Delhi to Bikaner...Help!

greetings all,

here's another train question

we are travelling from delhi to bikaner and are having some trouble finding the train info. what's the deal? any seasoned travellers out there willing to help (wink, wink, steven ber).

also, out of curiosity...it seems like the travelling trend is to go from delhi to jaipur as the first touch down in rajasthan. is there a good reason for this? or shall i put my worries aside and continue with the planned delhi-bikaner-jaisalmer with our last stop in jaipur??

looking forward to everyone's ideas and advice!

--Les Sidekicks

All trains are daily & depart from Delhi Sarai Rohilla.

Train 4789 - Delhi 08:55, Bikaner 19:55. (CC)
Train 4791 - Delhi 21:20, Bikaner 08:15. (1A, 2A, FC, SL.)
Train 9733 - Delhi 23:00, Bikaner 10:00. (FC, SL.)

1A = Rs 1592
2A = Rs 840
FC = Rs 610 (The best VFM class on IR)
CC = Rs 422
SL = Rs 203


The other direction.

The Indian Railways website has not been fully updated yet, Train 4710 has had it's number changed to either 9732 or 9734.

Train 4790 - Bikaner 08:40, Delhi 19:15. (CC)
Train 4710 - Bikaner 17:50, Delhi 05:40. (FC, SL.)
Train 4792 - Bikaner 19:55, Delhi 06:30. (1A, 2A, FC, SL.)

Can I suggest an alternative?

If you have two or three days to get to Bikaner, hiring a car/driver and making your way to Bikaner via the lovely painted towns of Shekawati is highly recommended. Not a lot of people seem to go there, and public transport is a bit sketchy, but if you have the time and the budget, I believe it is a highlight of any Rajasthan trip.

Alchemy, can you give a little more advice about that? How long does the drive take and how much can you expect to pay? The reason I'm asking is I haven't planned to do all of Rajasthan, but I want to see the Karni Mata temple, and I loved the scenery in the movie Paheli, which was, I read, filmed in the Shekawati. But I'm traveling solo, and not sure if a driver hire is right for me.

You could travel any route you want. The regular stretch is just that -- the well-beaten track. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but as well-visited cities go Jaipur is hardly more relaxing after the chaos of Delhi which I gather is your entry point. Some people love both places immediately though, but they seem to be a minority. In short, just go from Delhi to anywhere you feel like.

Once again, thank you for easing our planning and answering our worries...i finally got a hang of the IR web site, it's actually just as good than the one here in France!!!

I always find this section the easiest to use on the Indian Railways website, but always change the 'class' section from 'sleeper class' to 'All Class' before hitting 'Get It'.

We went from dehli to bikaner in december. loved bikaner.
Not sure about now but back in december it was VERY cold at night on the return journey and u didnt get blankets automatically in our class (closed compartment with 2 bunks).
I have never been so cold in my life. The train was freezing i tell ya freezing.
Poor old Maz (person who i was with) was so cold she ......got confused. She was gone!!!

Bikaner is nice. After a few really hectic weeks I landed up there (overnight train from Delhi, had just got there from Kerala, was FREEZING, thankfully the TT supplied me with blankets and chai for the journey - bless him) and just chilled out for a few days. The temple is....well, I wouldnt say it was the 8th wonder of the world - as advertised once you get there, but it certainly is...interesting. Got to see a dead rat in the corner being devoured by other rats. Not very nice to look at. But an 'experience' all the same. If you want a wonderful place to stay, with a great family then check out Camel Man, Vijay Singh. He and his family provided wonderful hospitality and i ended up going back there for Holi which was wonderful

I personally didnt go to Shekawati but met some people that had gone and had really loved it. definetly worth looking into

Unfortunately, my diary is in another country, and my memory is bad , so I 'm unable to provide too many details.

I went by car from Bikaner to Jaipur, and spent two nights on the way (Mandawa and another city). This gave plenty of time to wander through the streets of several painted towns and discover the hidden gems.

Renting a car is not prohibitively expensive. While the rest of Rajasthan is easily accessible by train or long-distance bus, this mode of transportation is less readily available in Shekawati -- and not recommended anyway, as you will want to visit many towns along the way.

Hope this helps. If you're still in doubt, let me give you this random fact: I took more rolls of film in three days in Shekawati than I normally take in two weeks in other parts of India

Thanks, Alchemy! I'll see if I can make it to Shekawati. It sounds beautiful!

Hello,

It's us again....we're looking for trains from Bikaner to Jaisalmer but we can't find any we tried the indiarail site and they say there are no trains....
Should we just forget about it and just book a bus when we get there or a car??
Thanks again

Theres no train track between Bikaner and Jaisalmer so no trains. Best is to bus it. Trains are via Jodhpur and would take too long.

