New Delhi to Srinagar has no direct train. This short film, in English and Hindi, follows one traveller planning that journey on indexq: every connecting route across the week, changing at Katra or Jammu Tawi, hard journeys like Pathankot to Mandsaur and Amb Andaura to Jaisalmer, filters for trains, stations, departure times and waits, seat availability for every leg, and treating Mumbai's seven stations as one city.
New Delhi. Eleven at night. The board has all of India... except Srinagar. I'm going to Srinagar. And to get there... there's no direct train.
I'll have to change somewhere. But where? Jammu? Katra? How long's the wait? How long's the whole trip? Or board at another Delhi station? Does it even run that day? And if it does... is there a seat? My brain's fried.
And it's not just my story. Eight and a half thousand stations. Over ten thousand trains. Pathankot to Mandsaur. Amb Andaura to Jaisalmer. Mumbai Central to Rameswaram. A direct train... nowhere.
Then my phone buzzed.
Friend (voice note): Bro, try indexq.in. You'll find it all.
I opened indexq.in. One search... every train, direct or connecting. Every way to get there.
From where, to where. Type it... and pick the station from the list.
The first time, just one question. When are you going? Pick a date for just that day's trains. Or any day... and see the whole week.
Across the week, four ways from Delhi to Srinagar. All connecting. And every card... tells the whole story.
Monday the fifth. The fastest... twelve hours five minutes. Vande Bharat 22439, out of New Delhi at six. Eight hours twenty to Katra. A thirty-five minute chai stop. Then 26403, three hours ten... and Srinagar by five past six.
Rather change at Jammu Tawi, not Katra? One tap. Both trains re-timed around the new station. Same start at six, same arrival that evening. The station... is my call.
Now I was hooked. So... let's try the hard ones.
Pathankot to Mandsaur. Fifty options. The fastest... a minute under nineteen hours, one change at Ratlam. First train: three days a week... it says so. Swap the second train at Ratlam? Four more options.
Amb Andaura to Jaisalmer. Three trains, under twenty-four hours. With a station change inside Delhi... Sabzi Mandi to Delhi Cantt. Flagged, clear as day.
But it's my journey... so my rules.
How many trains, or direct only. Change stations in a city? Locals, yes or no. When the first train leaves, or each one. Which date, or which weekdays. A via station. And the platform wait... twenty minutes to four hours, or no limit.
Pathankot to Mandsaur, on my terms. Two trains, no locals, leaving in the evening. Just one option fits... twenty-two hours forty-five, changing at Ajmer.
Found it. Seats? No need to leave the page. Date, class for each train, quota... and check. Both trains together... seats on both. Two thousand three hundred fifty-five rupees a passenger. Then book straight on IRCTC.
And then came the climax! One city... doesn't mean one station.
Mumbai Central to Rameswaram. From Mumbai Central alone... forty hours forty minutes, three trains. Now treat all of Mumbai as one place... all seven stations. It boards me at Lokmanya Tilak instead. Thirty-one hours forty. Nine whole hours saved!
Board anywhere in a city, change anywhere, get off anywhere. Twenty-one cities come grouped... Delhi alone has fifteen stations.
That's it. Six a.m., Vande Bharat. Chai at Katra. By evening... Srinagar. Every connection, direct or not. My terms. Seats, right there. And cities... as cities.
indexq.in. Every way... there.
Nayi Dilli. Raat ke gyaarah baje. Board pe poora Hindustan hai... bas Srinagar nahi. Mujhe Srinagar jaana hai. Aur wahan tak... koi direct train hi nahi.
Kahin toh train badalni padegi. Par kahan? Jammu? Katra? Kitna rukna padega? Poora safar kitne ghante ka? Dilli ke kisi aur station se chadhun? Us din train chalti bhi hai? Aur chalti hai... toh seat? Dimaag ka dahi ho gaya.
Aur yeh sirf meri kahani nahi. Saadhe aath hazaar station. Das hazaar se zyada trains. Pathankot se Mandsaur. Amb Andaura se Jaisalmer. Mumbai Central se Rameswaram. Direct train... kahin nahi.
Tabhi phone baja.
Friend (voice note): Bhai, indexq.in pe daal. Sab mil jaayega.
Maine indexq.in khola. Ek search... aur har train, direct ho ya connecting. Wahan tak ka har raasta.
Kahan se, kahan tak. Type kiya... aur list se station chuna.
Pehli baar, bas ek sawaal. Kab jaana hai? Date chuno, toh sirf us din ki trains. Ya any day... aur poore hafte ka hisaab.
Poore hafte mein, Dilli se Srinagar ke chaar raaste. Chaaron connecting. Aur har card pe... poori kahani.
Monday, paanch October. Sabse tez... baarah ghante paanch minute. Vande Bharat 22439, subah chhe baje Nayi Dilli se. Aath ghante bees minute mein Katra. Wahan paintees minute ki chai. Phir 26403, teen ghante das minute... aur shaam chhe bajkar paanch pe, Srinagar.
Katra nahi, Jammu Tawi pe badalna hai? Tap kiya. Dono trains naye station ke hisaab se. Nikalna wahi chhe baje, pahunchna wahi shaam ko. Station... meri marzi ka.
Ab toh shauk lag gaya tha. Chalo... mushkil wale try karte hain.
Pathankot se Mandsaur. Pachaas options. Sabse tez... unnees ghante se ek minute kam, Ratlam pe ek change. Pehli train hafte mein teen din chalti hai... yeh bhi likha hai. Aur Ratlam se doosri train badalni ho? Chaar aur options.
Amb Andaura se Jaisalmer. Teen trains, chaubees ghante se kam. Beech mein Dilli ke andar station badalna hai... Sabzi Mandi se Delhi Cantt. Woh bhi saaf likha.
Par safar mera hai... toh shartein bhi meri.
Kitni trains, ya sirf direct. Shehar ke andar station badalna chalega? Local trains chahiye ya nahi. Pehli train kab nikle, ya har train alag se. Kis din, ya kaunse weekdays. Beech mein koi station. Aur platform pe kitna intezaar... bees minute se chaar ghante, ya koi limit nahi.
Pathankot se Mandsaur, meri sharton pe. Do trains, local nahi, shaam ko nikalna. Bas ek option fit baitha... baais ghante paintalis minute, Ajmer pe change.
Route mil gaya. Ab seat? Page chhodne ki zaroorat nahi. Date, har train ki class, quota... aur check. Dono trains ek saath... dono mein seat available. Do hazaar teen sau pachpan rupaye, per passenger. Phir seedha IRCTC pe booking.
Aur phir aaya climax! Ek shehar... matlab ek station nahi.
Mumbai Central se Rameswaram. Sirf Mumbai Central se... chaalis ghante chaalis minute, teen trains. Ab poori Mumbai ko ek jagah maano... saaton station. Yeh mujhe Lokmanya Tilak se chadhata hai. Ikattis ghante chaalis minute. Poore nau ghante bache!
Shehar mein kahin se chadho, kahin badlo, kahin utro. Ikkis shehar pehle se grouped... akele Dilli mein pandrah station.
Toh bas. Subah chhe baje, Vande Bharat. Katra pe chai. Aur shaam tak... Srinagar. Har connection, direct ho ya nahi. Apni sharton pe. Seat bhi wahin. Aur shehar... ab shehar ki tarah.
indexq.in. Har raasta... wahan tak.