BCT-BRC: Is the Rajdhani worth the price premium?

costaguana · Jul 25th, 2009, 12:23

I am looking at trains between Mumbai and Baroda and, from a scheduling point of view, the Mumbai Rajdhani is the obvious choice in the afternoon/evening. However, the NZM Garib Rath is scheduled to run the same route at a similar time of day and at only 10 minutes/1 stop slower than the Rajdhani. It is also less than half the price (336 RS for 3AC vs 725 RS on the Rajdhani) and has CC (only 284 RS) unlike the Rajdhani. As this is a fairly heavily travelled route, I doubt I am the first person to come up against this choice, and I am just wondering if there are any factors (especially scheduling) that would make the Rajdhani worth the price premium? I'm aware of the different service levels, but it's only a 4.5 hour journey, so I am not concerned about missing the tea/snacks/dinner service on the Rajdhani.

Cheers.

vko · Jul 25th, 2009, 13:19

That's why its called Garib Rath, its supposed to be cheaper than regular A/C travel.

Quote:

The Garib Rath express train is one of the premier trains introduced by the Indian Railways in 2005 by Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to provide fully air-conditioned travel to those passengers who could not afford the expensive tickets of the fully air-conditioned Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express. Therefore, the Garib Rath, whose name means "Poor Man's Chariot", was introduced with the facilities of being fully air-conditioned and running faster than most other super-fast express trains running presently. The maximum speed of Garib Rath trains is 130 km/hr which is the same as Rajdhani's top speed. However, in Garib Rath trains, passengers are not normally provided with blankets and pillow and they have to pay extra to get those.

arunganpath · Jul 27th, 2009, 12:47

It is not worth the premium as you have pointed out. But, you need to book well in advance (the advance booking starts 90 prior to the date of journey) if you want to travel by Garib Rath. There are many other trains also, but they would take about 90 minutes more.

costaguana · Jul 27th, 2009, 13:46

Thanks for the replies and the info on the Garib Rath. I will look into booking ASAP.

Jul 25th, 2009, 12:23	#1
costaguana a vagabond of sorts Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bombay Posts: 205	BCT-BRC: Is the Rajdhani worth the price premium? I am looking at trains between Mumbai and Baroda and, from a scheduling point of view, the Mumbai Rajdhani is the obvious choice in the afternoon/evening. However, the NZM Garib Rath is scheduled to run the same route at a similar time of day and at only 10 minutes/1 stop slower than the Rajdhani. It is also less than half the price (336 RS for 3AC vs 725 RS on the Rajdhani) and has CC (only 284 RS) unlike the Rajdhani. As this is a fairly heavily travelled route, I doubt I am the first person to come up against this choice, and I am just wondering if there are any factors (especially scheduling) that would make the Rajdhani worth the price premium? I'm aware of the different service levels, but it's only a 4.5 hour journey, so I am not concerned about missing the tea/snacks/dinner service on the Rajdhani. Cheers.

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Jul 27th, 2009, 12:47	#3
arunganpath Junior most member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Mumbai Posts: 749	It is not worth the premium as you have pointed out. But, you need to book well in advance (the advance booking starts 90 prior to the date of journey) if you want to travel by Garib Rath. There are many other trains also, but they would take about 90 minutes more.

Jul 27th, 2009, 13:46	#4
costaguana a vagabond of sorts Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bombay Posts: 205	Thanks for the replies and the info on the Garib Rath. I will look into booking ASAP.