25 Best Train Routes in India

When you reach your seat / berth in a long-distance train what is the first thing you do? Right, you try to occupy the window seat!

While you might not spend a 16 to 26-hour journey gazing out of the window, every now and then you look out to soak in the beauty of the places the journey takes you through. It's like watching a Live Travel Show as the train travels through mountains, hills, plateaus, lakes, rivers, farms, villages and cities that portray the scenic beauty of the country.

Arnab Maity, an avid traveller and photographer, has taken great efforts to list out 25 Most Scenic Train Routes in India. Join him in this photographic journey and explore the highlights of each route.

Excerpts from Arnab's blog:

1. The Kashmir Railway (Jammu – Udhampur)

The Kashmir Railway is one of the most challenging engineering projects in India. The extremes of cold and heat along with the unfavorable terrain and political scenarios make this route one of the most thrilling of all Indian train routes. This route has 20 major tunnels and 158 bridges which offer awe inspiring views of the rivers and valleys around the beautiful Shivalik Mountain Ranges.


2. The Snow Sojourn (Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla)

This is a part of the Kashmir Railway, but currently work is going on the section between Jammu and Qazigund, thus making this another separate leg of the journey. When complete, this will be a part of the greater Kashmir railway which will connect Jammu to Baramulla, or rather the plains to the Valley.


Continue the journey here.

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Track Laying Goof-ups Wasting Our Money

Did you know that Railways is working on a project to lay two new lines that will separate suburban and national rail traffic?

Goof-up!

 If this wows you, you must know how hard the authorities are working on this - they are toiling for over one and a half decades now!!!

Yes, the idea was conceived in the 1990s and since then there have been a lot many problems and goof-ups. At this point, you might want to know that when the first-ever railway line was laid in India (along the same stretch) the work was completed within four years! I believe we had more advanced technology and resources back then. Coz if today the authorities talk about land issues, relocation and court cases today, well these problems existed even then, didn't they?


So what's taking them so long to build an 18-km new corridor?  
Well, there have been rehabilitation concerns but apparently there have been track-laying goof-ups. Beleive it or not, some crossovers were laid in an incorrect manner. So what follows is a complete re-work: removal and reinstallation of the lines, the signals and the wiring. 

Basically, public money ka poora wastage!


Read more about this insightful information shared by Mr. Rajendra Aklekar in DNA.

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Indian trains to have 5-digit numbering system

With Indian Railways running over 10000 trains everyday, the four digit numbering scheme for the trains had to be changed. The five digit train numbering scheme has been finally announced. So the train numbers will now have a prefix (number 1). This will be applicable to all scheduled, express, mail and superfast trains.

Read more here.

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Indian Railways New Ad

Such a sweet ad promoting Indian Railways:

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