Scenic rail trips -- Kangra Valley Railroad and others

Shimoga-Talguppa was closed a while ago for gauge conversion, and I think it's due to open again very soon with direct trains from Bangalore to Talguppa, I think the line will be extended to Honavar eventually.

Thanks for your reply.
In one of your post you have mentioned that the Salem to Bangalore train journey is also a nice one.
Can you tell me the current train times for Salem to Bangalore?
I'm planning to visit Yercaud in a weekend and return to Bangalore by train. so it'll be nice if you can provide some info on the train times.
Thanks in advance.

##To the best of my knowledge, there is no proposal for Talguppa-Honnavar part!!!

##Just before it's closure for conversion, I have travelled in the Rail Bus from Shimoga to Talguppa!!!

would recommend the following, covered mostly by accident, as happens most of the times.

1- Siliguri - New Mal - Hasimara -Alipurduar section- I never knew this region was to have such surprises, and it is mentioned just once in this thread. Passing through national parks, crossing the white streams arising from Bhutan, getting paid in Ngultrums while having a samosa (which has a different name that I forgot) at new Mal, viewing the distant, yet nearby mountains. Woohu- as I returned, I reserched and found that i was lucky by chance, to board a train from kamakhya to patna that passes through this route, not commonly used by long distance trains, apart from Kanchankanya.

2- Nilgiri Mountain Railways- Accidently reaching at Ooty station, in time to catch a train to mettupalayam. Just for Rs 22, With the steam engine coupling that we saw at Coonoor, to the amazing coffee served here, the witnessing of water filling in a steam engine. All by accident.

3- Darjeeling Hill Railway- The more famous among all Hill rails of India.

I tried to travel by the Neral Matheran railway, but it was closed every time I went there.
Also saw the Kalka shimla railway, but dint board it- next time definitely.

4- Another accident, getting me close to History of IndRail- The Yawatmal Murtijapur section. This was the last privately owned rail line- owned by a British Company, now with the Indian Railways. It cuts through the forests of Vidarbha, on a narrow gauge, providing the only link, to a few villages, passing through ruins which might have been stations during the Raj. On seeing the steam engine of this train- called as Shakuntala Express, displayed at Pune station, I was filled with joy, as if meeting a dear one.

5- Crossing the Vindhyas- Bhopal Itarasi- Khandwa.

6- Akola - Ratlam- The Longest-by distance, running Metre Gauge train Route. Famous for its spiral Bridge.

The Legendry Meenakshi Express (i like this name)- Which I boarded once from Ratlam to Chittor- previously covered the distance from jaipur to Secundrabad on metre Gauge- Passing through Ajmer- Chittor- Ratlam-Indore-Khandwa- Poorna and then Secundrabad. Gradually it is getting converted to BG, with few days left till this Ratlam Akola Route closes down for conversion.

7- New Jalpaiguri- Dibrugarh- Passes through the doars, to Guwahati, and then the plains of assam, giving way to Tea Gardens as we reach upper Assam.

8- Rajkot Okha Section- Near the end, there is a single rail line, and the station of Mithapur, where the Salt we eat is manufactured- Tata Namak, has a single rail line, not even 2, which would've allowed crossing. Okha is the tip, and there are many places to visit nearby- Dwarka and the beaches included. The area is the gateway for many migratory birds, also has corals.

9- The Vizag- Jagdalpur Araku Valley Route- Want to go there, but the place sounds interesting.

For those with less time -
Here are the quick but very scenic routes-
1- Konkan Railways- How can I not mention it. For all the tunnels, bridges, beauty - Would never recommend anyone taking a night train to Goa. Best deal here- Take a jan Shatabdi from Dadar to Madgaon.

2- The Mumbai Pune Route- During monsoons, this should not be missed by anybody who stays in the two cities.

3- Jaipur - Jodhpur- Crossing the sambhar lake- a huge salt pan, where the train runs besides the sambhar lake.

4- The east coast railway.

