(4K) Lalbagh Express Full Journey! Bengaluru to Chennai

It's here! A complete journey from KSR Bengaluru to MGR Chennai Central onboard 12608 Lalbagh SF Express, my favourite train. This video covers everything a railfan will cover during the trip, and editing the entire thing in 4K made it one of my most challenging projects thus far.

After overseeing the departure of the Chennai-bound Shatabdi just 20 minutes earlier, the train departed from KSR Bengaluru with an offlink, Lallaguda's white stallion 30448 in the lead. Apart from Lalbagh, a variety of other trains also had Lallaguda links on this day, reminding me of the Lallaguda 3-phaser invasion before RPM/ED started getting P7s.

With the delay never exceeding 15 minutes, we pulled into MGR Chennai Central 5 minutes ahead of schedule to complete a fantastic, punctual run. The train's punctuality was certainly commendable, but its timetable had been relaxed quite a bit, in fact slowing it down when compared to its ICF days, so I wasn't surprised.

Nevertheless, the train's aggression and priority haven't diminished one bit. What has been dented, however, is the train's cleanliness and general stature. Lalbagh, back in the day, was a semi-premium train. Almost like a Jan Shatabdi. It was called the common man's Shatabdi because it would act as the ideal counterweight to the Mysuru Shatabdi. After the SWR Shatabdi was introduced, it used to aggressively chase it all the way to Chennai. Nowadays, it seems to have given up. It takes the same time as Brindavan and has the same number of halts. Not only that, it used to be extremely clean, thus providing a Shatabdi-like service at a fraction of the cost. These things have all changed, mostly for the worse.

The train was dirty. I mean actually dirty. The seats had dust on them, the washrooms weren't clean at all, and the coach was relatively new but it certainly looked way older. The horde of unreserved passengers didn't help of course. Lalbagh has always been popular and quick to fill up, but never this overcrowded. The train needs at least two more unreserved coaches to cater to the demand. Perhaps my biggest disappointment though was the famous Lalbagh cutlets which weren't as good as they used to be :(

But enough of the negatives. SWR's 10th fastest train still has that positive image attached to it, still acting as everyone's no. 2 right behind the Shatabdi. Men may come and men may go (I'm looking at you, Double Decker) but Lalbagh will remain forever. Buckle up, because this is going to be one cracker of a journey!

This description has become rather huge, so I'll just summarise all the details here for the TL;DR people:

Train Name: 12608 Lalbagh SF Express

Route: KSR Bengaluru - Baiyyappanahalli - Bangarapet - Jolarpettai - Katpadi - Walajah Road - Arakkonam - Basin Bridge - MGR Chennai Central

Halts:
SBC/Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (Bengaluru Station)
BNC/Bengaluru Cantonment
KJM/Krishnarajapuram
BWT/Bangarapet Junction
KPN/Kuppam
JTJ/Jolarpettai Junction
AB/Ambur
KPD/Katpadi Junction
WJR/Walajah Road Junction
SHU/Sholinghur
AJJ/Arakkonam Junction
PER/Perambur
MAS/Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station

Loco Link: Lallaguda WAP-7 30448 (offlink, regular links are KJM/RPM/ED WAP-7)

Distance covered: 359 km
Time Taken: 5 hours 55 mins
Average Speed: 64 km/h (excluding halts)
Maximum Permissible Speed: 110 km/h

Category: Superfast
Rake Zone: South Western Railway (SWR), Bengaluru Division
Primary Maintenance: SBC CDO
Rake Sharing: 12609 MGR Chennai Central - Mysuru SF Intercity Express

Video Details:
Camera Used: Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
Resolution: 4K 30 FPS

That should be it. Thank you so much for watching! Hope you enjoy it.
~ The Indian Railway Freak

Music Credits:
Cradles by Sub Urban (remixed, ringtone version)
Official music video:    • Sub Urban - Cradles (Lyrics)  
Listen on NCS: https://ncs.io/cradles