have i bottled it?

planning to travel on 18 dec from SRE to RJN on 18238 (chhattisgarh express). it's taking freaking 30 hrs with 56 stops😭. actually, i need to travel from haridwar to rajnandgaon (cg). are there any better options for me? i booked this because this journey had least number of train changes that i needed to do. other options were that i travel haridwar -> new delhi -> durg/raipur -> rajnandgaon. this route too will ultimately take similar time for me to reach my final destination even though it has faster trains.