Chennai to Kolkata - 4 days

Hi all,

I am going from Chennai to Kolkata by train as part of a longer trip and have time for one stop. I don't like train journeys longer than about 16 hours, and would like to see something beautiful and to go to the beach. My plan is somethign like this:

Day 1 - leave Chennai in evening on overnight
Day 2 - spend time in stopping point
Day 3 - leave stoppping point on overnight
Day 4 - arrive Kolkata morning or early afternoon.

Can anyone recommend both a good stopping point (currently considering Vizag) and scenic train journeys? would be willing to extend the train time a little bit to say 20 hours for a nice view

thank you and hope you are all well

Make your stopping points as 2

1. Vizhakapatnam
2. Bhubaneshwar (Orissa)

Both are great places to wind yourself up. You can relax in the beaches and then probably continue your journey to Kolkota.

Thanks! I don't have time for two without avoiding three-four consecutive days of train travel, which I think I'm going to try to avoid. I would like to go to both, but I will be in Calcutta again, and Vizag is half way, but Bhubeneshwar is 20 hours and then 6 hours (or so).

I'm contemplating skipping the whole thing, sadly, because I love the train, and going to Pondi. Any thoughts?