The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge - Group Travel

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The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

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Dates 18 Feb '11 to 5 Mar '11

Flexible? No, not really

Est. Cost 300 - 400 GBP (GBP United Kingdom Pounds)

Type Travel Partners Wanted

Name The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

Flat out circumnavigation of the Indian Railway network (GCIRC). Mumbai to Dwarka in the extreme west, Udhampur in the extreme north, Ledo in the east and Cape Kanniyakumari in the south. Also Ghum near Darjeeling as the highest point, and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu as the most coastal. 12,500 Km of rail in 2 weeks, with only 2 nights in a motionless bed, the ultimate Indian train journey.

Here is the itinerary, we spent quite a few months working it out with a bunch of Indian train experts. if you are thinking of coming, apart from deciding if you can handle 2 solid weeks on an Indian train (if you've never even spent one night on an Indian train give this some serious thought) you need to get your seats/berths booked well in advance. DO NOT just turn up in Mumbai with days to spare and expect to join in.

We have a number of the superior sex (as my wife likes to say) who insist they are coming, None of these are personal friends so I can't guarantee any of that, though the GT folks themselves are all fired up, one of who is female. Traveling alone on Indian trains can be especially taxing for girls. You get stared at an awful lot. Boys do too, just start taking photos at people who do this to you.

If you'd always wanted to do this but needed a good excuse and some allies, your number just came up.

Here's the sched'

Start Mumbai Central Station, Friday Evening, February 18th, 2011

Friday dep Mumbai 20:25 9005 Saurashtra Mail (961km)

Saturay arr Dwarka 15:07, taxi/coach to Porbander, dep Porbander 20:25 (or Jamnagar 23:15) 9216 Saurashtra Express (464km)

Sunday arr Ahmedabad 06:00, dep Ahmedabad 11:10, 9223 Ahmedabad-Jammu Tawi Express (1184km)

Monday arr Jalandhar 12:45, dep Jalandhar 15:10 1057 Amritsar Express arr Amritsar 16:30 (theres loads later if the ADI-JAT is late, alternatively Makhu 11:03 and taxi to Amritsar for 13:00) Golden Temple at night

Tuesday dep Amritsar 01:10 am, 9225 Bhatinda Jammu Tawi Express (206km) arr Jammu 07:00 . dep Jammu 11:25, 4033 Jammu Mail (54km) Arr Udhampur 11:40, Luncheon, dep Udhampur 19:05 2446 Uttar Sampark Kranti (630km)

Wednesday arr New Delhi 06:25, dep New Delhi 14:00 2424 New Delhi-Dibrugarh Town Rajdhani (2396km)

Thursday on Board

Friday arr New Tinsukia 03:35, dep New Tinsukia 08:40 905NFR Dibrugarh-Ledo Passenger (57km) arr Ledo 10:45, Tipong Colliery, chartered bus to Dibrugarh

Saturday taxi to Bogibeel, the ferry stuff, bus/4×4 to Dhemaji, dep Dhemaji 18:38 5814 Arunachal Express (366km)

Sunday arr Rangiya 05:05, dep Rangiya 07:27 2510 Guwahati-Bangalore City Express (361km) arr New Jalpaiguri 14:05 (several later trains if we are late), taxi to Darjeeling

Monday dep Darjeeling 09:15 2D Darjeeling-New Jalpairguri Narrow Gauge (88km) arr New Jalpaiguri 16:50, dep New Jalpaiguri 20:00 2344 Darjeeling Mail (602km)

Tuesday Arrive Sealdah 06:00, tram and ferry to Howrah, dep Howrah 14:50 2841 Coromandal Express (1662km)

Wednesday arr Chennai Central 17:15, dep Chennai Egmore 19:55 6101 Rameswaram Express (600km)

Thursday arr Rameswaram 08:35 dep Rameswaram 17:30 2789 Rameswaram Cape Express (407km)

Friday Arr Kanniyakumari 04:05, Dep Kanniyakumari 10:30 6525 Bangalore Express (67km) arr Trivandrum 12:45 , Coffee Break dep Trivandrum 19:15 2431 Rajdhani Express (1752km)

Saturday arr Panvel 18:05, metro to Mumbai CST (69km).

End Mumbai “VT” Station, Saturday Evening, March 5th, 2011

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

Trooper Talk

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Mark_Lester We've had a yellow alert on the booking side of things, a few of the experts are getting a bit concerned about the booking quotas, such is the mind bogglingly complicated world of Indian railway ticketing. Our man Shankar is on the case, I'll keep you posted. I've posted up something on the blog about the off-rail arrangements we've got in place, that side is going well. With what looks like being a massive group now we wont be able to just bluff it, but at the same time there are things we can get up to that would be both hard and expensive if you were on your own.

