help! itinerary too full?!

Dilliwala

Yes, but still Guwahati doesn't factor in. So, as the man said, what are u talking about? Who wud want to go to or from Guwahati to get from/to NJP if they are in VARANASI or DELHI??? There are much simpler ways of getting there. This map will provide clarity.

paladin

I'm surprised that no one in responding to your queries has mentioned Khajuraho, which has some of the most wonderful, carving-clad temples to be found. And it deserves mentioning in this context because planes to Varanasi from Delhi may very well stop there. Or rather, our plane to Khajuraho stopped in Varanasi. The two could be linked, I suspect.

steven_ber

York_Katni

Your info can be very useful to indiamike members, and I feel I could learn a lot from you, but you need to change the way you present your information.

"amarnath express and lohit express" mean nothing to most members of indiamike, they have no way of finding out where these trains run from/to or the times of these trains, indiamike members will not be able to search the Indian Railways or IRCTC websites to find those trains.

I offer my information in a way that I would have understood when I first joined indiamike (and knew nothing about the railways), I present the train classes in the same way that Indian Railways do, and I always give the train number and the station names, this way, our members can use the information I provide to do their own searches on the Indian Railways website, or they can use the information to book trains on the IRCTC website.

As I say, your knowledge and information can be extremely useful, but only if people can understand it.

__________________
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How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

sandrinella

Thanks once again for all your help!

I think we are going to take the suggested "Train 2317 departs Varanasi (Wednesdays and Sundays) at 20:40 and gets to Moradabad at 07:25 and Najibabad Jn at 09:03 (2A, 3A, SL.)"
This train takes 11 to 12.5 hours, correct?
(Real sorry for this stupid question, but my travel partner thinks if we take this train we are stuck in a train for more then 24 hours...)

How long in advance is it recommended to book the tickets?
(Since the train only runs twice a week I am worried that we might not get on)
How would we go on from Moradabad (or Najibabad) to Almora?
Is there any beatuiful town on the way up to Almora that would be good to stop at?

ranjan154

As far as booking of train tickets are concerned, you must book in advance as soon as your programme confirms.

__________________
Rakesh Ranjan
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/travinfoindia/

Dilliwala

If u take the 2317, u shud get off at Moradabad, as Najibabad will be both a waste of time and unsuitable for onward travel to Almora.
U cud take a taxi from Moradabad, but that will cost a pretty packet. Then again, it'll be more comfortable than say the bus. There may not be a direct bus to Almora, so u may need to change at Haldwani, Kathgodam, Lalkuan or Kichha (any one will do, if it provides an immediate onward bus to Almora). However, I feel the best option is to take another train to Haldwani/Kathgodam. If u can't find a suitable one, try Kashipur or Lalkuan.
Then again, if u can give your revised route-plan with tentative dates, the experts wud probably be able to find the right trains for u.

On the way to Almora - Nainital is nice, if u don't mind tourist traps. But u can avoid those too - around the periphery of town is nice.
Bhawali provides a convenient overnight stop, if u wish to explore the nearby lakes, or take a detour via Ramgarh or Mukteshwar to go to Almora. Ranikhet is somewhat off-route but is an excellent choice for a day or two (even more, if time permits).

Bookings - simplest is to check the availability online regularly and book as late as poss, espesh if your schedule is a bit uncertain. U are also entitled to the foreigner quota, which is useful if the general quota runs out. And the ladies quota! But these last 2 are limited in number. I wud suggest u do your bookings in Mumbai, all subject to seats being still available of course.

Sadanand Kamath

If you have not already booked on Train No.2317, I would suggest you to consider the following more convenient options for reaching Kathgodam (for Nainital/Almora/Ranikhet):

Train No.4203 departs from Varanasi @16.20 hrs and arrives Lucknow @22.10 hrs. (CC,2S classes).

Train No.3019 departs from Lucknow @ 00.30 hrs and arrives Kathgodam @ 09.30 hrs the next day (2A, 3A and SL classes).

Total train journey time (including transit time at Lucknow) will be around 17 hours.

From Kathgodam, you can take taxi/share taxi for Nainital (1.5 hour) and Almora/Ranikhet (3-4 hours).

Sadanand

__________________
Sirf ek kadam utha tha galat rahe shauk mein
Manzil tamam umr hame dhunti rahi.

[Just one wrong step on the way of the quest
My destination looked for me all life long]

sandrinella

thanks for all your input!
the trains Sadanand Kamath suggests sound pretty good to me.
almost to good to be true

However, is it safe for 2 girls hanging around at Lucknow train station between 22:00 and 0:30?
Is there only one train station in Lucknow or do have have to switch stations?

THANK YOU!!!

Sadanand Kamath

Indian Railway website shows that Train No.4203 arrives at Lucknow (LKO) station whereas Train No.3019 departs from Lucknow Jn (LJN) station. I guess both these stations are on the same place. I will further check on it.

Yes ... it will be safe. Lucknow Jn is one of the busiest railway station on the Northern Railway and even in the mid-night, the station is crowded. You can sit in the waiting room during the transit period.

