Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail

saket77 · 8th November 2020, 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilminstrel

Essentially, you are recommending to be in NH 19. I have travelled multiple times from Delhi to Ranchi, only once did I take the Lucknow route (last year). Faced some road issues before Jaunpur, otherwise nice.
Just to be clear, except for the fact that the route suggested by Saket_77 is shorter, is there anything else in your mind to suggest this route? I am under the impression that NH 19 has a lot of diversions and construction activity going on. Am I wrong?

My close friend traveled from Leh to Ranchi by road and he went back by the same route a day before. I asked him to take the same Kanpur- Prayag- Varanasi -Sasaram route both ways and there was nothing to worry except that he was trapped in a traffic jam just before Varanasi while coming. There could be a few diversions but still this route is much better and shorter than the LKO route. Also, it’s much safer to travel on this road even after dark.

Regards.

Sail · 9th November 2020, 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilminstrel

It seems the Jaunpur stretch is still in awful shape.

Dear evilminstrel,

Unfortunately, I never travelled on Lucknow-Raeberely route. Hence unable to comment on this route. But suggest you to check pages 38 to 41 of this thread, lots of discussions are there on these two different routes.
In my opinion, south bound take NH-19.

Brdgs
Sail

avi_swift · 9th November 2020, 16:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilminstrel

Hey AVI, any update on your return? How have you managed the Sasaram-Banares stretch with truck jams?

Guys, I am planning Faridabad - Lucknow- Raibarelli- Jaunpur-Banares- Ranchi tomorrow. Will update you soon!
Any suggestions will be most helpful.

Do you think I should rather stick to NH19?

Hi evilminstrel, my office is not scheduled to open anytime soon, most probably it will not open in 2020. So I'm not returning to Delhi in the near future. However, do please update on the conditions you faced, specially in the Sasaram-Banares stretch as you pointed out. It will help me a lot when its actually time for me to return.

I didn't see your post yesterday and you are probably on your way by now. But from what I have read after my account, I believe its best to take the ALE and then exit towards Kanpur. I believe this road will be a lot better than the RaeBareli stretch and you will enjoy the ALE as well, since the Kanpur exit is hardly 50-60 KM before the ALE ends in Lucknow. I have almost decided that I will take this route when returning to Delhi.

Baddychat · 12th November 2020, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by avi_swift

Hi evilminstrel, my office is not scheduled to open anytime soon, most probably it will not open in 2020. So I'm not returning to Delhi in the near future. However, do please update on the conditions you faced, specially in the Sasaram-Banares stretch as you pointed out. It will help me a lot when its actually time for me to return.

I didn't see your post yesterday and you are probably on your way by now. But from what I have read after my account, I believe its best to take the ALE and then exit towards Kanpur. I believe this road will be a lot better than the RaeBareli stretch and you will enjoy the ALE as well, since the Kanpur exit is hardly 50-60 KM before the ALE ends in Lucknow. I have almost decided that I will take this route when returning to Delhi.

Just to give you an update on the Benares - Sasaram stretch I did on Monday, it is pretty much the worst section on the entire Delhi-Kolkata stretch. Got stuck at the Karam Nasha check post for about an hour and a half. There was congestion at Sasaram as well.
I think exiting ALE at Kanpur is a good idea something that I might try when I go back.

SS-Traveller · 13th November 2020, 15:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baddychat

...Benares - Sasaram stretch I did on Monday, it is pretty much the worst section on the entire Delhi-Kolkata stretch. Got stuck at the Karam Nasha check post for about an hour and a half. There was congestion at Sasaram as well.

Try crossing that stretch late in the night till before sunrise, or in the middle of the day, perhaps 1 pm - 3 pm. The traffic mess is due to the trucks and tractor trolleys involved in sand mining activity on the Sone river bed.

cpabhijit · 17th November 2020, 14:22

Hi,

I'm planning a trip from AMD to CCU (one way). Route is as follows:

Day 1 - AMD JPR
Day 2 - Break
Day 3 - JPR Agra
Day 4 - Agra Varanasi
Day 5 - Varanasi Durgapur
Day 6 - Durgapur CCU

Any suggestions on the above, or latest updates on the route in general, would be most welcome.

