Jaipur to Jodhpur - which train?

greenasgrass

Hi everyone, this is my first post and I apologise if people have already answered this question elsewhere, but I am trying to decide which train to book to get between Jaipur and Jodhpur on a Sunday.

Originally I thought that we would take the Delhi-Jaisalmer express and travel overnight (23.57 to 05.50), but then I wondered about travelling during the afternoon on the Superfast train (14.15 to 19.40).

We have only two weeks in India and I will admit that the wimp in me is partly motivated by the fact that we can travel 1AC on the Superfast (2AC only on the Delhi-Jaisalmer Express), but I also read that Superfast trains get preference on tracks (cutting the possibility of lateness) and I would rather arrive in Jodhpur at a more reasonable time that 05.50 in the morning. I thought that an overnight train would save on a night in a hotel, but I think we'd want somewhere to lay our heads for a while if we were arriving at the time of the morning anyway.

Does anyone have any views on which is better?

steven_ber

Hello and welcome to indiamike.com

Can I ask you to tell us your Itinerary?

There are nearly always ways of changing your Itinerary around a little to get better timed overnight trains.

First Class air con (1A) is OK, but very poor value for money and almost certainly not worth it for a daytime journey.

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How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

greenasgrass

Thanks!

Our itinerary looks like this:

Delhi - Sunday (arrive early hours), Monday, Tuesday
Agra - Wednesday, Thursday
Jaipur - Friday (leaving Agra at 6.15 and arriving Jaipur at 11.30 ish), Saturday, Sunday
Jodhpur - Monday (travel overnight or on Sunday afternoon), Tuesday
Delhi - (travel Jodhpur to Delhi overnight Tuesday) Wednesday, Thursday

Fly home overnight Thursday/Friday

Does that help? We're planning to travel about this time next year. I realise that now is ridiculously early to be worrying about this level of detail, but I do like planning!

steven_ber

I'm having some problems getting info about the afternoon Sampark Kranti train, the Sampark Kranti trains were started to take people from a particular state to Delhi, whilst not allowing others to board the train on route, this makes more sense when you think of trains like the Kerala Sampark Kranti.

Anyway, the reason I'm looking for (availability) info, is because I think you may not be able to use this train to get between 2 places in the same state, I may be wrong though, I'm really not sure.........hold on a the moment, I can only find availability till 28- 3-2008, all dates after that have a 'RESERVATION SUSPENDED' message.

There may be a good reason for this, the timings for this train were always a little weird, so I wonder if something is going to be announced in the rail budget (last week of Feb), we'll have to wait and see.

Sadly, I'm not so keen on any of the other daytime trains, they all start their journeys from a long way away, and one of them (4853) is regularly late.

The overnight journey isn't really appealing either, you'll get very little sleep in that time.

So I would suggest to wait till more info is available, or change your Itinerary around a little.

Delhi-Jodhpur-Jaipur-(Fatehpur Sikri)-Agra-Delhi (for example)....

...has an awful lot going for it, a well timed overnight train from Delhi to Jodhpur (with 1A), then 2 daytime trains from Jodhpur to Jaipur (05.55-10.47 and 09.15-15.20), both of these trains start their journey at Jodhpur, and a daytime train will be a good opportunity to see India from a train.

Then I suggest you get a car & driver to take you from Jaipur to Agra, visiting Fatehpur Sikri on the way, another advantage of turning your Itinerary around, is that Agra is close to Delhi in case there are any problems with fog (there shouldn't be).

greenasgrass

I did look on the IRCTC website and it seemed to allow me to book for that route. So I think perhaps we should take the daytime train and not worry so much about taking 1AC. I was more worried about taking 1AC for night-time trains, because I imagined that would be more comfortable, but I'm not so fussed about during the day.

I'd prefer to avoid using a driver if possible (something to do with somewhat shaky green credentials) and besides, my Dad thinks I am mad to try and travel round on the train, so I'd like to show him he's wrong .

I was also trying to avoid travelling for long trips during the day and using up valuable "seeing" time, but I can see that travelling during the day is more appealing if you don't get any sleep anyway.

In which case, the $64,000 question is - is two days in Jaipur enough? In the sense that of course it can never be enough, but you see what I mean! (Sorry, I'll stop babbling soon )

steven_ber

If you're talking about the Sampark Kranti, then read my post again, it appears that there will be no Sampark Kranti, or the times will be changed, so you'll not be able to take that train.

You'll see more, and understand more of India on that daytime train than you will in any tourist place, train travel in India is one of the best tourist attractions in India, no touts, no hassles, just nice people and great scenery.

greenasgrass

Thanks again Steven. I'll check the details nearer the time and the meantime I can have fun fiddling with the itinerary. I've no doubt it will go through one or two "refinements" before we go!