Jodhpur - Mumbai & Mumbai - Mysore?

steven_ber

Read about Garib Rath's (and routes) in the following thread.

Railways wants to add a third side berth

Loads were announced in the last rail budget (last Feb) but lots were only started in the last 10 days.

The Garib Raths should appear on the Indian Railways website, but the 'trains between important places' is not the best way to search.

Look at post 3 in the 'train info' thread for the way I look for trains.

Though theses days, www.erail.in is very good and shows trains that run on every day of the week, so I normally look at erail first, then if needed, I double check on the Indian Railways website.

For some reason, erail isn't showing 'passenger' trains (there the slow, non-express trains), no idea why, I keep meaning to send some feedback to the website to find out why, the last 3 times I've looked for trains I noticed a passenger train missing.


I'm not a fan of Goa, so whizzing through seems like a good idea, esp. for an Australian used to good beaches.

2:1 is dreadful and risky, consider missing out Chennai and Bikaner.

I notice you mention a 2 hour visit to Agra, this wouldn't be enough time to see the Taj Mahal, and more worrying, I've read of the train from Varanasi to Agra arriving late regularly.

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



Train information.

AlanJ

Hi, Steven, you're a bit right again about the beaches.... when we were in Goa in 2004 we spent three days there, but only ever went near a beach once, and that was just a stroll along the beachfront adjacent to the Anjuna Market. We enjoyed Goa, but didn't think much of the market or the beach (maybe it wasn't indicative of the rest of them). But we did love Old Goa, and just strolling around the Portuguese area of Panaji. It would be nice to revisit Old Goa (which, if I recall, is right near a railway station), this time with our kids.

For that reason -- and remembering that you effectively "gave" us a half-day in Mumbai that we wouldn't otherwise have had, we're thinking of leaving in the morning of the Monday on the Shatabdi, which gets to Thivim at lunch time. This would also mean that we could spend the night in a hotel at Madgaon before re-boarding the train for Mangalore via Udupi (train 6337 leaves a bit after 0730.)

Re what to leave out: Agra is first on the list of things to go.... it was the one city in India I didn't like. However, the kids would love to see the Taj, and, arriving at 6 a.m. when it's just opening, we might just be able to see it without queuing for hours, as I know the people who come down from delhi for a day trip have to do. If we do miss our connection (to Delhi) it's hardly serious, as there are scores of other trains plying that route. So the whole trip to Agra is one we will decide on maybe only a couple of hours before we leave Varanasi (if the train is likley to be late, we'll catch the one that leaves an hour later and go straight to Delhi).

I don't want to leave out Chennai... back in the days of the Raj, my great-great-granduncle was the governor of Madras, and I felt a little guilty on our last trip for not visiting "his" city. However, as much as I would love to see Kolkata, I think I would happily leave it out if I could save a day by going directly from Vijayawada across-country to Varanasi. It seems, however, that the trains that ply that route, whether through Nagpur and Itarsi or through Raipur and Katni, are, generally, a slow bunch and don't allow much flexibility..... unless I find a train I haven't looked at yet, it is actually faster to go from Vijayawada to Varanasi through Kolkata, with a full day's stopover there, than it is to sit on the "inland" trains with no major stopver at all. C'est la vie.

Bikaner? Well, we could save a day there, I guess... but now that the Jaisalmer-Bikaner line is up and running, it really doesn't add much to the trip. And I just love Rajasthan! In fact, I would have been just as happy to spend the whole holiday in Rajasthan, with maybe a side trip to Varanasi... except that airfare from Australia to Delhi is a very different story indeed from travelling the Sydney-Bangalore route via Singapore (thanks to Jetstar and Tiger).

Thanks for your suggestions! And the 2:1 ratio, while not ideal, is a lot better than I was looking at a couple of weeks ago! Thankfully, we sleep well on Indian trains, and we do get to spend a few nights in hotels to replenish our stamina!

steven_ber

OK, now I'm really worried about your hectic schedule, you're going to need a 4-5 day break somewhere in the middle of your trip to get over the train travel.

I done too much on my last trip, and was dreading every train ride, I became so selfish and sick of the 'what country' conversations that I spent many many hours in the isolation my iPod provided, thank god/allah/budha/maggie that the Eagles brought out a new CD just before my trip.

Why Vijayawada? (beaches near Macheilapatnam?)

Consider Puri/Konark instead of Calcutta, this won't reduce your travel time by much, but it shortens the train ride from Vijayawada.

Look for trains from Vijayawada to Puri and Bhubaneshwar, then look for trains from Bubaneshwar to Mughal Sarai.

AlanJ

Hi, Steven!

I agree about the breaks, but we do, in fact, have a couple of these... in Delhi and Jaisalmer, where we met people last time with whom we want to renew acquaintance. Hopefully, that will provide the mid-trip respite (even though just breathing in Delhi can be hard work, I found!)