TIA.

arindam30 · 18th November 2020, 00:50

Few weeks ago, covered both the sides by road.
Delhi to Kolkata in Oct 2nd week.
Kolkata to Delhi in Nov 1st week.

Summary

Delhi to Kolkata
Agra (YEW) >> ALE >> Etawah (NH19)>> Kanpur >> Prayagraj >> Varanasi >> Danbad >> Durgapur

Kolkata to Delhi
Durgapur (NH19) >> Dhanbad >> Varanasi >> Raebareli >> Lucknow >> ALE >> Agra (YEW)

Details

Background

Car: Maruti Baleno (Petrol).
Del->Kol: Solo person/Driver. 100% driven by me.
Kol-> Del: 2 Adults + 1 child. ~75% driven by me.
First ultra-long (if we can call it that) trip/drive by me. Previous ones were in 6-8 hour range with several drivers.
I found the Durgapur expressway (NH19) most beautiful because of the greenery.
Most of Jharkhand and Bihar had beautiful roads.
ALE and YEW were easiest to drive, but you miss anything beyond the highway, except hints from lifeless sign-boards.
Biggest issue was the bridge on the Karmanasa river at the UP-Bihar border. It sees jams of 5-10 km. I followed the locals to the wrong-side (got this input from T-BHP also) otherwise get stuck for several hours.
The biggest risks as per me (and mostly after dark) were stray animals. On several occasions, I saw cars/trucks suddenly avoiding a black cow, on a dark stretch, in the middle lane. Observed numerous evidences (some old, some new) of animal hits on almost all the stretches of the roads.
The best washrooms are with petrol-pumps. Noticed that pumps that are away from populated areas were the cleanest.

Delhi to Kolkata

Day1:
Started: Delhi, Dwarka, just before 4:00 am
Reached : Varanasi hotel at 8:00 pm
14 hour drive-time + overall 2-hour break = Total 16 hour journey time.
~820 km Drive

Day2:
Started: Varanasi hotel at 7:00 pm
Reached : Durgapur town (Relative's place) at 7:30 pm
10.5 hour drive-time + overall 2-hour break = Total 12.5 hour journey time.
~510 km Drive

Day3:
Started: Durgapur town (Relative's place) at 10:00 am
Reached : Kolkata, Barrackpore at 2:00 pm
3.5 hour drive-time + overall 30-min break = Total 4 hour journey time.
~180 km Drive

(Note: Drive-time is measured by the engine-running timer in the car console).

Fuel
Tank-full start from Dwarka, Delhi
Tank-full again just before Varanasi.
Reached Kolkata, Barrackpore (and fueled up).
Basically a single refuel on the entire route. Each tank-full gave ~780+ km range (with few liters remaining).

Delhi-Varanasi : 24.7 km/L (as per car MID)
Delhi-Kolkata: 22.3 km/L (as per car MID)
My observation is actual mileage is about 1km/L less than what the MID shows.
The main mileage drop happened at the massive jam at UP-Bihar border, with jam/wait/reverse/wrong-side/driving-in-muddy-fields etc.
That 10km took me about an hour to cross even with all these hacks.

Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail-car-after-varanasi-30.jpg

This picture after the Delhi>>Varanasi leg.

Did lot of study of the route from T-BHP, google-map, blogs etc. Found that Agra to Varanasi has few combinations. Rest of the route suggestion was mostly the same.

Stay:
There are almost no hotels on Highway. Few with ~5 mins detour. I also wanted to visit the ghats and catch a glimpse of the river. (I had calculated, there was no way I could reach by Ganga-Aarati time.)

From map-study, I selected the area between BHU and Assi-ghat, as a "possible zone to stay" with quick entry and exit from NH-19 plus a quick visit to the river. This also avoids the crowded toll-plaza on NH-19, before the Ganga-bridge. Map below explains it. I selected 'Sarweshwary hotel'. It had good parking area. (outside, but secure). Even Radisson was available for ~2400. But the location is neither near NH-19, nor near the ghats/river.

