaps, railways are trying to hide the real facts. It was interesting to note this attitude / approach only after...
more... the train crossed Jhansi and not earlier.