[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

The first leg to Varanasi exceeded expectations.
We started exactly at 6 am from our residence in Delhi. And exactly at 7:45 pm we had checked into a hotel in the Cantt area.

I would expect heavy holiday traffic on the highway reduced your average speed.

Should make it to Chinsurah in 10-11 hours, with one stop at Govindpur.

Enjoy the weather, sunshine and scenery through JH, BR and WB.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Hmm. In June this year, we did the Delhi-Varanasi stretch in 9 hrs flat. We drove non-stop (all meals carried and consumed in the car) and had 2 drivers driving in-turn. The roads are seriously good, and upping the speed doesn't matter much.

Well, I would expect June to have been much clearer - we had some medium fog to contend with on Yamuna Expressway. Although traffic was light on this stretch, I decided to time hitting the Etmadpur - Etawah stretch (notorius for its speed-breakers) by the time the sun came out.
Attachment 1183309
I was the only driver, and had family with me. In fact, my father (eighty-plus) required frequent stops, and my daughter (five plus) threw-up once possibly due to the bad spreed-breakers - so cleaning up the mess also added to the time.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I would expect heavy holiday traffic on the highway reduced your average speed.

Traffic was heavy between Agra (exit) and Etawah.
Once past Etawah, traffic had thinned considerably. We had picked up some traffic again just after the elevated Kanpur Bypass, and that density stayed with us up-to the beginning of the Allahabad bypass. The Allahabad bypass itself was clear. Once past the Allahabad bypass and right up to the exit to Varanasi - we again had heavy traffic.
We tried to restrict rest-stops to a max of 10 mins, but due to the fact that the family was on an outing after all, enforcement of discipline was at a minimum.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Jharkhand has some wonderful, scenic roads to look forward to.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Should make it to Chinsurah in 10-11 hours, with one stop at Govindpur.

Enjoy the weather, sunshine and scenery through JH, BR and WB.

The better part of an hour was spent getting into Bihar (across the toll) - and discovered too late that one needed to negotiate oncoming traffic to access the dedicated lane for cars. Only in India!

Nevertheless, aside from this 'error', the ride through BR, JH was fairly smooth. Greenery all around, and 'jangal-mohol' was a sight to behold! Indeed was a throwback to Satyajit's original Aranyer-Din-Ratri.
We maintained a decent 90 kmph average through most of JH and about 70 kmph through most of BR.
In WB, the situation was vastly different. Having crossed over from Dhanbad into WB, we were greeted by rolling barricades placed near crossings on NH2. In the failing light (it was 5 PM by then), these grey painted barricades are nothing short of an invitation to disaster.

Then the cat-and-mouse game of darting between trucks @ 40kmph hogging both the lanes of NH2, saw us reaching our destination only at 8:30 PM.

In a relative sense Panagarh was a breeze compared to the traffic conditions the trucks had created.

On a positive note, previously reported potholes in the Asansol - Shaktigarh stretch have been 'filled up'. Well at least your tyres don't get the beating of their lives -but you still get jarred.
The langchas at Shaktigarh were a much needed refreshment for all the trouble NH2 @ WB put us through.

I will try and post some pictures in the thread I am creating , but before I do, I want to thank all T-BHPIANS on this thread , and specially SST for the wonderful advice.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

in the thread I am creating

And here is the thread I referred in an earlier post.

[Samba]

An incident i want to share on this route.

Well i have not traveled till Delhi by road from Kolkata but i will like to share a small incident which took place on that route. On 1st Jan i was going to Purulia district (gorponchokot, raghunathpur joychandi pahar and baronti) with my family and bhpian tacho9000 (Subhro Mallick). On the way just after crossing Raniganj we stopped our car at a road side dhaba for a cup of tea. Ours was the only car. The place is called Jamuria. The dhaba is a white colored building which has no hoarding and is placed in a 4 lane intersection. As soon as i stopped a man came and started looking inside our car and he took a full round around our car. I had a doubt on that guy so i kept an eye on him. When we were about to leave i just saw he was noting down my car number in his hand. Me my dad and subhro immediately got off from our car and asked him why is he noting our car number. He refused to admit he did so. On forcing him we saw he wrote the number on his hand and on asking he was saying that's a different cars number where as its the same number of our car. Then he told he is a government employee. I asked for his id card and he failed to produce it too. We smelled something fishy. As in the dhaba my dad asked a guy for the direction till Raghunathpur and he followed all the conversation which my dad had with the other guy. So as he already knew our route he might call some others and do some robbery or something like that on the way. So first thing we did was forced him to strike off the number totally and then i took a pic of him and told him if anything goes wrong on the way i will give his pic to the police. And i shared the pic immediately to some of my friends mobile via whats app. As if by any chance he calls a gang or force me to delete the pic so to keep a trace of him i shared it immediately.

So one of the reason may be he was in a mood to fetch some quick money from us or something more bad. Thank god i kept an eye on him so we escaped without any damage. These kind of crooks are becoming a common menace in this highway. So i would suggest every one over here to be a bit careful while traveling in this route. Am sharing his pic over here too, so if he targets any other Bhpian or some one reading the post can be careful.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Hmm. In June this year, we did the Delhi-Varanasi stretch in 9 hrs flat

That is some serious speed, almost an average of 91kmph. You must be doing 140 most of the time.

Last year I did the stretch 6 times, twice with Esteem and the rest with the Bolero; the best I had managed was 17 hours Agra to Kolkata (door to door) with the Esteem. The Bolero is much slower and took about 24 hours each side (Delhi to Kolkata or reverse)

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

That is some serious speed, almost an average of 91kmph. You must be doing 140 most of the time.

