Provisional routing based on a 90 day rail travel itinerary. Trying to research the days that I should allocate to each city. Greater need to be somewhat accurate in pre-planning as I get nearer travel time, due to the the fact that rail travel in India is based on a firm seat reservation system --even with a first class travel pass in hand. No reservation---no travel. In theory, rail seats are reservable on-line. Recently I passed an interesting hour visiting the India Railways website to learn more about the process, and was daunted by the complexity and bureaucratic detail required to complete the 8 different sections required to reserve a ticket. Looks like I am destined to spend many hours in seat reservation booth queues. Understand that there is a foreign tourist seat quota on major routes, so perhaps the challenge will not be so great as it now appears from this distance (in Canada).
(Very) Tentative routing:
1. Mumbai 2. Ahmedabad 3. Udaipur 4. Jaipur. 5. Agra (Taj Mahal). 6. Delhi (Federal capital) 7. Amritsar (Golden Temple) 8. Back to Delhi 9. Lucknow. 10. Faizabad/Ayodyha
11. Patna 12. Siligur/Darjeeling (hill station) 13. Kolkata (Calcutta) 14. Bhubaneswar 15. Visakhapatnam 16. Hyderabad 17. Bangalore 18. Chennai (formerly known as Madras) 19. Pondicheri (old French enclave) 20. Tiruchirappalli (aka 'Trichy') 21. Madurai 22. Kochi 23. Mangalore 24. Hampi/Hospet 25. Goa (formerly a Portuguese colony) 26. Pune (hi-tech centre) 27. Mumbai.
These locations are transit centres only and hopefully additional reading, talking to fellow travellers and local tourist bureaux will indicate interesting spots to visit nearby--example--Golconda Fort 5kms to the east of Hyderabad.
1. Mumbai 2. Ahmedabad 3. Udaipur 4. Jaipur. 5. Agra (Taj Mahal). 6. Delhi (Federal capital) 7. Amritsar (Golden Temple) 8. Back to Delhi 9. Lucknow. 10. Faizabad/Ayodyha
11. Patna 12. Siligur/Darjeeling (hill station) 13. Kolkata (Calcutta) 14. Bhubaneswar 15. Visakhapatnam 16. Hyderabad 17. Bangalore 18. Chennai (formerly known as Madras) 19. Pondicheri (old French enclave) 20. Tiruchirappalli (aka 'Trichy') 21. Madurai 22. Kochi 23. Mangalore 24. Hampi/Hospet 25. Goa (formerly a Portuguese colony) 26. Pune (hi-tech centre) 27. Mumbai.
These locations are transit centres only and hopefully additional reading, talking to fellow travellers and local tourist bureaux will indicate interesting spots to visit nearby--example--Golconda Fort 5kms to the east of Hyderabad.
If you are going to be using a Rail pass (waste of money in my view) forget online reservation. FTQ can only be accessed at certain counters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I figured that the pass made economic sense, as I plan to take 28 train stages. If I purchase the pass thru SD Enterprises, London, UK, they will secure reservations at no extra cost to me as part of the package.
Delete1AC costs just less than Rs 3/- per km. 10,000 km = c. Rs 30,000/-. You do the math.
ReplyDeleteSee http://www.indiamike.com/india-articles/booking-indian-rail-tickets-from-abroad
Will all of your trains have 1AC? ADI - UDZ doesn't for one.
Siliguri - Darheeling hasn't run since June 2010. Might be fixed by next year. See http://www.dhrs.org/page4.html
Thanks for your comments. Yes, you are correct, it does appear that many Indian Rail routes do not include a 1AC and I understand your argument that full value could likely not be extracted from a 90 day first class rail pass. My thinking was that at just $1100 US, the pass represents such exceptional travel value compared to other world regions, plus it does seem to remove the necessity of having to purchase a ticket at each of the 28 travel points.
ReplyDeleteYour comment regarding the Darjeeling train, appreciated and I shall investigate further.
Regards, CW.
No need to buy a ticket at 28 different places. Book ahead online.
ReplyDeleteThinking further about ADI - UDZ. This line usually gets knocked out by the monsoon and it takes a while for it to get up and running. This year it was late September which might affect your plan. The line is currently metre gauge but conversion work has already started. Quite often lines shut for a few months before reopening as Broad gauge.
I have read many adverse comments regarding the problems of foreigners trying to purchase India Rail tickets on-line. As understand it, their requirement is that one must have an Indian registered cell phone and an Indian issued/registered credit card-- both almost impossible for a non-India resident to obtain.As I mentioned previously, SD Eneprises, London, UK might be the best way to execute ticket purchase and reservations.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute rubbish. Who told you that? We go to India every year. Last year we did 15 train trips in 5 weeks, all booked in advance.
ReplyDeleteSee indiamike or seat61 for how to book from outside India.