Why Vijayawada? We found a fast train which whizzed us up from Chennai in a single evening, allowing us an arrival time early enough to find a hotel; otherwise, just about everything we could find meant another night on the train (sometimes two on the same train, which we were anxious to avoid if possible). Generally speaking, what we are trying to do is alternate nights on the train with nights in hotels. Vij gave us this opportunity on the long haul north from Chennai. Thanks to your advice, we can now do this alternating between Mumbai and Mysore (a night in Goa), which will be useful in order to cope with that early-morning arrival (before 4 a.m.) in Mysore!

I don't think I thought of the Bhubaneshwar-Mughal Sarai option (even though I think I did check out Mughal Sawai as a way of getting to Varanasi via Jhansi, but, as often seems to happen in that area, the running times are awkward for tourists). I'll have a look at that now. I found a very fast Garib Rath from Chennai, which covers this ground in record time, avoiding the need to stop at Vij... but it runs only on Saturdays at present.

Anyway, I'll get back onto the rail site now and play with the options you suggested. I find that while I am using "trains between important stations" part of the time, most times I use the alternative page where you type in three letters of the station and they tell you all the trains, regardless of which day of the week you're travelling on. I probably learned that from reading one of your pages years ago; in 2004 I spent days devouring all your writings about trains, and many of them have "stuck", even three years later. There must be thousands of people by now whose India holidays have been immeasurably enriched by your advice... that must be a great feeling!

steven_ber

First, I can only scream.....Take a flight from Chennai to Delhi, then do Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and so on, this will get you an extra day and a half, maybe 2, and will be a lot less hassle, you will enjoy the rest of your train journeys a whole lot more if you avoid a Chennai-Varanasi journey at the beginning.

(and beleive me, I know what I'm talking about, I did a very similar journey last December, Varanasi to Tirupati, breaking the journey at Hoshangabad (near Itarsi), my first train was so late that I just stayed on the train till Itarsi and had a few hours in town then went back to the station for my train to Tirupati, no fun at all.)

Spicejet charge Rs2500 for the Chennai - Delhi flight, you'll do well to get below Rs2000 for 3A in the train to Varanasi (with a stopover).

If you still want to use the train, Puri/Konark is one option to break the journey, or see the following alternative.

There is a hill resort called Pachmarhi (do a search), it's about 35kms from Pipariya.

Train 2295 (2578 on fridays) departs Chennai Central daily at 15:25 and gets to Pipariya at 15:42 the next day.

There are loads of trains departing Pipariya between 18:20 and 21:50, getting to Varanasi/Mughal Sarai at between 08:00 & 10:40.

Chennai to Pipiriya costs Rs1174 in 3A
Pipariya to Varanasi costs Rs763

Total = Rs 1937

Bearing in mind that you're traveling with at least one other adult and 2 kids, if you could get someone in India to book these trains for you, you could use the 'Break Of Journey' rules and get the price down to Rs 1484.

AlanJ

HI, again, Steven!

Pachmarhi! I had never heard of it before, so I certainly did the search, as you suggested, and it sounds very lovely. The 25-hour train journey from Chennai doesn't sound so appealing, however -- I'm trying to keep the journeys down to around 12 hours whenever possible (although I admit I've resigned myself to one journey -- Vijayawada to Jhansi -- which runs to around 17 hours). However, I'll do some playing around with the timetables and see what I can come up with.

While I had stumbled upon Mughal Sarai in train timetables before, it wasn't until you mentioned it that I checked it out thoroughly, and found, of course, that knowing this station is absolutely vital to planning a rail journey to and from Varanasi! One of the shortcomings of the indiarail site is that it doesn't help you out in this way... you type in "Delhi" and it doesn't tell you about Nizamuddin; type in "Varanasi" and all it mentions is Varanasi City and Varanasi Junction. And here was I wondering why there was such a miserable choice of trains leaving Varanasi for points west! Now I have many more to choose from, just as Nizamuddin gave me a whole lot of new options getting into Delhi.

You will be relieved to know that, with your assistance with this "new" station, I have managed to plan a train route to Varanasi which doesn't require us to go around via Kolkata. Actually, it only gets us to Varanasi about 7 hours earlier (over a three-and-a-half day period), but it's an easier set of journeys (if the trains aren't too late!) and will allow us to have a 7-hour stop in Jhansi/Orchha instead of the previous one-day stop in Kolkata. We never saw Orchha last time, as we decided to do the six-hour-each-way bus journey to Khajuraho, which I took off the list for this time... back then we had five and a half weeks to play around with instead of our current two-and-a-half, so six-hour bus journeys are not something to embark on lightly (actually, bus travel in India is, I think, quite difficult and nowhere near as pleasant as the train).

