Grand Trunk Express

The iconic Grand Trunk Express is one of the oldest Indian trains that still runs today. A the time of introduction it ran between Peshawar in current day Pakistan to Mangalore, traversing the entire sub-continent. Today it is a super fast express connecting New Dehi to Chennai.
  The train passes through the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, right through the core of India. Languages, cuisine, landscape and climate changes as the train completes the 35 hour journey.
  We will comlpete the trip in 7 days starting and ending the trip on Grand Trunk Express and traverse its route. A stop is scheduled in each state to sample the food and a heritage site.

Day	State	Place	Dep	Arr	Activity	Sleep
Day 1	Delhi	New Delhi - Local sights	.	.	.	Hotel
Day 2	Uttar Pradesh	Agra : Taj Express (12280)	7:00	9:38	Taj, Agra Fort	Hotel
Day 3	Rajasthan	Dhaulpur : Taj Express (12280)	9:46	10:41	The Machkund Temple Chambal River	Hotel
Day 4	Madhya Pradesh	Vidisha/Sanchi Malwa Exp Express (12920)	23:28	6:17+1	Sanchi Stupa	Train
Day 5	Maharshtra	Sevagram: Kerala Express (12626)	21:45	5:11+1	Bapuji Ashram	Train
Day 6	Telangana	Manchriyal: Kerala Express (12626)	5:13	9:30	Gandhari Kila	Hotel*
Day 7	Andhra Pradesh	Vijayawada GT Exp (12616)	17:49	23:15	Undavalli caves Victoria museum	Hotel
Day 7	Tamil Nadu	Vijayawada GT Exp (12616)	23:25	6:20+1	The Machkund Temple Chambal River	Hotel

Around India in 18 trains

  
 I love trains and especially enjoy the colorful, eventful , dusty and happening Indian trains. My love for trains started at a very young age and after 20 years in US and Canada, trains have a nostalgic value as well. I missed the "The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge" and wanted to do a Circular Railway trip myself. But this is not a challenge and is more a practical sightseeing trip that covers major tourist destinations and UNESCO World Heritage sites all done with Indian Railways. Its circular , practical and covers various Geographies, with stops in the top four Indian Metropolitan cities, rides on the fastest Indian train and the prestigious Rajdhani Express. Tour begins  in Mumbai and ends just south of Mumbai in Goa so that folks can take it easy on the beaches for a bit.
 The Theme is Around India in 18 trains. Why this theme? It is inspired by Jules Verne's Around the world in 80 days  and Monisha Rajesh's "Around India in 80 Trains"

View 18 Trains in a larger map

The Plan:
Day 0 : Arrive in Mumbai (Bombay), India.
Day 1:  Day spent visiting the iconic Gateway of India ,UWH (UNESCO Work Heritage) site Elephanta Caves and Bombay Victoria terminus (now CST). 
Night in Mumbai. Optional stay at the Taj Mahal hotel.
Day 2: laze around in the morning and catch Train 1 Suryanagari Express to Jodhpur. 
Night on Train.
Day 3: Arrive in Jodhpur at 6:30 AM. Sight seeing Jodhpur - the Blue City. Leave for Jaisalmer , Train 2 Jodhpur Jaisalmer express @23:45.
Night on Train.
Day 4: Arrive in Jaisalmer @ 5:30 AM. Check into a hotel and freshen up. Visit Jaisalmer fort. Proceed for an overnight desert adventure. Night in a tent in the desert.
Day 5: Return from desert safari. On Train 3 , Jaisalmer Delhi express @ 17:15 to Jaipur at 4:50 AM. Night on Train.
Day 6: Connect to Train 4 Udaipur Khajrauo express @ 6AM, arrive in Agra @ 11 AM. Visit Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Proceed to Delhi on the fastest Indian train (5) Bhopal Shadabdi @ 20:35. Arrive in Delhi @ 22:35. Night in Delhi.
Day 7: Delhi sight seeing tour, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb,Qutb Minar, Old Delhi and Chandni Chowk. Proceed to varanasi on Train 6 Swatantra Express @20:40.Night on Train.
Day 8: Arrive in Varanasi @ 8:30 AM. Relax and walk around Varanasi. Visit Ganges bathing ghats and witness evening Harti. Night on Train and train station.
Day 9: Arrive in Gaya on Train 7 Jammu Howrah Express at 6:45 AM. Visit UNESCO WHS Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya. Leave to Kolkata on Train 8 Kalka Mail @ 23:28. Night on train.
Day 10: Arrive in Kolkata @ 7:55 AM. Kolkata sight seeing till 7pm. Head to NJP on Train 9 Uttar Banga express @ 19:35.Night on Train.
Day 11: Arrive in NJP @ 7am and conenct to Train 10, the UNESCO World Heritage Toy train to Darjelling. @ 9AM.  Overnight in Darjelling with Views of snow covered Himalayan peak Kanchenjunga. Night in Darjeeling.
Day 12: Relax the day and catch up on some sleep and enjoy the mountain air. Jeep to Siliguiri at 3pm and take Train 11 Kanchankanya express to Howrah. Take Tran 12, Puri Shatabdi to Puri. Arrive in Puri @ 22:10. Overnight in Puri.
Day 13: visit Puri temples and UWH Sun Temple of Kondark.Take Train 13 Puri Durg Express to  Bhubaneshwar and connect to Train 14 Coromendal Express @ 21:25.Night on Train.
Day 14: Day on Train. Arrive in Chennai @ 17:15. Night in Chennai.
Day 15: Visit Marina beach and UWH Mahabalipuram. Travel to Chengalpattu by road to connect to Train 15 Rockfort Express to Trichy@ 23:00.Night on Train
Day 16: Arrive in Srirangam @4:30 AM. catch up on some sleep in a guest house. Visit SriRangam temple, Rock fort temple and travel to Tanjore to visit UWH Living Chola temple(optional). Take Train 16 Kanyakumari express to Cape Comerin @ 23:00 from Trichy.
Night on Train
Day 17: Arrive in Kanyakumari @ 6:50 AM. Relax and visit Vivekananda memorial and Ashram. Visit the Cape beach, famous second only to Cape of Good Hope. Continental Cape is a very rare geographic formation with 3 oceans in one beach. 