2 years ago

Durga Prasad This looks like an awesome trip. Train journeys in India are always surreal and blows your mind. Having been on many such journeys over many years I would advise the following for first time travellers -

1. Take 'extra' care of your belongings!! Theft is common place. Petty thiefs abound in the 'passenger' compartments.

2. Get ready for stares. As somebody already mentioned , take out ur camera and start taking pics. Gr8 way to ease the 'staring' scenario.

3. Get acquainted/strike up a conversation with some local 'educated' Indians on the trains. Usually seen with a newspaper/magazine/thriller/(even with a Harvard Business Review publication sometimes!!). U will get to know a lot more things about India which has not been documented elsewhere.

4. Be ready for delays. Indian trains are notorious for not adhering to the schedule. I would suggest keeping some buffer time in your schedule so that you do not rush into anxious situations.
Note: IST -> Indian Stretchable Time :)

5. Have some basic medicines while you travel. (Stomach upset- Food is spicy in most parts of India, though the train food is less spicy and Flu and Body Pain, etc)

6. Essentials, in case you venture out - Sunscreen lotions, caps, sun glasses unless you really want to get tanned!!

7. Be ready to be blown away by the variety of culture, people with different languages , different looks etc for every few hundred kilometers.

8. Most of the people in the AC compartments speak reasonable English, so striking up a conversation is not an issue. In fact, most of the locals are eager to know more about your country, culture, your travel philosophy as to why you are travelling in India(yes, travel philosophy!!). I remember myself asking naive questions to foreign travellers when I was a kid.

9. On a small note,(Only for smokers) -> Smoking is not permitted on trains. But, as always, there is the quintessential toilet to indulge in a bit of tobacco fix! If not in the AC compartment, you can enter the Sleeper compartments' toilet and let out the smoke thru' the windows. I have done this!! (Mind you, toilets will be messy :()

For the ladies -
1. Moderate dressing is recommended. You do not have to be cover yourself in burqa to hide, but at the same time shorts, a little cleavage are a no-no. Jeans, local salwars, kurta , are pretty easy items to wear and should be fine.

2. Majority of travellers on trains are male. So there might be a bit of the 'staring' thing happening(sometimes even from local women).

3. As mentioned earlier, any chance you get to strike up an intellectual/spiritual conversation with a well-groomed person, do it. You will not regret it. If you find a female , all the better, you might get some fine-tuned pointers.

All in all, an Indian trip is always memorable and will add a new dimension to your understanding of the world.
You would want to come back again and again. Its been long since I went on such a trip in India. Hell yeah, if possible, i can even join you guys on this trip!

2 years ago

Mark_Lester Many thanks Prasad. hope you can make it.
I have been monitoring the trains we will be catching using trainenquiry and a program to read/check them regularly. We've also spent a lot of time selecting premium./reliable trains. Even with fog, derailments, monsoons and the bandh, we'd have got through it. (the tragedy on the uttar banga would have caused problems).
We are also making sure we dont have to eat train food for 2 solid weeks, and that we get to wash every time we get off the train.
Note there is 1AC on 65% of the route, which has a shower in the loo, so with a little baksheesh if you are really desperate to wash those armpits and have a shampoo I'm sure it can be done.

2 years ago

Durga Prasad Yep. Baksheesh is the way to go!! It will be awesome to join this trip exploring the North-Eastern part which I have nvr been to. If I mk it to India from Aus during this period, I will definitely join this trip. Cheers.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester The Assam section is the really cool part where virtually no one has been to. It's also the only bit where I have to make special advance arrangements for catering and sleeping, so please let me know beforehand if you are going to parachute in at NJP or Guwahati to join us. But do join us, start working on your vacation details asap!.

2 years ago

Todd Thanks so much for that info Durga. I've passed it on to a few of the woman travellers especially. We too are from Australia (3 or 4 of us here), but Lauren and I are visiting Montreal, Canada, at the moment. It would be great if you could join. The GCIRC is becoming a bit of an institution before it's even started. :)

2 years ago

Lauren Thanks a lot for those tips Durga! I've also read somewhere else that it's a good idea for women to buy a couple of salwar kameez sets to help blend in a bit more. Mark/Durga why have not many ppl been to the Northern/Assam region? I think I need to start researching India a bit more considering I don't know. Do you have any reading/film/doco suggestions? Tx!