Which brings me to your suggestion about air travel. On our last trip we did this quite a bit, using a Jet Airways fifteen-day pass, plus one supplementary flight with Air Deccan. Although I'm not crazy about the nuts and bolts of internal flights -- you spend a lot of time getting to and from the airport and checking in and out -- I can see the advantage in this present case, so I have looked at Jet, at Deccan, at Spicejet, and at a couple of the others (Kingfisher?)which seem to have sprung up in the last few years. So far I haven't found a single journey less than ten thousand rupees for the four of us, once the myriad taxes are added in; I am hoping that judicious use of cheapish hotels plus 3AC (with that break-of-journey rule applied, plus my senior's discount) will undercut that considerably.... however, I haven't discarded the idea of air travel quite yet. At present I want to find out the optimum train itinerary, and then I will see if another airpass, or train with occasional air supplements, wouldn't improve on what I've worked out.

When I look at the latest draft of our itinerary -- the "post-Steven-Ber" model -- and compare it with the incredibly rigorous one that I started out with, just a week ago, I can only once again re-iterate what I have said before, to you and to others.You really are the train travel guru of the internet, and if these plans do happen to come off, then a lot of the credit will go to you. Now if only you could make all those damned trains run on time!

Rest assured I will look carefully at all your new suggestions... most of your previous ones have been factored in to the updated itinerary, albeit with a couple of small refinements (such as a break of journey in Madgaon)in some cases. I will now refresh myself on the "break of journey" rules(which I know you have described on another "sticky"), and also, I think, look at any other ways of saving a bit of money.... e.g. the Indiarail pass, which I didn't really consider back in 2004, but which just might help out here.

Thanks again... I really look forward to checking this thread twice a day!

steven_ber

I mentioned Chennai - Pachmarhi as I thought you wanted a place to stop on the way from Chennai to Varanasi, I thought you didn't really want to go to Vijayawada, however, the same train I mentioned calls at Vijayawada at about 22:30.


2 and a half weeks......

I feel I should stop going on about your total Itinerary, but the problem is, I feel so strongly that you're making a big mistake, and again, I'm talking from experience, I travelled (last Nov/Dec) about the same distance as you're traveling, and it was too much for me, I had to travel these distances because of meetings in north and south India, but I started to really dread another train journey, yet apart from a few 2 day breaks and some 1 day breaks, I had a 3 X 3-day break, a 4-day break, a 2 X 6-day breaks, and if this isn't enough to make you reconsider, then think about this, I had 5 weeks and 2 days in India to cover that distance, you have 17/18 days.

You plan to travel....

Bangalore
Chennai
Vijayawada
Jhansi/Orchha
Varanasi
Agra
Delhi
Jaipur
Bikaner
Jaisalmer
Jodhpur
Mumbai
Old Goa
Mangalore (I doubt you could fit in Udupi)
Mysore
Bangalore

All by train and all in 17/18 days.

Even if you think you can handle it, can your wife? can your kids?

What happens when one or 2 of them have had enough of trains and you're only in Jaisalmer, it will be no fun at all explaining that there is only another 3000kms to go.

Train travel is fun, so are chips, just not every day.

I really think you should reconsider, maybe fly into Delhi and out of Bangalore (or preferably Chennai), this would save you 3 days, and save the cost of trains for those days, that's got to be worth paying a little extra.

AlanJ

I'm listening to what you're saying, Steven, and, believe me, I'm doing a lot of thinking. I guess the only defence I can offer here is to say that, should your worst fears come true and the family either gets sick of trains or just plain sick, with the trip only part-way through, then, of course, we do simply say, "Where's the nearest place to stay for five days which has an airport to take us back to Bangalore at the end?" None of our plans are set in concrete... it would be a bit rash to do so, when we're talking trains in India (I note that the Konkan Railways site announces that ALL their services have been temporarily suspended until further notice, due to the rain; something like this happening in September would really make us re-think our plans!)

Looking at what we have on paper so far, I see that in the just-about-worse-case scenario, if we can get as far as Varanasi on the schedule we have worked out, it would be possible to simply call that our furthest-from-base point, and make our way back to Bangalore from there... either via Mumbai, via Khajuraho (using that about-to-be-opened rail link from Mahoba to Khajuraho)or via Kolkata (which we've taken out in order to shorten the hours on trains).

You're right, by the way, about Vijayawada... there's nothing compelling to see there, it is just a place where we could arrive about 2230 at night -- early enough to get a room -- and stay until the afternoon of the next day, when a fast train comes through which is of use to us.

Anyway, what we do have now -- thanks largely to you -- is a plan which we can at least live with on paper, insofar as it takes us to a couple of places where there are people who want to see us, and it gets us back to Bangalore in time for our return flight. Before I started this, I wasn't even sure I could come up with ANY itinerary that would do even that much for us.

You may be sure that in the next couple of months I will be haunting the budget airlines websites... who knows what might suddenly crop up to make us simplify our trip?

Thanks so much for your help and your sage advice! I will continue to check this thread and all the others to which you contribute in order to learn from your experience.