The old glory days of the King of North Central Railways, Allahabad Division, the fierce and the highness Allahabad Duronto Express. Ever since it's inception this has been the train who has enjoyed the highest priority on the Delhi-Allahabad route and it's only nemesis that comes close by is the Prayagraj Express.
Seen here is an old yet timeless classic video of the Allahabad Duronto Express making it's presence felt in it's territory.
It dates back to the year 2016 when me, Anirudh Jolly and Ankur Paliwal were on a night long railfanning expedition. As the night begin to press in, we were all awake in the drowsy night just for the main showstopper to unleash it's brute force. That showstopper was none other than the 12276 Allahabad Duronto Express. That day the ALD Duronto had aptly showcased why it was called as the King of it's territory as on that day the very first train to cross us post Magadh Express was the Allahabad Duronto Express which meant that it had overtaken the likes of Prayagraj Express, Gorakhdham Express, Rewa Express, Purushottam Express and Manduadih Superfast before Etawah only. It was really mind boggling seeing the priority that was given by the controllers that day as the mighty "NCR King" was razing past the victims one after the another on it's way towards it's destination and soon we also got the opportunity to cherish the aggressive run of the 12276 Allahabad Duronto Express that day. GZB WAP-5#30026 led 12276 New Delhi-Allahabad Duronto Express announced it's arrival with pure shrill tone honking that literally raised each and every hair of our skin and in no time the Speed King sprinted past us at 120 km/hr speed on it's way towards Allahabad Jn. It was really an ear soothing and eye catching experience for us as seeing the ALD Duronto at it's aggressive best actually is the highlight of any Railfanning expedition.
The "King" Allahabad Duronto continued it's domination for the next 3 years before it had it's last hurrah on 13th September,2019 when the train was suspended for future commercial runs in order to make way for a permanent Humsafar Express connectivity between Delhi and Allahabad (Now Prayagraj). The termination of services marked the end of the glorious era of the "Night Rider" which began with the concept of "Duronto Express" in Indian Railways and true to it's name and meaning this train literally dominated the NCR, Allahabad Division like a King.
