Kalka Mail

nirola

Hi,

Me my wife and kids, one 3 years and another 2 years, are planning to visit Kolkotta , for marriage, in Nov (24th).

I have 2 options either go by Rajdhani or by Kalka MAil.

As we can catch Kalka Mail from Rajpura (Punjab) so i would prefer it over Rajdhani.

I woulf like to ask whether it is safe to travel by an ordinary train, other than Rajdhani, as the train will be passing Bihar.......

So anyone who has travelled by this train (KALKA MAIL) can share his/her experiences.

Thanks

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steven_ber

I've not used the Kalka-Howra Mail, however.....

It passes through Bihar in the middle of the night, and I'd assume your using an air-con class with small kids, so the doors will be locked from the inside.

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Train information.

nirola

yeah!!! Steven


Any one who has travelled on Kalka Mail ??????????????

jyotirmoy

Nirola,
Once I used to travel by Kalka Mail often between Delhi & Kolkata. As Steven said it is ok to travel in AC coach. Needless to say that travelling by Rajdhani is more comfortable. Many travellers avoid the days when Kolkata Rajdhani goes via Patna & prefer to travel via Gaya.

mani

Nirola,

nothing will inspire me to travel on a train that passes through bihar at night. I changed my schedule and paid for 1AC so that we travelled on the Mumbai-howrah mail that does not go via allahabad.

Also Rajdhani will be a more enjoyable experiance for your children as the attendants are more than happy to look after them and attend to their special need in terms of boiled water for that milk bottle or ready to eat noddles etc.

My son loved the mumbai delhi rajdhani but then he is six and has been travelling in trains long distance for a couple of years now. take some toys games and books that they enjoy. this will make the journey enjoyable for them.

enjoy your trip

Mani

maltabella

nothing will inspire me to travel on a train that passes through bihar at night.


Never tried Kalka Mail, but what is supposed to happen in Bihar during the night? Why all of you people are so scared?

mani

Maltabella,

Bihar is the sicily of india.A poor lawless state where politicians and ganglords rule. Train holdups, violent robberies etc are comman in Bihar. Also the drugged biscuit/sweet/food scam is very comman. reported molestation cases are on the rise and sometimes it seems that nobody is safe. Hence the fear.

I know that if I were to travel thru bihar alone or even with my family they would not be happy since the powerful men in bihar are known to take what they like including someone else's wife, daughter, mother.

I would rather travel to Northeast or Kashmir then go to bihar.

If this sounds like a bihar rant then rest assured that these things do happen.

mani

nomad

mani, though I have never been to bihar but situation can't be as bad as you have described. if the stories about these powerful people of bihar forcefully taking somebody's daughter/wife were true, these news channels would have shown that multiple times with reconstructed visuals that look more like an X rated film. cant rule out few incidents but they happen in delhi, mumbai, NY, LA etc etc
I am not sure if delhi is safer than patna.

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nomad

about Kalka mail.

I have lived in chandigarh and have used kalka mail few times as kalka mail is the only train that allows reservation for journey from chandigarh and aligarh.

if you are going to hawrah, go for rajdhani. kalka mail halts at Delhi for few hours in the morning, I am not sure if it has similar stops at other places also. plus if you are boarding from rajpura, timings will be really odd for you.

check total time taken by both the trains and their arrival and departure time.
plus kalka mail was never on time whenever I boarded from aligarh

mani

Nomad,

do some research and you will see the details of numerous robberies, dacoities etc that take place in bihar on a daily basis. take a look at the criminal records of all the politicians in bihar and all their chamcha log. Read up on the general condition of women in the state and how they are harassed and how even in upper middle class or high class/ educated classs families women are not encouraged to step out alone because of the attitude of men genrally who consider all women other than their family members as easy game. It is very intimidating especially for a woman.

Just because not many tv channels are talking about it dosnt mean it doesnt happen.

Why would anybody want to put themselves/family / friends in a potentially explosive/dangerous situation.

what happens in mumbai, delhi, LA or london are one of cases. not a everyday story.

Regards
Mani

maltabella

Thank you Mani, I will remember and avoid bihar!!!!

PS: as italian I assure you Sicily is no more the violent and unsafe region it used to be since 10 years ago. Right now Neaples is far more dengerous than Sicily .

mani

Maltabella,

I visited sicily with my husband on our honeymoon 7 years ago we were backpacking through italy, france & greece.

We spent a day in sicily just walking around, in the ,market along the harbour and let me tell you not once did i feel threathened or scared.

Sicily is a reminder of good times.

regards

steven_ber

That is unfair and alarmist.

In the 4 (or so) years I've been reading Indian newspapers and checking everything to do with Indian Railways (including many 'google alerts' highlighting news about the railways in India) I've heard of 2 foreign tourists being drugged and robbed, one was in Uttar Pradesh, the other in Mumbai.

Theft from tourists is common, especially on the Mumbai-Goa route and the Delhi-Agra route.

I've read about lots of incidents (not involving foreigners) in general class and a few in Sleeper class, but these have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, as well as Bihar.

It's true that many Indians don’t want to travel through Bihar, and from my experience, I can say that the atmosphere on the train changed after we pulled into Patna station, many extra people boarded the train and I got a feeling that none of them had tickets and they done this thing regularly.

But I've survived 2 trips through Bihar and had planned to go there again, on my own next month, but my plans had to change. (nothing to do with Bihar).

I would advise people to use air-con classes, and to travel through Bihar at night (to avoid the extra people joining the train and the delays when they pull the emergency cord to get off the train).


Now, shall we discuss the Rape crisis in Delhi, or the murder of a tourist who used the pre-paid taxi from Delhi airport?

nomad

yes,
i asked a friend who is from patna about abduction of girls from trains and he said he does not know about any such incident. he said robberies do happen but most of them are in general(unreserved) class. though there have been cases of robbery in AC but now there are cops in every coach and number of such incidents is coming down.

Mani,

do you have any news clip, report statistics to support your claim or you just felt like making a claim?

mani

No particular proof
Just paranoid considering that we have always considered bihar a rouge state, know a few bihari women who dont stay in bihar. Keep seeing all these bihari bhaiya's and all the other men travelling everyday in Mumbai staring at women. Passed through bihar once on a train in 3 ac Class and the change in atmoshphere at that time is what has put me off Bihar.

Gave me the chills at 18 and still does.

Dont mean to be alarmist and I am not but will not travel through Bihar no matter what.
But have travelled to UP , MP, Orrisa, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra ( home state), Karnataka, Tamil nadu, Goa and alteast for some portion of these trip have travelled alone in 2nd class ,, 3Ac, 2 ac, State transport buses etc.

But never Bihar - I guess you can call ir BIHARPHOBIA

Regards
Mani