2 years ago

Mark_Lester Shalwar Kameez's are bloody brilliant. They are ideal for keeping cool, figuratively and literally. IN theory the grilies should be wearing the lady version, patternedgirly top and rectangular edges to the short bottoms, and the boys monochrome. But that's ott imo, but you might see one that takes your fancy. if not just get a couple of boys ones each. I always wear the pants anyway.

Assam always used to be special permit territory. India north western and eastern borders have been suspect to wars with pakistan and china respectively.
Now only Arunachal itself (which we wont be visiting, the train we get is a misnomer) needs a permit, and maybe some other border states/districts.
But apart from eco-tourism which is starting up, there arent the usual set piece sight seeing ops that litter the rest of the country.
Despite it's popularity, outside of certain major tourist traps you actually dont see that many travelers in India even today, cos it's bloody enormous.
There are terrorists in assam, but there are terrorists in the whole of India, Asia, and hey, I live in/near London, we're expecting a large bomb to go off any day now!

2 years ago

Durga Prasad Lauren, Assam & the other north-eastern states hv been over-shadowed by the big boys of Ind tourism like Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi/Agra etc. The Maoist(read extremist) situation & the border dispute b/w neighboring nations further degraded their tourism potential. But this region is as geographically gorgeous as d other wellknown ones! It's worth going there. After all, it's all about taking the road less travelled!

2 years ago

Mark_Lester We have about 25 people who say they are coming. I suspect t will be closer to single figures but we'll find out in October when we need to book. If you like the concept but think 2 weeks is a just too stupid, you might like to tag along for a shorter section, the Assam bit, especially north of the Brahmaputra, will be an adventure in itself. I have a blog about the trip here http://gcirc.wordpress.com

2 years ago

Todd Wow, amazing trip Mark. This is what Globetrooper is all about, epic and unique journeys such as this. It will be interesting to see the final numbers. I'm sure there'll be a handful of travellers on GT interested.

2 years ago

LaraM Be super aware of canceled trains...I was on one last week that was canceled 100KM into the trip. We still had 500KM to go and had to hire a car.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester shit can happen, there are no guarantees
*BUT*
we ddnt just cook this up in an afternoon. the trains we are getting are almost all premium services and I've been monitoring them all for about 8 months now. Indian trains are, in general. not as bad as their image. despite all the usual problems this yea, strikes, fog, rain etc., our trains would have still got us round!.
Right now though, it's monsoon time, the west coast line is in serious shit right now. If you are going from kerala to bombay on something you could book at a few days notice then things could go very wrong.
we have chosen this particular time to travel cos it's the least likely to have any problems with rains or fog.
also, we've taken quite a bit of care, and will take a bt more, working out if stuff goes wrong, how we can get back on schedule etc. But as long as we get onto the train out of delhi then everyone will have had a bloody good ride for their money even if we dont get back to Kolkata in time to get the train south.
The konkan line (west coast) wold be our last train anyway, so if it gets to bombay stupid late it's not an issue.

2 years ago

gotta_b_trippin Ok, so I'm like totally new to this whole Globe Trooper thing....but it sounds amazing! So if I were to want to join would I have to buy/reserve places for myself on all the trains? I read the description and itenerary, but I must admit it is kind of confusing. Also, where do we go to purchase these (online?), and will we be together on the train? In the same berths? It all sounds so neat, but I'm very confused as to how to go about this :-/

2 years ago

Todd Hi gotta, this is a unique trip in that there isn't any tour operator. It's a collaborative trip between a large group of people: some are rail enthusiasts, some are even rail expert, some are Indian natives, but from my understanding, most are just fascinated in the itinerary and wanting to do something spectacular in India. Me? I've never even been to India, but I can't wait. As for booking the tickets, Mark has said that he'll send an announcement out about October for everyone to book tickets. He'll give detailed instructions on it so we all end up on the same trains in the same direction. I think part of the adventure is the lead up to this trip and knowing that it's collaborative between inspired travellers. With that said, it seems just as (if not more) organised than a packaged tour. Mark and the guys over at IndiaMike have spent a lot of time fine-tuning the itinerary. Anyway, I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying we'd love you to join. I think we're getting close to 30+ people. While on most packaged tours, less people is better, for something like this, I think it's definitely the more the merrier. :)

