I had an opportunity yesterday to travel by this train from SC to PUNE on a hush hush last minute trip with my mother. I understood that an AC express on this route would share the Duronto rake of SC LTT. Hence the coach condition and upkeep was up to the mark. I was booked in AC 2 tier so as to have a comfortable journey with my senior citizen mother. Looking at the chart the train was half empty in 3AC and almost empty in 2AC/1AC. There were hardly any booking for the 3 2AC berths. Which was a blessing as we could have full privacy and comfort. However, as specials have a long history of being late I was apprehensive if this train will be run on time. Even though it has a good amount of slack time added (Makes sense as trailing the duronto TT will cause operational...
more... issues and may cause delays to this train) the train was bang on time on all stations viz. WADI, SUR, DD, and PUNE. This is a welcome by the SCR/CR controllers where an AC train is being run on TT. Guess others can give a try if timings do not affect your Monday mornings/evenings.