A student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has set all new travel goals by planning out a train journey to London all the way from Mumbai. Souhitya Sen, who is studying chemical engineering, has shared on a popular online discussion forum the train routes to reach London from Mumbai.
The first destination from Mumbai, the starting point, isDelhi. There are regular trains between the two cities which cover the distance in 24-28 hours. From Delhi, one can hop on to the Samjhauta Express to cross the international border with Pakistan. The train plies between Delhi or Attari on the Indian side and Lahore in Pakistan on Tuesdays and Friday every week. Travel time from Delhi to Lahore is around 16 hours.
From Lahore, you have to change trains, says Sen. Take the Akbar Express from Lahore. Its destination is Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province in Pakistan. A daily service, Akbar Express covers the distance between Lahore and Quetta in 24 hours.
The next train to be boarded starts from Quetta and heads to Zahedan, in neighbouring Iran. However, Zahedan Mixed Passenger Train, the only service that plies crossing the international border between Pakistan and Iran, runs only twice every month - on the first and fifteenth. The running time of the train is 33 hours. Taking this into account, Sen advises everyone who wishes to follow his path to plan their journey much in advance.
From Zahedan, a passenger train takes travellers to the Iranian capital of Tehran.
The next train to be boarded is the Trans Asia Express, which starts from Tehran and travels to Ankara, capital of the neighbouring country of Turkey. However, this journey can be completed only in three segments. First, travel by train from Teheran to Van Pier station in Turkey and then get down and board a boat or ship to cross the Van Lake. After crossing the lake, get into the train again and travel to Ankara.
From Ankara, connections by very fast trains are available to Istanbul. In fact, these trains cover the distance of 533 km in a mere five hours.
The next five stages of the journey that takes a traveller from Istanbul to London are as follows:
Take a regular train from Istanbul to Bucharest in Romania; then another train from Bucharest to Budapest in Hungary; the next train starts from Budapest and heads to Munich in Germany; followed by a service from Munich to Paris, the French capital; and finally a train from Paris to London.
Train journeys offer many more visual delights than those by flight, says Sen. Moreover, the experiences of interacting with people of different countries is an invaluable experience.
