The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

Numbers time.

Kms travelled by train.

Panvel-TVC 1752
TVC-CAPE 86
CAPE-MS 742
MAS-Rangiya 2583
Rangiya-Murkong Selek 450
Dibrugarh-Ledo 102
Ledo-Tinsukia 55
Tinsukia-MGS 1609
MGS-BSB 17
BSB-JAT 1279
JAT-Udhampur 53
Udhampur-JAT 53
JAT-ADI 1476
ADI-Porbandar 464
Dwarka-Mumbai 961

Total 11682

Average 834.4 kms per day

336 hours in 14 days.

34.7 km for every hour of the journey.

More later.

The train is due to get to TVC at about 5 in the morning, the 9:30 is the monsoon timetable that ends on 31st October.

I'll reply more later as I must go to work now.

Oh! Kerelan coffee!. Ive got a great picture from 30 years ago that I will now scan and make it my id pic.
This is my regular partner in crime on (old) boys outings. There's a pun
We had, on the clockwise run, 3 over-nighters, and 3 other good possibilities for a wash and underwear rejuvenation/replacement.
If things go bananas early on it's going to be a disaster obviously, so I think we need to make sure the early connections are fairly bulletproof. My only concern about the clockwise run was Moradabad versus doing Delhi (just the once).
We've got months to argue about the strategy anyway.

I am reviewing the different plans and dreaming on it... BUT I have a "major" comment to raise. Please take it as my "two cents" and not as a criticism...

If it has to be a Circular trip, it should be really circular. I mean that the main rule to follow should be: to travel physically each km. of the outer circle lines, never passing through an inner station. This should be applied to all the trains to take.

Example: if we have to go from point A to point B (both along the coastline, or however on an outer section of the circle) and there is a train going from A to B passing through an inner place C, we should get off the train in D (where the line splits) and take another train going directly to E (where the lines merge again) and finally to B.

The attached drawing can help (I hope!).

Too extreme? With such a rule, all the trips passing through Delhi, Varanasi and so on should be stopped elsewhere to stay on the outer circle.

The only exception to this rule can be the return legs necessary to touch the four geographical extremes of the subcontinent.

Of course this rule is easy to apply along the west and east coast, much more difficult for the north-west and nort-east part of the journey. But this is a part of the challenge...

I will try to search for some real example of this.

We should certainly look at the details of this along the northern section. I think we are OK down the whole of the west side and most of the east. I'm not sure about parts of rajhastan, or lower tamil nadu .
The trouble is the trains really start to suck in places on that northern section. Also, I dont want to get dragged into doing shimla and darjeeling. For a start, all the old hands will have done these anyway, and it makes it look lke some poncey tour. I'm going more for the "so you think you can handle indian trains, do you ?" angle.
I also want to keep it under 2 weeks for a variety of reasons. So I'm prepared to bend the outer limits bit to fit that as long as we've got the very corners covered properly. We've a key bone of contention about doing Delhi. It's nowhere near the border, but then again it is the capital. There's an argument for making it the start/end point.

Considering that the circle must be continuous and that the "blind tracks" have to be avoided (except where the corners have to be reached), for Rajhastan, the Phalodi-Bikaner line (not arriving up to Jaisalmer at the end of the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer line) is part of the very outer circle.

In Tamil Nadu, the problem is the Chennai-Tambaram-Chidambaram-Manamadurai-Madurai line, which would be the path to be followed along the coast but as far as I know is still closed for gauge conversion works.

For the same reason, Shimla and Darjeeling shall not be part of the circle.

So, the journey can start from Delhi and end in Delhi, going sticky along the border and touching the four extreme corners of the subcontinent?

Very, very challenging!

I dont see the need to touch MAS at all. You might want 6340 Nagarcoil express to Bangalore and continue by the mother train that connects to so many trains, 7209 to Rajhamundhry and carry on by the Mail to Khurda Road, take the Tapaswini to Ranchi[the BNR Hotel is worth exploring] and then take the Varnachal to Rampurhat and continue on GHY by JAJ GHY? If you would like to avoid staying in Bangalore change at Krishnarajapuram to a train to Vijayawada or the MUzaffarpur express all the way to Katihar from where the NE express is available. 6340 Nagarcoil Mumbai express saves you so much hassle.

The autodrivers of MAS are a formidable challege for any newcomer. Mark, ledo does not have many places to stay. You would have to come back to Tinukia for the halt.

re: Brahmaputra crossing
It seems that if we want to do Murkeong Selek we lose a day according to my correspondent on the subject. I dont see Murkeong as a pre-requisite of the same order of magnitude as the principal 4 extremities. Apparently we can do it without losing a day if we go from whatever ghat we get from Dhemaji, probably to Bogibeel. That has the added appeal of seeing where they've got to with this bridge which I understand is a nationally important project.