Night in Kanyakumari.
Day 18: Travel to Trivandrum by road to connect to Train 17, Trivandraum Rajdhani @ noon.
Night on Train
Day 19: Arrive in Goa @ 7:35 AM. Visit UNW site Churches of Goa. Night in Goa.
Day 20: Depart Goa on Train 18, Matsyaganda Express @ 20:40 to Mumbai.

.

Almost Around India in 18 trains

Slightly modified to fir a 2 week vacation


View 18 Trains-1 in a larger map .

				Arr	Dep	Day	Night	3955	6584
Fri	Day 1		Leave Toronto at 5pm				Airplane
Sat	Day 2		Arrive in Mumbai airport			Travel	Bombay
Sun	Day 3	T1	Suryanagari Exp	1:55:00	13:30:00	Gateway of India, CST	Train	431	935
Mon	Day 4	T2	JD Jai exp	6:30:00	23:45:00	Jodhpur : Blue City	Train	196	301
Tue	Day 5			5:30:00		Till 2pm sight seeing, Desert night	Desert
Wed	Day 6	T3/T4	Jai Del/Udai Khaj		17:15/4:50/6:00	Jaisalmer	Train	482	853
Thu	Day 7	T5	Bhopal Shatabdi	11:00:00	20:35/22:35	Agra Taj, AF	Delhi	442	194
Fri	Day 8	T6	Swatantra Exp		20:40:00	Delhi: RedFort, QMinar	Train	386	758
Sat	Day 9	T7	JU HWH Exp	8:45:00	1:30:00	Varanasi	Train	166	220
Sun	Day 10	T8	Kalka Mail	6:45:00	23:28:00	Gaya	Train	251	457
Mon	Day 11	T9	How-Puri Exp	7:55:00	22:35:00	Kolkata	Train	306	502
Tue	Day 12	T10/T11	Puri Durg Exp/Coromendal	7:35:00	17:15-18:30/21:25	Puri-Konark	Train	652	1286
Wed	Day 13			17:15:00		Travel	Chennai
Thu	Day 14	T12	RF Exp		23:00:00	Marinia - Mahabs	Train	186	336
Fri	Day 15	T13	RMM exp	4:40:00	22:35:00	Tanjore-Kalanai-TPJ	Train	181	264
Sat	Day 16	T14	Cape exp	4:45:00	20:45:00	RMM	RMM	261	407
Sun	Day 17	T15	NCJ-TVC pass	4:05:00	18:20/20:15	CAPE	Airplane	15	71
Mon	Day 18		Arrive in Toronto
		T16	Mumbai Metro
		T17	Delhi Metro
		T18	Kolkata Metro

Love for Indian trains

I am not sure when I fell in love with trains, particularly Indian trains. I could recall my dad taking me to Erode junction when I was 3 to watch massive broad gauge steam engines loose shut coaches. It was his way of baby sitting. My train travels started even before I was born, 2 months before birth, my mother took the meter gauge train on the main line from  the foot of the Western Ghats in Kallidaikurichi to Cauvery delta town of Sirkazhi. I would hear stories when flipping through my parents' wedding pictures, my parents and grand parents posing in the station with wooden boxes (call trunks) with loads of packaged food items for the journey. My first memorable train trip was with my uncles on a pilgrimage to Sabari Mala in Kerala. I was 4 and my parents quietly slipped me on Trivandrum mail after I fell asleep to avoid tamper tantrums at the station. When I woke up next morning from my middle berth in the 3 tier sleeper, the train was over a bridge on the backwaters and the tracks lined neatly by palm trees. I never missed my parents during that journey.
   As an Indian loving trains is just normal. It touches most lives and trains were part of life. The 8am passenger train's steam hoot was a call to take a bath to be at school on time at 9am. The 6pm train was a reminder to get home after sunset. What makes me a train freak is that my first book and favorite to  date is the railway time-table. My wife doesn't part with the camcorder when we are India. Instead of capturing relatives and friends we visit so rarely, I fill the tapes with trains , level crossings, bridges and engines. It even happened in Germany, tapes after tapes of train stations and engines.
   What makes recollecting train travel experiences pleasant is the memories associated with it. Every trip has a story, a person who I met, relatives I traveled with and the food I ate at the stations. Most memorable one is the trip from Erode to New Delhi on Kerala express when I was 13, my brother 12 and my sister 8. Was a wonderful trip, first time crossing several states at a time. The people, language, food, geography and culture changes in front of ones eyes. The idlis at Tumkur, the Poori at Agra station, the vada at Vilupuram, the guava fruits on Vaigai express, omlette at Vijayawada junction, sandwiches on Dadar express just to name few. Travelling on trains brings back old memories and never fails to create new ones.
   I have stories to tell, places to see, food to taste and people to meet. I am looking forward to my 'Around India in 18 trains' trip. Would be so much fun to be joined by train loving backpackers for new memories and some friends to relish old memories.