Kanniyakumari Exp in October

Myself and 5 others are trying to book seats on the kanniyakumari express from mumbai to katpadi in late october, but unfortunately there are no seats left on the irctc website. what's the chance of getting seats on the train once we get there?

What dates are you looking at?

What class?

I ask because I may be able to find an alternative.

If no seats now, you've got little chance of getting seats when you get there.

Why katpadi? (are you going to Vellore?)

leaving on the 25th October, in either 2A or 3A

oh and we're going to katpadi because we're doing a medical elective at CMC vellore

i have worked out one possibility which is mumbai to madgaon, then madgaon to bangalore, then bangalore to katpadi

That's a long way round, but if you can get availability, go for it.

I've been trying to find availability on one of the Mumbai - Chennai trains (you could get off at Arakkonam and get a bus).

Also tried looking at the Kaniyakimari Exp (and the Nagarcoil Exp via Arakkonam), I also tried to see if they had availability if you booked through to Kaniyakumari/Nagarcoil.

But long waitlists everywhere.

Are you still here?

If you go via Kolhapur/Miraj, then Tirupati (then a bus or train to Vellore) I can find availability.

Train 1023, Mumbai CST 17.50, Miraj Jn 04.40

Train 7416, Miraj Jn 13.25, Tirupati 08.45

(7416 departs Kolhapur at 11:35, I'm guessing a good sized taxi that'll take 6 people can get from mumbai to kolhapur in just over 7 hours)

Train 1023 has availabilty in 2A & 3A for 24th & 25th
Train 7416 has availabilty in 2A & 3A for 25th & 26th


I've also had a quick search going via Shoranur jn or Mangalore, and found no availability.

It would be extremely risky to leave booking till the last minute, 6 berths are very rarely held for the foreign tourist quota, and on the rare occasion you do find 6, some are more than likely already sold.

And tatkal (last minute quota tickets) are likely to be snapped up before you get to the counter (6 days before journey date), you only get 6 Tatkal berths per 3A carriage.

Anyway, good luck, I've got to go out.

Easiest route that you can probably book train journey is

Mumbai--Bangalore---Katpadi(Vellore)

-Good chance to get Mubai-Bangalore as there are more trains.

-Bangalore ---Katpadi is on Blore---Channai route & there are plenty of trains

thanks for all your help.

this is what i ended up going with, i had this as a back up plan when i tried for hours to find availability on trains direct to chennai or bangalore without having any luck:

Mumbai CST --> Madgaon (on the Mandovi Exp)
Madgaon --> Yesvantpur (on the Yesvantpur express)
Bangalore Cy Jn --> Katpadi Jn (on the Brindavan Exp)

it makes the trip pretty long, but we don't really have any time restraints other than getting to vellore by the 27th. also i've heard that the train from mumbai to madgaon is pretty incredible, is this true? and is it difficult to get from yesvantpur to bangalore cy jn? the train gets into yesvantpur at 1100 and then the next train leaves bangalore at 1430.

and again thanks for all your help, this whole forum has been very helpful.

Yeshwanpur to Bangalore main station willtake about 1 hr by bus/taxi/rickshaw. Many trains pass through Yeshwatpur, so i rather prefer take another train to Bangalore Main Station.

Remember Brindavan Exp almost always leaves on time, as Bangalore is its starting station.

Yes, Mumbai --Madgaon is very nice trip.Hope it is day journey.

Good luck

thanks for your help. yes the Mumbai to Madgaon trip is a day journey. is it likely that the train from Madgaon to Yesvantpur would be more than a few hours late?

You never know !!!!! Generally it is not late mote than 1-2 hours.
Worst case even if you miss Brindavan Exp, there are plenty of buses from Blore bus station (500m from the blore railway station)

Also, Yeshwantpur Howrah train leaves around 5 PM