Re: start/end point
Delhi as a start/end point has a number of advantages. One is that we can make our final approaches to it via Moradabad and not care if the train is ridiculously late. There also seem to be more possible attendees from that part of the world, and it's also a much easier city to manage a blast off from than Mumbai. I have some swanky mates in Mumbai, but I've got a few in Delhi too.

Sorry for changing the rules. It's not the first time and it wont be the last.

Steven claims there's a guest house at Tippong, which is somewhere that anyone who is in Ledo and hasnt ever been to the colliery, simply has to do. It will be a key selling point to the trainspotters (and come on admit it, if you're into this then there's a trainspotter somewhere in there).
I'm not expecting very much at all, we should certainly pick up provisions in Dibrugarh or Tinsukia (depending on whether we ae doing the eastern loop clockwise or anti-clockwise), but a roof and some kind of softish place to lie down, and some running water and a chance of a cold shower, will be sufficient at such a hallowed site.

I was there in Ledo for a couple of hours and went till the stilwell road. Locals told me there are not many places to stay other than if you were a levers executive from Calcutta or the UK[many companies here have plantations and with it come the lavish bunglows; try to get a unilever contact in tea trade and you will experience what luxury is or at least they will help guiding you with detailed topographical knowledge of the area because unilever seems to have many plantations in Assam] or were from Coal India. You will have to return to Tinsukia[old tinsukia which is where the town is , where all the hotels are[NTSK is a bit far] and bang opposite to that there is a decent looking b&b]. Just wanted to add that taking the GHY-SBC makes it a bit routine. Do try to take the GHY-Jha Jha[Route ASN-TATA-VSKP-MS-TVC or ASN-RJY-JTJ-ED-[by 7210 Kakinada town Bangalore Seshadri express connecting to 6340 Mumbai Nagarcoil Express] or the Poorvotar till Katihar and come back via Kiul and Assensol[wonderful anglican church]-VSKP-RJY-JTJ-ED-NCJ and old memories and lots of kids to attend to[because it is a big junction with lots of historical baggage and the old buildings are worthy of a visit].

Here's the reason most tourists visit Tippong. - David.

And here's the guesthouse at Tippong. - Here. (right next to the bus stop, buses from Margharita and Ledo)

The 'real' outer circle would add at least a week to the tour, it's a lot harder than it would seem.

For example...

Does the Rajdhani go via Alleppey or Kottayam?

I've no idea about eastern Tamil Nadu, but I know they're close to completing a couple of gauge conversions that will be further east of the main line, and will create a more eastern route, I'll need to look at the map for more details.

The train we've chose for Chennai-Rangiya is one of the few trains that avoid the long loop into and out of Vishakhapatnam.

There's 2 routes to Guwahati, 1 via Rangiya, the other sticking south of the Brahmaputra for much of the way, actually, I think there are 3, there's a line running from Siliguri along past Hasimara (sp), the station for entering Bhutan.

There are various loops running north of the line from Siliguri to Moradabad, and many are long metre gauge sections.

A new direct line will open soon connecting Chandigarh with Ludhiana.

From Jammu, we'd need to go via Amritsar.

I think there's also a couple of loops running west of the Firozpur-Bikaner line, though some may be under gauge conversion.

Then there's the Bikaner-Philodi-Jodhpur section.

Palanpur-Gandhidham (sp) is another line, but I think we'd have to go most of the way back to Ahmedabad to get down to Dwarka (unless there is a boat from Manvi to Okha).

Coming down through Gujarat, we may have to go most of the way to Porbandar, then to Junagarh, then work our way across the metre gauge lines till we get to the Bhavnagar-Ahmedabad line.

Then there's a narrow gauge line from Nadiad, via Pij to Petlad, then the line from Petlad takes another route back to the main line connecting at Annand I think. (I used the train from Nadiad to Pij a few years ago, a real adventure)

There are a few more similar narrow gauge loops in Gujarat.

Did I say an extra week, make that an extra 2 weeks.

Hi Steven,
This is to give some idea of the route map.
There are two routes to guwahati now-One via the old route Katihar-Barsoi-New Bongagon, Barpeta Road and Ghy. The other leaves the main line to Siliguri and Alipurduar rejoins it at New Bongaigon and again leaves it and heads via Goalpara town to reach GHY. This is the route capital express from Danapur and the star train of the route the poorvotar sampark kranti [the other star train of NFR the rajdhani takes the regular route]. The doars and the goalpara route are one of the most scenic routes in IR and missing it is a real shame.


