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.