Pritam Rohila Travels: ROHILAS IN INDIA 2014: 7 Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

February 12, 2014

In the afternoon of February 11, we used an auto-rickshaw, to drive us from our hotel to Tirupati Railway Station to board the 4:25 p.m., Rayalaseema Express for Hyderabad.

Railway Map of Andhra Pradesh

Whenever possible, we prefer to travel long distances in India by overnight trains. That way we can cover long distances, while we sleep.

Traveling in 2nd Class AC, two-tier sleeper carriages is quite comfortable. Pillows, blankets and freshly laundered bed sheets are provided for use by passengers without extra charge.

Also travel by trains is much cheaper than flying. For example, for this 732 Kilometer (454 Miles), and 16-hour journey, we paid less than Rs. 750 (about $12) each. Travel by air, would have cost us Rs. 5,830 ($94) to Rs. 6,500 ($105), in addition to the cost of hotel for the night.

By the way, India has one of the world's largest railway networks. It is comprised of over 100,000 Kilometers (70,000 Miles) of track and 7,500 stations. Over 25 million passengers travel by train daily and over 9 billion every year.

An Indian train

Indian Railways Logo

Anyway we reached Hyderabad Railway Station at 8:30 a.m., on February 12. We were picked up by a car hired for us by the hotel.

Hotel Mercure was not as good as the Minerva Grand in Tirupati. But they were nice enough to us to give us a room, even though we had reached there several hours earlier than the usual check-in time.

After breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we showered and got ready for the day. We spent some time to make arrangements for our sightseeing for the next three days.

In the afternoon, Nandgopal Immaneni, a family friend, dropped by to spend time with us. After tea, he drove us through the crowded streets of Hyderabad to the Hitech City, pointing out various landmarks, we came across.