There is no need to touch Howrah and one can easily reach VSKP easily by taking the loop which trains like the Guwahati Puri and the Guwahati-Jha Jha express to Assensol, head to Tatanagar and reach Vizainagaram via Rayagada again a nice scenic section. The route that trains such as the Dibrugarh chennai use is the Siuri loop and head to Durgapur[again there is no need to touch durgapur, a vignette of that is the Jamalpur WDM hauled Varnanchal express which goes via Parudubireshwar and Ranigunj] skipping Howrah alltogether, but elongate their journey by coming back to tata and kharagpur instead of dipping straight down to vizag. The Siuri loop , the Assansol-ADRA- SINI-Tata loop,the lines from Adra to Bishnupur and KGP the Pantradih bazar loop taken by the most interesting and peculiar train of IR the TATA-Dhanbad express constitute the bypass lines that avoid Howrah. Elaborating the above-- Assansol-ADRA-CHANDIL-SINI-TATA-TITLAGARH-SINGAPURAM ROAD-VIZAINAGARAM-DUVWADA-RAJAHMUNDHRY-SAMALKOT-ELURU-/Bhimavaram Town-VIJAYAWADA-CHITTOR-JOLARPETTAI-Bangalore/ERODE--KARUR-DINDIGUL-KODAIKANNAL ROAD-SHOLAVANDAN-MADURAI-VIRUDUNAGAR-SATTUR-NAGARCOIL-KANYAKUNMARI, NEW FARRAKKA-RAMPUR HAT-SIURI-ASSANSOL-ADRA-BHOJUDIH-GOMOH OR ADRA-MURI, ASSANSOL-ADRA-BISHNUPUR-KHARAGPUR.
IF GOING VIA HOWRAH THE TRAINS EITHER GO VIA BOLPUR AND JOIN AT BURDHAMAN JUNCTION OR HEAD VIA KATWA and AZIMGANJ. From Assansol as explained above the line to Vizag via Sini is used by double or triple headed coal freights, that goes from Asansol to Adra and Sini, Chandil junction to Tatanagar[the freights do not touch tata] but head straight to Jharsaguda and head down to Vizag via Rayagada.


The lines from Howrah, the Vizag bypass unite at Rampurhat and from the northern parts of India join at Barsoi[one of the sharpest curves in IR where the train takes a horse shoe turn and the erstwhile but now truncated MG line from Purnea court joins it till NJP where again there is a branch to Siliguri[which houses the new EMD shed and Alipurduar. NJP is unique in the sense that it has all 3 guages. Kishanganj will be the first important town in the section and one must stock up food if one is not going by the rajdhani. It is identifiable by the long overbridge that will swerve around and run adjacent to the track. New Bongaigon is an army area. The barpeta and kokhrajar area is prone to occasional trouble. Mobiles from other provinces go dead after NJP. GHY station is notorious for pickpockets. The line from Kishangunj to GHY is double and has automatic signalling, barring long patches of single notably from New Bongaigon and Fakirgram I think. The situation in the lumding and dimapur section should have improved going by newspaper reports and that means no more closing the door because of being asked by a sentry to do so.

These avoding lines run through real India and one can see mountains of coal, burning fire and the ground below will be hot whilst travelling through Bhojudih. It is a rare experience to travel by the Dhanbad--Tatanagar route. The New Delhi Puri train does the whole section and takes the passenger through India's mining belt. One of IR's most rewarding and special rides is a ride by the Ranchi-Muri-Kharagpur passenger and the Puri-NDLS express whose route via the coal belt are unique and no other train takes that path.


For hypothetical discussion, Rather than relying on the guwahati and southward bound trains which are often late, one can consider spliting is up, ameliorate the chance of delay, halt in Jamshedpur which is already further down, save time and depend on trains like the GHY-JAJ and head to Assansol and southwards by using trains like the Hatia Yeswantpur or the Tatanagar -Yesvantpur. Just for academic clarification and for knowledge's own sake, that there is a way to avoid Calcutta, Kharagpur and even Bhubaneshwar completely and head straight towards Visakhapatnam. One can avoid Chennai if needed and use the Mumbai Nagarcoil express[very punctual] which is there most days of the week and takes a much shorter route via Erode-Dindigul and is ideal for reaching Cape.The Trichy-Mayiladurthai-Copper-Quary-Vilupuram section is due for opening very soon and the MG trains like the old YAM4 and YDM4 hauled Cholan express will now run as BG in this route worked by Golden rock WDM3A alcos.
The section from VM to TPJ is also electrified and will be commisioned soon. If one can think of Cape as one end of IR, by the same logic Rameswaram is another end also infact farther down.
There is a diversion before jamuu tawi that helps avoiding reversal via Kathua and another longer route via Pathankot which the sealdah train takes. The Salem -Attur-Chengulpet line is completed. The only line that is still taking a very long time is the Vellore-Villupuram line. The Erode-Dindigul and Trichy lines are the cauvery delta lines and are quite scenic in their own way.
Apropos to gujrat there is the Bhuj-Barelly and I think the ala hazrat that completely avoid ADI. Some of branch lines that you mention, such as the Dabhoi loop near BRC are nearing completion of conversion. It is possible to avoid BRC by taking the bypass from Ananad to godhra. There is another spur via Gandhinagar which is taken by newly introduced trains such as the Bandra-Jaipur-Delhi garib rath.

