The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

We are a private group of individuals, none of us have even met each other (yet). We are organising a mad dash round the perimeter of the Indian Railway network. 2 weeks starting Mumbai, and going to the furthest most points west, north, east and south of the IR system, and back to Mumbai. We're going in Feb 2011 so you've loads of time to work out how to join in.
We've got about 7 ladies on the trip, so if you are a woman and wanted some company to do an Indian train trip with, this is a great chance. The full gang is about 25 right now.
You'll be buying your own ticket direct from IR, we have people who can show you how to do that. There are absolutely no agents or operators involved, and you can do just part of the trip if you think that 2 weeks solid on Indian trains is just a bit too stupid. The Assam section alone would be a great adventure in itself.
It will cost about £150 to £300 depending on how comfy you want to be.
Please contact me for more info. We have a blog about the development of the project which is easy enough to find.

Thanks
Mark Lester

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

Here's the current plan

Start Mumbai Central Station, Saturday Evening, February 19th, 2011

Saturday dep Mumbai 20:25

Sunday arr Dwarka 15:07, dep Porbander 20:25 (or Jamnagar 23:15)

Monday arr Ahmedabad 06:00, dep Ahmedabad 11:10

Tuesday arr Jammu 19:25

Wednesday maybe go do the Baramulla to Qazigund and the Udhampur to Jammu sections, then depart Jammu 19:45 (Rajdhani)

(2446 departing Udhampur 19:00, arr NDLS 06:05 could be considered)

Thursday, arr New Delhi 04:55, dep New Delhi 09:30

Friday, arr New Jalpaiguri 10:55, maybe taxis to Darjeeling and trip on ‘Joy train’ (DJ to Ghum and back)

Saturday, dep NJP 06:35 (or 08:40), arr Rangiya 14:05 (or 15:15) depart Rangiya 19:15

Sunday, arr Dhemaji 05:51, cross Brahmaputra and get train from Dibrugarh to Ledo (or maybe train the following morning)
Bus to tippong and the colliery, night at the guesthouse.

Monday dep Ledo 15:40, arr Tinsukia 17:19. dep Tinsukia 21:20,

Tuesday arr NJP 12:55, dep NJP 14:15 (safe connection)

Wednesday on board

Thursday arr Chennai 04:30, dep Chennai 17:30

Friday Arr Kanyakumari 06:50, dep Cape 14:05 (on Himsagar Exp, or get earlier train), arr Trivandrum 15:55, dep Trivandrum 19:15

Saturday arr Panvel 22:55, metro to VT.

End Mumbai VT Station, Saturday Evening, March 5th, 2011
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

vanesa7 · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 21

Thanks for sharing information.

Born To Die · Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 563

If I may be so bold, you can get all the gen in here

http://gcirc.wordpress.com

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Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

the party s over 30 now and growing exponentially, I'm off to somewhere a bit nicer for a few weeks, but drop me a line if you want more info, "I'll be back".
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

We've sexed this up a bit now, we've an evening taking photos of the Golden Temple, a visit to Dharamshala via the Kangra valley narrow gauge railway and we'll be stopping off for a couple of hours to "worship" at the Sun Temple at Bhubaneswar.
It costs an extra day, but the timings work out far more sensible, so its now Saturday to 2 weeks on Sunday. And of course we've still got a a bunch of other stuff along the way also.
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

If you have stumbled across this thread and are interested, you'll have to show some initiative and follow the links and get in touch. this trip is now in serious danger of busting the tourist quotas on most of our trains.
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

jin · Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Posts: 162

thank you.
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feet shoes

Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

no anti spam button in here.
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

Mark_Lester · Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 7 Location: UK

We now have a facebook group you can join if you like the idea but would prefer to watch from home
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=372971199730
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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge
http://gcirc.wordpress.com

jasmine · Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 322

Hello Guys
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jasmine