2809Dn/2810 up is superfast Howrah mail that is Mumbai Howrah mail via Nagpur a mail train started by British. This is the shortest route and this train is most economic mode of travel from mumbai to calcutta by spending merely rs. 500. the distance is 1960 kms.
Contrary to poulaar belief this train fares better as opposed to Gitanjali express as only a single day is wasted. The journey time of the train is 33 hours and it starts in night at around 20-15 from Howrah and 20-35/ 20-50 from Mumbai CST and Dadar resp. it reaches destination roughly at 5-30 a.m.thus even though the train is late by 2 hrs passengers are not affected. This is another great advantage over Gitanjali. The train also scores over another superfast train Dnyaneshwari as Howrah mail is accessible from Chatrapati shivaji terminus and Dadar while Dnyaneshwari starts from inconvenient Lokmanya Tilak terminus and reaches Howrah at 3-35 a.m in midnight!
The running speed of the train is same as that of Gitanjali.
*Being a mail train it is much more punctual than Gitanjali and other express trains, a fact lesser known to modern travellers who only go by number of stops to select the train.
As far as convenience of schedule is concerned the mail is the best mode of transport next only to Duronto and a flight. The train provides all classes one Ac Ist, 2 Ac 2 tier, 3 Ac 3 tier and 13 sleeper coaches alongwith a pantry car.
Only the seemingly elite who have never travelled by trains especially to Varanasi can give a bad review based on their incomplete knowledge of india.
With such economic pricing, passengers should ignore minor discomforts such as moderate crowding by short distance passengers in the sleeper coach during day time.
These are middle class persons who can not travel in general compartment and given the current status of organization of coaches and reservations there are no alternative coaches for them.
It will not be possible for railways to provide special intercity day trains for the cities enroute for both economical and operational reasons.
Moreover if these passengers are not allowed to travel in sleeper coaches then only a single day train may be available for intercity traffic and the track will be occupied for the through trains which are not offering any service to local white collared intercity day travelers .
*This will lead to many trains between 2 cities say for example Mumbai and Pune which ply, but people can not board them as they can not travel in general compartment and sleeper class is prohibited, even though there is enough extra leg room during day time on payment of extra fares also.
As such train transport will eventually lose traffic to road transport due to lack of availability of frequent day trains on crowded routes, and on availability of trains to local people in rural areas on trunk routes.
So train transport will lose it’s flexibility of timings and viability. *
Well educated and train transport literate passengers should be in a psychological frame to understand the inherent operational and financial limitations of train transport and accept the unavoidable phenomenon if train transport is to sustain in the long run.*
.Railways also should ply double decker general coaches and provide side berths in general coaches
The train now has 24 coaches . However it will be better if speed is increased further and train starts at both ends at 23-00 P, M. to reach destination at around 6-00 a.m. Also forced ventilation like newly introduced Mumbai suburban trains and air coolers and one more fan per compartment in sleeper class will go a long way as far as comfort is considered.