The tata jat and the bhatinda train are one of the few trains that go to amristar and pathankot before returning to ludhiana. There is no need to go to ferozepur from Bhatinda. Please trace the route of the Kalka Barmer express train for a clearer insight of the punjab riverine area which takes an identical route from Dhuri Junction[which incidentally the Amritsar Dadar takes and the Tuklakabad Alco hauled Southern group notable the andaman, the himsagar take]. Only two trains take the ferozepur spur and join the line after kapurthala which is the JAT-BTI and ADI-JAT trains. The layout is very interesting indeed of the Bhatinda area with a direction reversal mandatory if heading towards Suratgarh. From Ferozepur one can come straight to Ludhiana and head southwards in a fully electrified section like the ganga sutluj[MB-LKO is almost electrified I think]. Dhuri-Ludhiana-Bhatinda is a circle used by the amritsar passenger and the longer routed ASR-JP train.

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If interested in covering a slice of central India one could look at this---Jha Jha Guwahati express leave at 1830 arrive ASN at 1400hrs, Leave ASN at 1700hrs and reach Jabalpur at 1600hrs by 1448 Shaktipunj express. Take the Jabalpur Delhi train to Itarsi at 1730hrs and reach Itarsi at 2130hrs. Catch 2625 New Delh-Thiruvanathapuram Kerala Express to Trivandrum central from Itarsi at 2230hrs? For covering all India, one must have a representative random sample of all areas.
GHY GUWAHATI 1 Source 18:30 0 1
2 KYQ KAMAKHYA 1 18:46 18:47 7 1
3 GLPT GOALPARA TOWN 1 20:25 20:27 129 1
4 NBQ NEW BONGAIGAON 1 21:35 21:45 209 1
5 GOGH GOSSAIGAON HAT 1 22:30 22:31 269 1
6 APDJ ALIPUR DUAR JN 1 23:30 23:35 318 1
7 DLO DALGAON 1 00:32 00:33 378 2
8 NMZ NEW MAL JN 1 01:20 01:25 431 2
9 SGUJ SILIGURI JN 1 02:35 02:40 479 2
10 NJP NEW JALPAIGURI 1 03:05 03:20 486 2
11 KNE KISHANGANJ 1 04:25 04:30 573 2
12 BOE BARSOI JN 1 05:20 05:22 631 2
13 MLDT MALDA TOWN 1 07:45 08:05 719 2
14 NFK NEW FARAKKA JN 1 08:42 08:44 753 2
15 PKR PAKUR 1 09:27 09:28 786 2
16 RPH RAMPUR HAT 1 10:55 11:00 840 2
17 SNT SAINTHIA 1 11:44 11:49 868 2
18 SURI SIURI 1 12:04 12:05 887 2
19 UDL ANDAL JN 1 13:17 13:19 941 2
20 DGR DURGAPUR 1 13:35 13:55 957 2
21 ASN ASANSOL JN 1 14:40 15:00 999
--------Train Number 1448 Howrah-Jabalpur Shakitpunj express timings-------
ASN ASANSOL JN 1 17:31 17:39 200 1
6 ULT KULTI 1 17:54 17:55 214 1
7 BRR BARAKAR 1 18:00 18:01 218 1
8 KMME KUMARDUBI 1 18:05 18:06 220 1
9 DHN DHANBAD JN 1 18:58 19:08 259 1
10 KTH KATRASGARH 1 19:33 19:35 272 1
11 CRP CHANDRAPURA 1 20:20 20:21 293 1
12 BHME BHANDARIDAH 1 20:31 20:32 300 1
13 PUS PHUSRO 1 20:39 20:40 305 1
14 BRMO BERMO 1 20:49 20:50 310 1
15 BKRO BOKARO THERMAL 1 21:01 21:02 319 1
16 GMIA GUMIA 1 21:11 21:12 325 1
17 CNPR CHAINPUR 1 21:39 21:40 355 1
18 RRME RANCHI ROAD 1 21:54 21:56 368 1
19 BRKA BARKA KANA 1 22:15 22:30 377 1
20 PTRU PATRATU 1 22:59 23:00 397 1
21 RAY RAY 1 23:29 23:30 426 1
22 KLRE KHALARI 1 23:40 23:41 433 1
23 MGME MCCLUSKIEGANJ 1 23:50 23:51 439 1
24 TORI TORI 1 00:11 00:12 461 2
25 LTHR LATEHAR 1 00:43 00:44 494 2
26 BRWD BARWADIH JN 1 01:22 01:32 535 2
27 DTO DALTONGANJ 1 01:55 02:00 562 2
28 GHD GARWA ROAD 1 02:50 02:55 595 2
29 GHQ GARHWA 1 03:05 03:06 605 2
30 NUQ NAGAR UNTARI 1 03:37 03:38 639 2
31 WDM WYNDHAMGANJ 1 03:53 03:54 651 2
32 DXN DUDDHINAGAR 1 04:19 04:20 673 2
33 RNQ RENUKUT 1 04:44 04:45 695 2
34 CPU CHOPAN 1 05:38 06:08 737 2
35 OBR OBRA DAM 1 06:42 06:43 748 2
36 SGRL SINGRAULI 1 08:40 08:50 799 2
37 SGAM SAREIGRAM 1 09:53 09:54 856 2
38 BEHR BEOHARI 1 11:15 11:20 948 2
39 KHBJ KHANNA BANJARI 1 12:13 12:15 1009 2
40 KTE KATNI 1 14:00 14:25 1060 2
41 SHR SIHORA ROAD 1 15:04 15:05 1112 2
42 JBP JABALPUR 1 16:05
---------WCR TRAIN NUMBER 2192 JBP NDLS SUPER EXPRESS VIA ITARSI AND PIPARIYA--------