Sadanand

Dilliwala

Sadaji,
2 codes always means 2 different stations!! But the good news in this case is that 3019 which departs from LJN at 0030, goes via LKO (arr 0040, dep 0041), where OP and friend will be waiting, so they can get on there without having to change stations.

sandrinella,
With a valid ticket u are entitled to stay in the waiting-room (with toilet/bath facilities) associated with your class of travel. They are perfectly safe, as no unauthorised persons are allowed in, so u don't need to worry on that count. U'll need to be on the correct platform before the train arrives though, as it's a very short halt. I believe at most big stations there are arr/dep boards in the waiting rooms, otherwise the staff usually keep track of delays, etc.

sandrinella

When checking on the trains suggested I found for LKO the message: "Train doesn't halt at this station, presently", so I guess we do have to switch stations when arriving to LJN.

Does anybody know how far apart these two stations are?
I assume it will be easy enough to get a rikshah to the other station.
However, I feel a bit awkward to leave a train station at night time, with no plan about the layabouts of the city...

Sadanand Kamath

Agreed... two codes means two different stations but they can be adjoining stations. For example in Mumbai, Dadar (DR) on Central Railway and Dadar(DDR) on Western Railways are adjoining stations linked by common pedestrian bridges .

Train 3019 does not stop at LKO at present.
The Indian Railway websites as well as Train at a Glance indicate both LJN and LKO as Lucknow.

If I recall correctly, When I travelled in '95, there were two adjoining stations at Charbagh - one of Northern Railway and the other of North-Eastern Railway. May be some other Imers may be able to throw light on this.

Sadanand

Dilliwala

Sadaji, once again u are spot on!
After doing some googling, I found out that indeed LJN is NER and LKO is NR, and they are adjoining as u say, so it's the same situation as Dadar then. Silly of me not to notice the "Train does not stop at present" remark for LKO re train 3019. Also silly of IR to put it in the route with a 10-min gap to LJN (which is what got me confused in the first place), AND THEN remark about no stop . They probably have their admin reasons, but the site is for the help of travellers not their internal bureaucracy, and it wud make life simpler for the travelling public to keep it simple. Oh well....
And what a good thing that the 3rd station Lucknow City (LC) seems to be non-operational, that wud have really added to the confusion, heheh.
And it wud be useful for IR to have a FAQ section explaining stuff like the above, but no, I had to find it on the fan-site irfca.org. Which provides a great deal of clarity. Some tidbits:

http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-station.html#code
"Different station codes are sometimes used for the same location served by different gauges. E.g., GIMB for Gandhidham BG, and GIM for the station on the meter-gauge route. INDB is the BG Indore code, and INDM the MG code. Sometimes these really are separate stations, even if located close to each other; sometimes the stations may be part of the same complex. The stations in such cases may or may not have separate station masters and other staff. Dadar is an interesting case as it has two codes DDR (on WR) and DR (on CR) both of which are part of a large station complex (all broad-gauge); the two stations have separate station masters and staff, as they belong to different zonal railways."

http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-station.html#misc
"Q. Are there two Dadar stations? Are there stations shared by two or more zones or divisions?

Some stations are physically in one building complex but are considered separate stations for operational and administrative reasons. Usually, these oddities reflect the historical development of the station, where more than one railway company in British India served that station.
The best example of this is Dadar, which actually consists of one station under WR (code ‘DDR’) and one under CR (code ‘DR’). Sometimes the separation is on the basis of the gauge of lines. At Ahmedabad, the BG lines are under Vadodara division (soon to be Ahmedabad division) whereas the MG lines are under Rajkot division. Some other examples are listed below:

(Old) Delhi is shared between Bikaner and Delhi divisions
Howrah is shared by ER and SER
Hazrat Nizamuddin is shared by NCR and NR
Akola is shared by SCR and CR. MG platforms at Akola are run by SCR while the BG ones are run by CR's Bhusawal Division.
Mathura Jn. is shared by WR and NR (BG), and by NER (MG).
Mughalsarai is shared by NR and ER
Nagpur under CR is shared by SECR's Nagpur division as well -- SECR's NG lines terminate next to the BG platforms of CR, and SECR administers that NG portion of the station. Staff at SECR NG platforms of Nagpur belong to CR but are paid their salary by SECR!
NR and NER share several stations. Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Shahganj, and others have their BG portions under NR and their MG portions under NER. In the case of Lucknow both zones have divisional headquarters there.
Wadi is under CR's Solapur division, but shared with SCR as well.
Malda Town is a divisional headquarters for ER, but used to be an NFR station and still has NFR's main BG diesel shed.
Chindwara has SECR NG lines terminating at the station and also BG lines belonging to CR terminating there."

http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-station.html#codelist
"Selected station codes

LJN Lucknow (NER)
LKO Lucknow (NR)"

Dilliwala

sandri,
In light of Sadanand's info, it'll be a short walk from LKO to LJN. First thing u shud do on arrival is check which waiting room u can use, the one at the arrival station or at the departure station. If both, which is probably the case, then of course u shud wait at the departure station.