2 years ago

Mark_Lester the booking is just a slam dunk as long as you are not Indian, (contact me directly if you are) all we do is contact shankar dandapani at s.d enterprises and tell him you are with me, it's that easy. this guy is the biz http://www.indiarail.co.uk/ we need to have the orders in 90 days in advance of the trains so that as booking opens we get our seats allocated straight away. so we'll start doing it all in october. you'll need a visa of course, and a flight ;). We'll probably meet up at the ymca in bombay the night before.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester We've got a t-shirt!. I'm still working on a UK supplier, but I think everyone in here is non-UK anyway, so if you are short of a new daft t-shirt to get printed, please feel free to get this one run off and wear it down on the beach or on your travels. front http://gcirc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/gcirc-logo_final24.jpg back http://gcirc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/shirt-back-final3.jpg

2 years ago

Todd They're looking really good Mark. Will there only be one design? Have you decided yet? Count us in!

2 years ago

Mark_Lester The front is a heat between these two. The first one wins I think but the other is just so India.
I'm now trying to see how cheaply I can get them made up. But my designer friend has gone o hols so we are probably done. feel free to get a couple run off in sydney for your americas expedition.
http://gcirc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/shirt-front-v33.jpg

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=371461612956&index=1#!/photo.php?pid=6217395&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=372971199730&aid=-1&id=597441803

back wil be this, though I may change the font, or go wit the chakra (circle) one for the front and do the map on the back. But there are no rules!!!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=371461612956&index=1#!/photo.php?pid=6217387&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=372971199730&aid=-1&id=597441803

2 years ago

Todd Hi Mark, do you have the high resolution version of all the designs? Maybe Adobe Illustrator files or EPS files? We may be able to setup the design on one of those t-shirt artwork websites so people can just single-click to buy the shirt from anywhere. For example, have a look at http://redbubble.com. We can set it up if you can send the high-resolution images. Thanks, todd

2 years ago

Mark_Lester Well we've had a few chicken out, but the great news is that globetrooper keeps replacing them.
I have a whole bunch of contacts in the mysterious extreme east of the trip which is the one area where surfing, and certainly travel books, are of zero use. I am still waiting to encounter a single tourist who has caught the arunachal express n deepest assam. You are guaranteed to have some stories on this ride, but you are guaranteed-guaranteed north of the Brahmaputra in east assam.
The count is currently 22, including a couple of non facebookers, plus 11 may-be's.
I assume the half dozen in here who havent joined up even to a may-be status just dig the idea but cant make it. If you are dabbling with the idea of actually turning up please either join the event, or if you hate FB just give me a sign in here.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester the numbers are climbing, and one of my suspected chickens has turned out to be made of sterner stuff than I had thought. we are in serious danger of hitting 30 now which will be a mobile riot. my food sourcing is going well also. this is a sponsored train trip, not a sponsored fast, and certainly not a sponsored poo if I can do anything about it.

2 years ago

Todd Great to hear Mark. And it's still only July. Still some time until we book tickets, so who knows what the numbers will be by then. Are many people sticking around afterwards? I think we'll either stay in India for a while or go to Vietnam.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester We have a beta tester / test pilot. I'm not sure if he or his girlfriend are speaking to me now, I ultimately wasn't too happy at being ripped off and said so on IndiaMike. Anyway, he's going SL the full way, on trains he perhaps would have done better asking about first. if he pulls it off he'll deserve a medal. He's still on his first train, the tardy Brahmaputra mail out of Delhi, which usually gets in after his next train leaves. It will be interesting to see how up for it he is for back to back journeys when he crawls off that tomorrow morning. http://www.chapatiexpress.co.uk/
Either way, his plan (which is uncannily similar to our proposed route ;) ) takes him 5 days longer than we will, and we do a lot more stuff. That's what 6 months of planning can do.

2 years ago

Todd Well said on IndiaMike; nothing wrong with a bit of passion coming out. From what little I know, the GCIRC seems entirely on another level regarding planning, coordination, number of people, etc. Pros and cons to both, but the GCIRC seems like a trip of truly epic proportions. Wish we could do more to help (anything?). How are numbers? Any more confirmed? We may have 4 or 5 confirmed here on GT before it's time to book tickets. Maybe more.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester well, I really dont know. if you guys are firming up with 4 or 5 (who is is the 4th ?, I've got you and your two lady escorts) then we are about 15 going on 30. I'll go round and do some pre-nudging and see what numbers are looking like and report back.

2 years ago

Todd I met 6 people over the weekend who'll be in India during the GCIRC. We may get one or two from that group. We'll see when it comes time to book, but will keep recruiting until then.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester top work. cricket world cup on in India at that time also.