JBP JABALPUR 1 Source 17:45 0 1
2 MML MADAN MAHAL 1 17:49 17:51 4 1
3 SRID SHRIDHAM 1 18:26 18:28 54 1
4 NU NARSINGHPUR 1 19:00 19:02 85 1
5 KY KARELI 1 19:18 19:20 100 1
6 GAR GADARWARA 1 19:38 19:40 129 1
7 PPI PIPARIYA 1 20:15 20:17 178 1
8 ET ITARSI JN 1 21:55 22:15 24

--------2626 Kerala Express------- a train that covers 3036 Kms with a single end to end WAP4 AC loco from Erode shed doing most of the running

ET ITARSI JN 1 23:20 23:35 793 1
9 NGP NAGPUR 1 03:50 04:00 1090
TVC TRIVANDRUM CNTL 1 14:20 Destination 3
OR VIA MADRAS---CHANGE AT NGP TO 2434 +CHENNAI RAJDHNI *NAGPUR 05:35 CHENNAI CENTRAL 20:10

I can further analayse if required the loops of the ASR-Firozepur section[upper quadrant semaphore Section for BTI] and other sections of IR if needed. Unsolicited advice without acknowledgement, is always a crimminal waste of time anyway, when there are other more pressing things to do. It is love's labour lost. Love for the railway is another matter all together. It was an infection, a weakness, some of us caught as small children and has stayed on well on to adulthood otherwise who cares where on earth is yeovil or rangapara east for that matter and what loco is working the sleeper to inverness tonight! For that passion alone and that compulsion for factual correcteness and being peter the apostle to share knowledge, we must labour on!

Steven, you did say you werent a trainspotter didnt you ?
The scope for follow up missions to this is just endless

Apart from my own personal constraints, as we are doing this flat out I confidently predict that after about day 10 I am going to find myself in a railway carriage with a number of 40+ year olds looking about thinking "so which idiot was it that came up with this idea ?". By day 14, if we havent found dry land already, mutiny is going to break out. Turning this into a 3 weeker will mean we spend more than half the mission truly hating the experience if we havent been allowing rest days.

What's your position on kicking off from Delhi ?. I spoke with Katie at Railway Children today, they have a large project there, so from that point of view it makes no difference. I had originally thought of Mumbai, mainly cos of VT and cos RC have their offices there. But by the looks of it we wont be using VT anyway.
Using in effect Moradabad as the start/end of the circle and blasting off from Delhi leaves us free to get one of these problem cases, though I guess it would mean going clockwise getting the DBRT rajdhani out of NDLS as the north bound rajdhani just runs right up the middle of the punjab.