Dear npjai,
There is a daily train service from Delhi to Jai Salmer. Its schedule:-
You Queried For Train No Train Name Date Runs From Source Runs On
4059 DLI JSM EXPRESS 06/08/2005 DELHI MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN


SNo Stn Code Stn Name Route No. Arrival Time Dep. Time Distance Day Remark
1 DLI DELHI 1 Source 17:25 0 1
2 DEE DELHI S ROHILLA 1 17:35 17:37 5 1
3 DEC DELHI CANTT 1 17:56 17:58 14 1
4 GGN GURGAON 1 18:16 18:18 31 1
5 PTRD PATAUDI ROAD 1 18:46 18:48 62 1
6 RE REWARI 1 19:18 19:20 83 1
7 BWL BAWAL 1 19:35 19:37 98 1 Train doesn't halt at this station, presently
8 AIA AJARAKA 1 19:48 19:50 111 1 Train doesn't halt at this station, presently
9 HSI HARSAULI 1 19:56 19:58 122 1
10 KRH KHAIRTHAL 1 20:06 20:08 131 1
11 AWR ALWAR 1 20:51 20:53 158 1
12 MKH MALAKHERA 1 21:10 21:12 177 1
13 RHG RAJGARH 1 21:27 21:29 194 1
14 BU BASWA 1 21:41 21:43 206 1
15 BKI BANDIKUI JN 1 21:55 21:57 218 1
16 DO DAUSA 1 22:24 22:26 247 1
17 GADJ GANDHINAGAR JPR 1 23:18 23:20 303 1
18 JP JAIPUR 1 23:45 23:57 309 1
19 JOB ASALPUR JOBNER 1 00:35 00:37 346 2
20 FL PHULERA JN 1 01:13 01:30 364 2
21 NAC NAWA CITY 1 02:02 02:04 399 2
22 MKN MAKRANA JN 1 02:33 02:35 429 2
23 DNA DEGANA JN 1 03:18 03:20 473 2
24 MTD MERTA ROAD JN 1 04:16 04:21 517 2
25 GOTN GOTAN 1 04:36 04:38 538 2
26 RKB RAIKA BAGH 1 05:43 05:45 619 2
27 JU JODHPUR JN 1 06:05 06:45 622 2
28 MMY MARWAR MATHANYA 1 07:26 07:28 655 2
29 OSN OSIYAN 1 08:00 08:02 687 2
30 MWT MARWAR LOHWAT 1 08:44 08:46 730 2
31 PLC PHALODI 1 09:15 09:17 759 2
32 RDRA RAMDEVRA 1 10:22 10:24 805 2
33 POK POKRAN 1 10:45 11:05 817 2
34 AQG ASHAPURA GOMAT 1 11:12 11:14 819 2
35 JSM JAISALMER 1 13:30 00:00 924 2
---------------------------
But, the passengers from Bikaner have to take 9112 and come upto Jodhpur and then get into this train.
37 BKN BIKANER JN 1 00:45 00:55 748 2
38 DSO DESHNOK 1 01:41 01:43 780 2
39 NOK NOKHA 1 02:10 02:12 812 2
40 NGO NAGAUR 1 02:54 02:56 864 2
41 MDW MARWAR MUNDWA 1 03:15 03:17 881 2
42 MTD MERTA ROAD JN 1 03:53 03:58 921 2
43 GOTN GOTAN 1 04:14 04:16 942 2
44 PPR PIPAR ROAD JN 1 04:46 04:48 978 2
45 RKB RAIKA BAGH 1 05:24 05:26 1023 2
46 JU JODHPUR JN 1 05:50 06:15 1026 2
========================
27 JU JODHPUR JN 1 06:05 06:45 622 2
35 JSM JAISALMER 1 13:30 00:00 924 2

=======================

I am flying on 6 November 2007 from Canada to New Delhi and want to travel onwards from there directly to Bikaner in Rajasthan ( I know I'm missing out on the lovely little towns on the way, but I just don't have the time).
When I search Google, I find several websites which tell me that there are direct trains from Delhi to Bikaner such as:
Bikaner Express (Delhi Sarai Rohilla - Bikaner),
Chetak Express (Delhi-Sarai Rohila- Bikaner)
Bikaner Mail (Delhi Sarai Rohila-Bikaner).

However, when I look at the India Rail website these trains cannot be found or are starting from a different place (e.g. train #4791-Bikaner Mail is departing from Gurgaon or Rewari rather than from Delhi-Sarai Rohila station).
I also found a website from Northern Railway which talks about cancellation of some trains ("Due to public agitation on North Western railway the following diversion/cancellation /partially cancellations have been made......."). The trains mentioned in the 2005 threads of this forum also don't seem to exist anymore


Can somebody please let me know where I can positively find out if there are any direct trains from Delhi (i.e. not Gurgaon or Rewari ) to Bikaner in early November.

I am very cofused and do not want to arrive in Delhi only to find that there is no direct train to Bikaner.