I reached the hotel at 8 pm. Kept luggage/changed and went out at 8:15pm to Assi ghat , 10 min walk away. Then extended the walk till Dashashwamedh ghat along the river (~2 km). It provided a fresh relief after a 16-hour drive.

Next day started at 7 am. Was out of Varanasi in 3-4 mins via Ramnagar bridge (in the map). Reached NH-19 few km away in about 10 mins more.

Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail-varanasihotel.jpg

The above map shows a possible area to select a hotel if you want to take a quick visit to the ghats.

Complete route map (Delhi to Kolkata), I followed
https://goo.gl/maps/Jv9xKJ6NsyAwPi428
Agra (YEW) >> ALE >> Etawah (NH19)>> Kanpur >> Prayagraj >> Varanasi >> Danbad >>

Good: Delhi >> YEW >> ALE >> Etawah >> Kanpur.
Bad: Kanpur to Handia, there are hundreds of bridges being constructed. For about 4 hours, there is few mins of good road and few mins of diversion, continuously. It was very frustrating

Ugly: UP-Bihar border Karmanasa bridge. 10km long jam. Followed the locals for way-out.

Kolkata to Delhi

Day1:
Started: Kolkata at 10:00 am
Reached: Durgapur town (Relative's place) at 2:00 pm
3.5 hour drive-time + overall 30-min break = Total 4 hour journey time.
14 hour drive-time + overall 2-hour break = Total 16 hour journey time.
~180 km Drive

Day2:
Started: Durgapur town (Relative's place) at 4:30 am
Reached: Varanasi hotel at 6:30 pm
13 hour drive-time + overall 3-hour break = Total 16:00 hour journey time.
~510 km Drive
(a) A big jam at a tool just before the UP-Bihar border. (b) Massive, and expected jam at UP-Binar border on the Karmanasa river. Again wrong-side/jam/slow-drive etc.

Thereafter we spent the next entire-day at Varanasi, enjoying the vibes of the place, the ghats, food, Vishwanath temple, and some much-needed rest.

Stay:
"Hotel Temple on Ganges", Varanasi
This has sufficient parking of its own. About 2 mins walk from Assi Ghat.
One of the very few hotels, so near the river to have their own parking.
But this has about 10 mins extra drive compare to the hotel I stayed in my Delhi>>Varanasi>> Kolkata leg.
But I also had plans to spend 2 nights (1 full day) at the hotel and explore the ghats/city.

Day3:
Started: Varanasi hotel at 6:00 pm
Reached: Kolkata, Barrackpore at 2:00 pm
3.5 hour drive-time + overall 30-min break = Total 4 hour journey time.
~180 km Drive
(We not worried about the relatively late start, as we knew that YEW and Delhi will be easy to drive even after dark, and Delhi roads are familiar).

Complete route map (Kolkata to Delhi), I followed
https://goo.gl/maps/Go8RSzxkamZ7vk8WA
Durgapur (NH19) >> Dhanbad >> Varanasi >> Raebareli (NH30)>> Lucknow >> ALE >> Agra (YEW)

Good: Kolkata >> Durgapur >> Dhanbad. Excellent & continous good roads.
Bad: Dhanbad >> Aurangabad >> Dehri >> Sasaram. Occasional diversions and bad patch at Dehri.
Bad: Rae-Bareli had some major diversion going through dusty village roads.
Ugly: Karmanasa toll-booth with 5 km long truck line. Karmanasa Bridge at UP-Bihar border 8-km long jam.

Some Pictures

Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail-bihar.jpg

Somewhere in Bihar

Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail-jharkhand.jpg

Somewhere in Jharkhand

Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail-durgapur.jpg

Somewhere in West Bengal

Sukanta73 · 18th November 2020, 10:58

Hi Arindam30,

Very nice and detailed write up.

How is the road conditions from NH-19 to Varanasi hotels? Is it too crowded? Which time is good for drive on this section?

Regards
Sukanta

arindam30 · 18th November 2020, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sukanta73

Very nice and detailed write up.