5- The Trivandrum - Cochin Route- crossing the backwaters. Not all trains go from the most beautiful route, and I would request others IndiaMikers to enlighten us all, but travelling through the backwaters of kerala on train is a visual treat.

Hi Friends, i am a new member of this website. It'll take sometime to explore this. Meanwhile can anyone answer my query on Kangra Valley railway? i'd b visiting Kangra this year.

1) Is it functioning? (i read a post that the services had been suspended after a bridge collapsed in August 2011)

2) If yes, then, is it possible to book tickets in advance or are these trains similar to the local trains of Mumbai, where one has to book tickets on the spot?

3) Majority of the websites provide old data about trains and are thus not reliable. So is there any helpline or any official website with the latest time-tables etc?

4) Can one expect to get a seat in the kangra valley trains or are these very crowdy?

Those who've been there lately, please share your experiences!
Thanks a lot!


Regards,
Parin.

25 most scenic train routes in India

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelbl...?destId=356195

Iam travelled Metupalayam- ooty route. It was nice..

17. Chambal Express (Agra to Gwalior) has the wrong photo, looks like a metre gauge train on a single track without electrification, Agra to Gwalior is double BG electrified.

I suspect that it is a photo of one of the trains on the 600mm line from Gwalior to Sheopur Kalan.

Train Talk (Chai & Choo Choos)

It might look like I am hijacking this thread for our Chhindwara Choochoo Train but I am inclined to agree with Steve and Dave on this point. Now I have a question for those who have travelled the Jhansi-Gwalior-Agra route in the daytime:

I remember travelling on it back in 1968 (I was travelling from Nagpur to Delhi on the Madras-Delhi Janata Express - but that is another story). The line was still single track but they were laying a second track. On large sections of the stretch the second track was not being laid next to the first but some distance away on its own embankment or in its own cutting. Does it still have this appearance?. I zeroed down on this region on googlemaps and found such a stretch between Datia and Dabra where the line crosses a river.

Now comes the inevitable aside - I looked up the name of the river on a large scale map of India and found that it is called the Sind! Furthermore, it is a direct tributary of the Yamuna. At school when we were asked to name three tributaries of the Yamuna the answer expected of us was: "Chambal, Betwa, Ken". I didn't realize there were others (named in atlases, I mean).

This is a seriously valuable lump of information.
Here is Steven's definite list to date. I chopped off Kashmir for the time being, though the existing northern section might be worth a vote.
I'd like to hone down some of the longer suggestions to the genuinely scenic parts, the idea being to work out which bits need to be done in daylight, and then hence what train(s) you need to catch. I will go through each of them and add that train number and scheduling info over time.
I dont mind tailing chai and choo choos, or IRFCA if there is active discussion in there, but we need to keep this, already weighty tome, in order.
There's no limit to the extent of this list. We all know about the surviving hill lines, it's these ones buried in the middle of the country that need exposing. This Bull Run for instance is quite patently a must do on par with the hill lines. I have to admit to not sharing everyone else's obsession with metre gauge, but dinky little Indian DMUs hidden away inside the country really gets my engines revved.
If there isn't any first hand corroboration of the view from someone then we'll just admit so. We've got nothing specific to the east of Siliguri. I dont think the Dhemaji line is back yet, but that's an obvious one I guess.
Also, it sounds like the battle to ever get the DHR back onto a mountainside that just collapses more and more every year is being lost. But even Ghum and back is worth listing.

train 1. I believe that the best bit is just ptk to kangra. i.e if you were recommending this then you'd tell someone to get either the 10:00 or the 13:20.
train 2. oh, this has gone I presume, a victim of project Unigauge *sob*.

yes, metre gauge gone, and with it this railbus

the arunachal appears to be back, I just mailed our guys sat & nav to see if this isnt erail myth. there's no day train though, which if you arent trying some stupid round india speed record the day train would have been the better one, so it cant really qualify, the east bound train is night time too, and they are the only trains on the timetable on any part of the line right now.