Indian Trains and Travel

Hello,

I have indiamike to help learn and plan a ton for my upcoming trip to India(we depart the 28th of Dec for 3 weeks). We are planning on spending 6 days in northern India. Our plan is to arrive Dehli, stay there for a day, take a train to Agra, stay for a half day, take a night train to Umari, stay there for a couple days, then take a night train back to Delhi and spend the remainder of the time there. We would like to fit in one more destination, but looking at the rail times it seems as though it would take too long. For instance, to travel from Delhi to Udaipur takes 12 hours and is only 125 miles? Am I missing something or are the Indian trains just really slow. Also, does anybody have recommendations for this itinerary?

Thank you much!

Mod Note: I have moved your thread into Indian Railways Forum.

Some trains are faster e.g. Shatabdi to Chandigarh, some are slower. Depends on stations and how long stops etc. Car would probably be quicker, but it's a long way to travel in one hop - whereas if there is an overnight train, you barely notice the distance.

To add, railway lines come in different gauges, the narrower they get the slower the train goes. Those superfast trains are especially faster since they're given precedence over other trains, who will have to wait for them to pass.

Etc. You'll soon learn in India you have to adjust to her time, she sure won't adjust to yours Udaipur btw and for instance was never so splendidly connected, this is supposed to have improved somewhat, but going by reports here the emphasis seems to be on somewhat indeed.

Don't forget that, and in light of this, buses can make for a very good alternative, certainly in Rajasthan, which is very well served by them. And like Aishah says, night trains are great, you go to sleep and wake up in the next place, how far (or not) away that is becomes somewhat immaterial.

Delhi to Udaipur is 744kms.

Read through your post again, the post falls neatly into the 'I know what I mean, so everyone else should' category.

Do you mean Umaria?

Does this mean you're talking about Bandhavgarh NP?

So you're thinking of spending 6 days covering Delhi, Agra, Bandhavgarh, Delhi AND you want to add another place?

Where are you flying south from? (Are you going south, are you flying?)

Help yourself, help others to give you info that would be useful, read the 'how to get' thread below, give more details, then get your cat to read your post, if there's anything the cat doesn't understand, adjust the post accordingly.

I was also a bit unclear on your travels.

On a personal note, Steven, you are my hero! Your train info has made my travel planning so much easier and you know more than my Indian husband about all the ins and outs of the train!

Just wanted to say thanks!

In response to Steven, thank you for the constructive criticism, I re-read my post and can see that aside from spelling and grammar errors it is a bit confusing.

To clarify, we are in our 20s and will be spending time with my wife's family in Kerala. Then we will fly to Delhi on Monday Jan 12th at 1pm we will arrive in Delhi via plan, stay there for the day. Tuesday morning take a train to Agra, stay for a half day then take a night train from Agra to Umaria. We would like to do some park tours at Bandhavgarh. Then Thursday evening we will depart from Umaria back to Delhi and arrive back at Delhi around 2pm on Friday. Our plane departs Delhi Sunday.

In Delhi we are thinking of staying near connaught place (we considered paharganj but according to some threads it seemed it may be a bit seedy for my wife) and would like to stay in a place with 2 beds (there are 3 of us) and with a hot shower and is clean. Any suggestions?

I was wondering if there are any stops "on the way" on our train travels that would make sense to stop at.

Also, we were considering visiting Udaipur on a day trip from Delhi on Saturday, however the train time is way too long for this to work. The reason I initially thought this would be feasible is because I used google maps to measure the straight line distance between Udaipur and Delhi to be 125 mi(once looking at the train times I became suspicious that something was awry). Steven, where did you get 744 km?

Thanks for your help!

Ah, but which Udaipur?

I too found this confusing, it's a glitch in Google Maps, a search on Udaipur, Rajasthan, India takes you to a tiny village called Udaipur near Sikar, about 150km West of Delhi. The Udaipur you are seeking is far far to the South West of Delhi, I've never driven it but the flight from Delhi is nearly three hours, that's your only realistic option for a day trip I'm afraid.

Personally, I find www.MapMyIndia.com to be a lot more use than google maps in India, give it a try. Actual distances depend on route chosen, but according to route given by their direction finder, the drive from Delhi to Udaipur is 664km, and takes 16 hours 40 minutes.

Ahhh, I see. I guess I should have looked into the possibility of 2 different Udaipurs.

Thanks.

You could take the direct train to Umeria [arrival at 5.25AM] which is the 11.45AM departure from Delhi the 8478 Kalinga Utkal express which is a little on the slower side. Otherwise the Chattisgarh Smapark Kranti, which skips Umeria but stops at Annupur from where a taxi could be hired. The 2823 Sampark Kranti leaves Delhi at 1725hrs every Tuesday and Friday. The 2823 skips Agra and halts at Jhansi. The 8477 is again the train going to Delhi from Umeria. Otherwise the Narmada express leaves Umeria everyday at 1624hrs to reach Katni at 1810hrs. From Katni your connection could be as mentioned below. The MP Sampark Kranti leaves Katni at 2020hrs and gets to Delhi by 900AM next day. It runs on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and is far more reliable than the daily option the Mahakaushal which leaves at 1925 to reach Delhi at 11.40AM[this train takes a longer route and it is better to stick to the MP Sampark Kranti which partially follows the VSKP-RAIPUR-Katni-Bina-Delhi route]