2 years ago

Lauren Hi Mark, Todd and I are very keen to do this trip as well as another superior friend of mine ;) I've never been to India... so no first-hand experience of the trains, what conditions can we expect (or not assume)?

2 years ago

Mark_Lester Hi Lauren. That is a very difficult question to answer in one go. Todd said you'd been to north Africa, so I would say you are covered from total culture shock, but India can be very overwhelming. Also the trains aren't really designed for more than a couple of days of continuous travel. 2 weeks solid is going to be a struggle even for those in the party who do epic trains trips whenever they get a chance (we have at least 2 arch exponents of the art on the trip).

2 years ago

Mark_Lester We're going to try and make sure we have the catering side of things as worked out as best as possible, as we'll be on the go constantly we wont have chance to hang about a town for a few days working out which place does the best grub, we need to know before we get there. But there will be times when we will be at the mercy of the on board food, which can be passable/OK to "dont touch that or you'll be ill". But I guarantee you will never, ever, forget this trip..

2 years ago

Todd How is everything travelling Mark? Everything on track to book tickets in October? Wil someone send out an email beforehand advising of the final route?

2 years ago

Mark_Lester I will send a message to the facebook group, and post up on any active threads, which is essentially IM, BCMT and here, about a month before hand and then again as we get closer and once I and my close mates have taken the plunge.
I'll then go round all the other trav threads that I set up and try and re-promote.
The state of the route is always kept up to date on the blog, but obviously you'll be getting precise booking instructions as it's getting the berths sorted that is the critical part.
There is a guy in UK called shankar dandapani who is the indian railways rep and he is excellent. even if you are at the other end of the planet it's probably best to go through him.
http://www.indiarail.co.uk/

2 years ago

Todd Sounds great Mike. We're promoting the GCIRC like it's a religion. We've been spreading the "good word" wherever we go. Let us know if there's anything else we can do.

2 years ago

Invidious I reside in India so I thought I'd give a few pointers. First hand experience is trains is completely dependent on the train. It stretches from the "Garib Rath" - literally "Poor Man's Chariot" trains to "Palace on Wheels". The former can take you from one end of the country to the other in about US$25 while the later is upward of $500 per day. I would suggest that you folk stick to trains like the Shatabdi or Rajdhani which are clean, comfortable and will provide you with decent food and packaged drinking water. They are also very reasonable by Western standards. Have a good trip.

2 years ago

Todd Many thanks for the pointers Invidious. You can also see a very long discussion about this trip here: http://www.indiamike.com/india/indian-railways-f10/the-great-circular-indian-railway-challenge-t93181/ Would you consider joining us?

2 years ago

Lauren Thanks Invidious, do you have any recommendations for female travellers?

2 years ago

Mark_Lester We are almost totally on shatabdi/rajdhani, you can do about 2/3 of the trip in 1AC, not withstanding the tourist quotas. 2AC is the most likely class of travel. But even in AC, 1 or 2, it is highly likely/certain that at least once you are going to ask "why did I agree to do this when the guy told me it was a stupid thing to do". 2 solid weeks on any trains anywhere is tough.
We are investigating the idea of getting a couple of what are called "passenger" trains, which are basically non reserve-able local trains, as part of the assam trip which would allow us to see that section north of the Brahmaputra, I am still waiting to meet a single tourist who's done that bit.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester To clarify on the class of travel available, There are only 2 trains that we dont have AC class, the arunachal express in assam and another night train in the south from rameswaram to the cape. Of the rest, over 2/3 is actually rajdhani class, and the rest is effectively shatabdi. But you are a better man than I if you can live off train food for 2 weeks. Sometimes it wl be OK, sometimes it wont. The feeding, and washing, will be critical to avoid a mutiny after a few days.

2 years ago

Invidious @ Todd - No - I tend to avoid Rail travel in India as much as possible - I am not plunging into it head on :) @ Lauren - If you are in a group you should be fine - I would recommend modest attire and getting used to stares. Some kids might even come and ask you to pose for a picture with them. Most of it is all harmless - but can take some time to get used to. @ Mark - All I meant was that the trains have caterers providing food of a uniform standard - while the food at restaurants on platforms in Bombay or Delhi might be excellent - you hardly want to get sick eating food at a platform in Assam. Just a thought. Cheers.

2 years ago

Mark_Lester many thanks for your thoughts invidious. on the stares and photo front, I recommend combining the two. If a guy is staring at you (it's never quite as bad from a woman ;) ) then just whip out the photo apparatus and start shooting. works every time.

2 years ago

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