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Delhi is
an important rail center and an excellent place to make bookings. There
is a special foreign tourist booking office upstairs in New Delhi
railway station. It is open Monday to Saturday from 7.30 am to 5 pm.
This is the place to go if you want a tourist-quota allocation, are the
holder of an India rail Pass or want to buy an Ind rail Pass. It gets
very busy and crowded, and it can take up to an hour to get served. If
you make bookings here tickets. Must be paid for in foreign currency (US
dollars and pounds sterling only, and your change will be given in
rupees), or with rupees backed up by bank exchange certificates.
The main
ticket office is on Chelmsford Rd, between New Delhi railway station and
Connaught Place. This place is well organized, but incredibly busy. Take
a numbered ticket from the counter as you enter the building. and then
wait at the allotted window. Even with 50 computerized terminals. it can
take up to an hour to get served. It's best to arrive first things in
the morning, or when it reopens after lunch. The office is open Monday
to Saturday from 7.45 am to 1.50 pm and 2 to 9 pm. On Sunday it's open
until 1.50 pm only.
Remember
that there are two main stations in Delhi-Delhi railway station in Old
Delhi, and New Delhi railway station at Paharganj. New Delhi is much
closer to Connaught place, and if you're departing from the Old Delhi
railway station you should allow adequate time to wind your way through
the traffic snarls fo Old Delhi. Between the Old Delhi and New Delhi
stations you can take the No 6 bus for Just Rs 4. There's also the
Nizamuddin railway station sough of the New Delhi area where some trains
start of finish. It's worth getting off here if you are staying in
chanakyapuri or elsewhere sough of Connaught Place.
Recently
trains between Delhi and Jaipur, Hodhpurand Udaipur have been operating
to and from Sarai Rohilla station rather than Old Delhi-it's about 3.5
km north-west of Connaught Place on Guru Govind Singh Marg. They may
still be, so check when you book your ticket. The exception is the new
Shatabdi Express to Jaipur, which operates from New Delhi.
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