How is the road conditions from NH-19 to Varanasi hotels? Is it too crowded? Which time is good for drive on this section?

Roads are good (almost no portholes). Main roads are wide enough for cars with both side traffic flowing, but slow-moving. But crowded like any Indian city with all kinds of traffic and animals. Overall easily managable.

Make sure to cross-check direction from rickshaw/shops so that google does not send you to a narrow lane

ashis89 · 14th December 2020, 15:24

Is anyone traveling from NCR to Kolkata around Dec 23? A close friend is planning a similar trip which happens to be his first long one. He is looking for company of other cars for this maiden trip.

arindam30 · 16th December 2020, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89

Is anyone traveling from NCR to Kolkata around Dec 23? A close friend is planning a similar trip which happens to be his first long one. He is looking for company of other cars for this maiden trip.

I travelled recently. I was the solo driver and my first such long trip. So I can surely help with helpful tips.

Can help for the route as well as details on precautions for such long trip. If needed send me a PM.

You or your friend can also refer https://masalamug.com/delhi-to-kolkata-road-trip/
It has details of Toll-Taxes, and hotels I stayed etc. in this personal write-up.

Overall it's a good road and improving day-by-day.

But take care of fog around this time of the year.

Baddychat · 20th December 2020, 12:27

I did the return leg of the Kolkata-Delhi drive last weekend.

Started from Kolkata on 11th evening. Stopped at a friends place in Durgapur.
The overall drive time was 3.5 hours. Good roads, which is not something new to report. The only nuisance was the tool plaza right on the outskirts of Durgapur. Wasted 25 mins approximately there.

Started a little late next morning from Durgapur for Varanasi which was a big mistake. After flying through past Asansol and Dhanbad, we were considerably slowed down by the diversions in Jharkhand. The roads in most parts were under repair/relaying so you are much slowed down as you cross Jharkhand. The net distance across Jharkhand is appx 177 km which according to Google would take 4 1/2 hours. They were accurate mostly.

Then comes Bihar and since we started late, we were expecting a lot of traffic chaos at Sherghati. When you are driving down from Kolkata this place comes right after the Dobhi checkpost in Jharkhand and after Aurangabad when you are driving down the other way. Google Maps showed a bright red line indicating a 3 hour congestion in and around the bridge. Didn't want to get stuck there so took a detour through the outskirts of Gaya and through a few other places.

In case you need to take this detour, you can take the following route:
Take the road from Dobhi towards Bodh Gaya. Before reaching Bodh Gaya left towards Cherki. Once you reach Cherki take the road towards Gurua from Cherki market. Then the road takes you past Gurua and merges you onto the NH much past Sherghati.

Then comes Sasaram and the Karamnasha integrated checkpost. That you need to drive on the wrong side of the road to get through this chaos is well documented. Thankfully we didn't face much traffic at Sasaram and reached Benares around 9:30 pm.

Day 3: Onwards from Benares is clean. The only place where we lost a considerable amount of time were the Toll Plazas on YEW. I think being a Sunday evening and I saw lots of people driving back from their home towns with the cars completely loaded may have caused this. We did the 850 odd kms on this days in about 12.5 hours which I think was pretty smooth sailing.

swiftnfurious · 24th December 2020, 16:06

Guys - need help. I'll be riding from Kolkata to Delhi sometime about the new year. Have fair kms on riding, so thats not an issue. However, I have zero experience on these side of India. I predominantly am on the south India.

Please do pass me some detailed pointers - I prefer really good roads even if it means an extra 100 kms or so. I dont mind pushing to about 750 kms in a day (prefer to start early morning and ride till about dusk and then halt).

1. Route to take
2. Night halt - please give me options for a 2 day trip as well as 3 days.
3. Food options
4. Good places to visit (if any).
5. The bike's TN registration - any heads up with it?
6. Any places to really watch out - naxal areas / dacoits etc
7. Any good FNG options where I can get a quick wash / chain lube if at all.

Vinod_nair · 24th December 2020, 16:46

Quote: