train 484: Udaipur - Marwar. Any information (Steven_Ber, please!)?

Steven_Ber lists, among the mine of information on his thread, train no 484, which runs daily from Udaipur City (0610) to Marwar Jn (1340). The Indian Rail site won't acknowledge this train at all.... I'd like to assume it's current and proceed, but is there a way of verifying its existence? And can seats be reserved on this train if the official site doesn't recognise the number?

Thanks for all assistance! Especially from Steven, if he is still contributing!

Steven is undoubtably right with his info!! The Indian Railways site only list the more important trains. The passenger trains, mails and lesser expresses are not listed on the Indian Railways database!!
The Train will probably be listed on the zonal railway website i.e. Northern Railways!! Since steves not up yet try here!!
Trains

Thanks for the reassurance! I checked the site you mentioned, and, while I couldn't find train 484, I DID find a LOT of trains that were not on the main website -- three digit numbers everywhere! So I think I will stop worrying and get on with my planning!

Train 484 does run, but it only has unreserved 2nd class, these could be wooden seats, but I'm often surprised at how many padded seats I find in 2nd class.

When are you travelling? This is the next line in the area to be converted to broad gauge, work will probably start when the Chittaurgarh - Udaipur new broad gauge line is completed, maybe early next year????

The line to Marwar is said to be a scenic journey, it also passes through Deogarh, I've heard this is a nice place to visit, If you need a hotel in Deogarh, send a Private Message to indiamike member Lily, I'm sure she will know a good hotel there.

If I were going to take this journey, I would go to Udaipur station the day before I wanted to travel and check the train, see how busy it is, check if the times are still correct, and see if it is all wooden benches.

Trains.... There are loads of useful trains that are not on the Indian Railways website, no matter where you are going, you will hardly ever have to change trains more than once.

Hi, Steven! So glad that you chimed in here!

I am slowly learning that the official India Rail site only tells you what it thinks you need to know (it took me a while to tumble to the fact that if you ask for a schedule on Monday for a train that runs on a different day of the week, it merely tells you that there's no such train).

I will relax on this one and follow your advice to the letter. We don't mind the wooden seats, as it's not an overnight trip, and, being in the morning, we'll be fresh and alert and eager to see the sights. We will do it in one hop, however, so as to connect with a train to Jodhpur, which is our destination for that evening (there's one that leaves Marwar thirty minutes after our train is scheduled to arrive, but that might be pushing things a bit, I guess!)

Does one reserve seats for these wooden second-class seats, or do they just cram as many people in as care to fit (like in all the old movies, with people sitting on the roof and in front of the engine -- don't quite fancy that idea, however!)

I must say that while I have appreciated the on-line timetables for the major Indian rail lines, I am a little disappointed at the restrictions on booking on-line. I can buy, sure, but only four tickets per month (unless, presumably, I buy an Indrail Pass for thirty days and spend about double the amount of point-to-point tickets).

Then there's the problem of picking up the tickets: we arrive in Mumbai on a Sunday afternoon AFTER the 2 p.m. closing time of the reservations counter -- the only option the Indian Tourist people in Sydney (who don't sell the Indrial passes any more, by the way) can suggest is that we stay for a night at a hotel in Mumbai and have the tickets and reservations couriered to that hotel to collect on arrival. Sounds a bit risky, and our original plan ("impossible", says the tourist office) was to arrive in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon, not stay in any hotel, but head straight to the railway station (tickets and reservations in hand) to board an evening train for Kota (which would have meant that this new problem of Udaipur - Marwar wouldn't have come into the equation at all). Mumbai was going to be our LAST city, not our first.

It seems that this is all too hard for the ticket/reservations centres, and we're just going to have to accept a forced stopover in Mumbai until our reservations are sorted out. Have you any clever ideas of how this requirement may be circumvented? Does everybody just do it their way?

Thanks for your reply -- and for all your previous information, much of which I have photocopied for use when we're there (in October 17, out November 19).

jarman,

Even if you were not arriving on a Sunday afternoon, the problem of collecting the E-Tickets would have existed; because as far as I know, the facility of collection of E-Tickets at the counter is available only at New Delhi. At all other places specified by the Indian Railways, the E-Tickets have to be necessarily couriered to a pre-specified address.

What you can do is check in at a pre-determined hotel on arrival at Mumbai and have the tickets delivered there. You need not stay overnight, but check-out the same evening paying only half or one-fourth of the room charges. This can be done by mutual agreement with the hotel manager.

Take the 2903 Golden Temple Mail the same night(dep. Mumbai Central 21=25) for Kota(arr.11=30 next morning).

You have 3 choices for Mumbai, 1, stay in a hotel for a night, 2, get someone to meet you at the Airport or train station with the tickets, 3, book them through another agent.

S. D. Enterprises are based in London but send Indrail passes all over Europe, If you pay for the mail, I'm sure they will send an Indrail pass to Australia, it will make your train journey to Kota expensive, but you can go back to your original plan.

The Mumbai Jaipur express (2955) departs Mumbai Central at 18:50 and gets to Kota at 08:43.

The Golden Temple Mail (2903) departs Mumbai Central at 21:25 and gets to Kota at 11:30.

Both these trains would require a 1-day Indrail pass that would cost (prices in US $)

1A = $95
2A = $43
3A = $43 (same price as 2A)
SL = $19

There is a bargain to be had for this route, The August Kranti Rajdhani Express (2953)(Rajdhani trains are India's best/fastest trains) departs Mumbai Central at 17:40 and gets to Kota at 05:18, this gives a journey time of less than 12 hours, there are also half day Indrail passes available.

However! Indian Railways downgrades the half day and 1 day Indrail passes by one class when using Rajdhani & Shatabdi trains, if the information on S. D. Enterprise's website is correct (I'm sure it is), you could get a ticket in 3A for the Rajdhani for US$26, simply purchase a half day pass for 2A and you would be downgraded to 3A. When converted, that price is only Rs40 less than the normal 3A Rajdhani fare between Mumbai and Kota.

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The Indian railways website is a great website, but it takes some getting used to, If the site is busy you also get the message 'there's no such train', then if you try to find a train from Varanasi to Calcutta, on some parts of the site you would need to know that Howrah is the main station for Calcutta, other parts of the site would automatically give you Varanasi City (instead of Varanasi Jn), result = 'there's no such train'.
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You can’t book tickets for the Udaipur - Marwar train, the ticket cost is so low that it would cost more to print the ticket (well, almost).

Just turn up and buy the ticket, then get on the train, check the train the day before to see how busy it is.

There is a connecting train at Marwar Junction (I've been told that there used to be a Udaipur- Jodhpur train before gauge conversion, now these 2 trains connect to keep the service going.)

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I'm sure that booking most of your train tickets in India a few days in advance will be fine (considering the time of year that you will be in India.)

I'm not too sure, Steven!

While the October part of jarman's trip may be okay(considering that he'll be landing at Mumbai and not at Kolkata during Navratri), he will need advance booking for rail journeys in November, as the Diwali vacations begin around that time.

Good point SHIMLA, I forgot about festivals, I must have extra coffee in the morning to help wake me up.

You two are just great... all this gets photocopied and learned by heart. Why don't you plan a trip to Sydney, Australia so that I can repay you in kind with some assistance?

Just checked my arrival time in Mumbai -- its 4 p.m., not 2 p.m..... guess that cuts out that bargain 5:30 train! Still, you've given me new hope for being able to "beat" the system, and I will certainly follow up that hot link to England!

Again, thanks!

jarman_ah

If you e-mail S. D. Enterprises ask them if the 12 hour pass would have been OK for the Radjdhani Express, I cant think why it wouldn't have been OK, but the man at S. D. really knows his reservation rules and is normally very helpfull.

If he wont send the tickets to Australia, I will pick them up from his office and send them to you, I pass his office almost every week and need to start begging him for the new 'Trains at a glance'.

Steven, that's a great offer and I think I may just take you up on it! I will get back onto this forum as soon as I have contacted the company and found out their postage policy. At present I am considering buying the 30-day pass, which will cover all our train travel except for the last day. I worked out that buying point-to-point tickets will cost around 8000R each, and the 30-day pass will cost 11,500R, so there's no money saving factor here, but if the pass means that seat reservations will miraculously appear at short notice, and we don't have to waste precious sightseeing time queuing everywhere, AND that we can be a little more flexible in case of unexpected delays, then the extra money might just be worth it in convenience. Would you agree?

If you are willing to consider a 30 day Indrail pass, then it is worth it, if the cost just terrifies you, it's not worth it.

I would love to travel round India with a rail pass, it would make things so much easier, but I don't travel enough to justify the cost.

The exchange rate between the Ruppee and the US$ has made the Indrail pass better value for money lately, I think more first timers should look at this option.

Your 30-day pass would be valid from 00:00 on 17th October until 23:59 on 15th November.

If you get an Indrail pass, book all your tickets in advance, you can always change them in India.

Steven, your reply couldn't have been more welcome if I had written it myself.
Even though I hate spending money for nothing, and the extra cost of the railpass comes to about $100 per person in Australian money, if it means I can book the seats I want and then change them without penalty, and without excess waiting time, then it seems to me that the pass might be a worthwhile investment. It might even be acceptable -- I know this is done in Europe all the time, which is why supposedly-full trains are always half-empty -- to book alternatives, knowing that if one option doesn't turn out well (because of missed connections), then the other option will be there waiting for us, with no chance of "sorry... sold out" delaying our journey even further. Or is multi-booking not an ethical thing to do on Indian railways?

I haven't followed up the English agents for Indrail yet, as I wanted to read very thoroughly your beginner's guide to trains and railpasses so that I don't keep on asking questions that have answers already published (I guess you get tired of that!) Rest assured that I will be responding in due course. Thanks again!

An Indrail pass can sometimes work miracles, but so can Rs200.

Don't rely on this factor though; almost all tourists in India have at some point silently screamed, "Why does everything have to be so bloody complicated".

Leave the miracles for emergencies.

Try to guess the likely days of travel and book all your tickets in advance.

Also find out the date of Diwali, Indrail passes allow reservations to be made up to a year in advance (normal tickets only 60 days in advance), book your tickets for the time of Diwali at least 65 days in advance to give S. D. Enterprises plenty of time to make the reservations before they get booked up in India.

If you cancel reservations you may have to pay a small cancellation fee (ask S. D.), DO NOT think about trying to change reservations around the time of Diwali.

Multi-booking does happen with normal reservations because the cancellation fee is so small, I'm not sure if it's possible with an Indrail pass.