110-120 most of the route, 140 (plus) on Yamuna Expressway and Allahabad-Kanpur Expressway. What helped was the Verna CRDI's capability to maintain speed, and the fact that we did it non-stop with 2 drivers swapping roles. We were also lucky to have no traffic snarls en-route on both days.

[anandjha]

Did my second Delhi to Deoghar trip on 24th Dec. 2013. Started at 2 in the afternoon. Construction of flyovers and six-laning before Kanpur took toll on our speed. Had planned to spend night at Kanpur but decided to continue all night once past the long jam at Kanpur Elevated Bypass.

Encountered thick fog all through the night right till the end of Allahabad Bypass. Fog and sleep forced us to stop by the roadside where there was sizeable people presence including that of police at around 2 in the night. What was planned as a powernap for 30 minutes extended till 4.20 when we heard commotion outside of people extinguishing fire and moving on. It was scary but we endured.

Bihar and Jharkhand was as expected. Road in Bihar turned out to be better than it was last year.

With everyone napping, how to keep awake turned out to be my major pre-occupation.

The road to Deoghar branches off at Dumri around 1 hour before Dhanbad. But the Naxal infestation makes it risky proposition late evening. As a result we took a longer option via Dhanbad, Chittaranjan (Mihijam), Jamtara and Palojori. The next ~175 kms we did in 7 hours. With car mostly in second and occasional third, the first one-third was torture. The rest of the road was breeze to drive. Roads in Jharkhand in the last 1 year have become exceptionally good. When we reached home it was 32 hours (~1400 kms) we had spend with the car.

The best part of the journey was the way my Wagon R with around 90,000 km on odo behaved. The mileage it gave me has simply been exceptional and I cannot resist mentioning it.

• Delhi to Sirsaganj via Yamuna Expressway (260 km) – 20.17 km/l
• Sirsaganj till a little before Varanasi (478 km) – 18.65 km/l (lowest mileage perhaps on account of road construction before Kanpur and intermittent AC to clear fog after it)
• Varanasi to Dhanbad (448 km) – 21.88 km/l
• Dhanbad to Destination and local trips (341 km) – 19.54 km/l
• Another tankful for local trips (366 km) – 20.21 km/l

At Allahabad Bypass. Just when we thought we had left fog behind. Another gust of it caught us only after few minutes we started from here.


At Barhi. Basking in the sun.


Encountered differential fuel pricing in UP and Jharkhand. I was told that it was on account of transportation charges when enquired about it in Jharkhand.

[anandjha]

Let me begin the account of my return journey by thanking SS Da for his excellent thread, which has become a sort of Wikipedia for the distance between Delhi and Kolkata.

If fog was highlight of the outbound journey a combination of rains, snarls and fog turned out to be the markers of the return trip.

The sky was already overcast when we started from Deoghar (Jharkhand) on 11th of January 2014 at 9.30 in the morning. When we were crossing Giridih trying to find road in its cratered bypass to avoid the town it had started drizzling. At Dumri on NH 2, three hours later, rains had broken loose leaving us only intermittently of its company by the time we checked in UPSTDC Hotel Rahi at Varanasi at 7.45 PM.


The break at the scenic drive through hills (Chauparan, Jharkhand)




Day 1 turned out to be a fantastic drive except for three jams where we had to take the opposite carriageway. The first one was little before the Sone Bridge where a series of broken trucks had squeezed the space on already broken road. The next two we faced were at Commercial Tax Collection Centres both on the Bihar and UP sides. The checking of trucks was particularly heavy in UP.


The car looked as if it had been through a rally




Next morning we started at 9 after thoroughly washing the windscreen and the rear glass. The RCC road being laid inside the city had left only one carriageway open for traffic. This had resulted in a massive pile up of trucks as they were being stopped from entering the city and diverted on the road towards Bhadohi.

They had blocked the entire opposite lane all the way till NH 2. The incoming traffic was fighting left, right and centre for a space while we jostled for a presence on the lane, which was rightfully ours. It took us 1 full hour to cover mere 12 km. The sky was covered with clouds and they threatened to flood us any moment.


Buying the eponymous guavas of Allahabad little after Allahabad Bypass




Fortunately it didn’t. In fact it didn’t even drizzle. We drove on trying to make sense of the route we had covered under the thick blanket of fog 20 days ago. We were successful in locating the place where we had had spent close to 2 hours huddled inside the car beating sleep while waiting for the fog to disappear. Back then it was scary but this afternoon everything appeared so routine so normal.

Kanpur Bypass was passed breezily and it seemed so improbable that we were held up on this elevated highway for close to 1 hour because of some traffic jam somewhere on the Lucknow route. It was just by chance that I had veered from the extreme left lane to extreme right which had brought us on the fork with a faded maker directing us to take slight right turn that would take us away from this slow moving madness on to the road to Kolkata.


By the sugarcane fields between Kanpur and Auraiya where we could not resist ourselves and plucked 3 canes from the field




Crossing innumerable diversions and couple of jams due to road widening and flyover construction on the Kanpur Etawah stretch we were counting ourselves lucky that we would be able to make it home max by 9.

But few minutes past Sirsaganj all hope of timely return was dashed. What we first thought was trickle of smog soon turned into thick fog. It had seemed as if clouds had descended on earth.

Agra was still 50 km away and every km was taking an eternity. The reflective paint demarcating lanes was fading and fast moving local traffic and trucks trundling at snail’s pace further added to the woes.


Stopping at newly opened store of Agra's famous Panchi Petha after the U-Turn on NH 2 for Yamuna Expressway




Driving on well-marked Yamuna Expressway wasn’t difficult but the thought of the time it would take us to reach home was dreary. At the first toll plaza the public address system cautioned people about the fog and informed drivers not to overtake, use low beams and not to be reckless in general. What they failed to update was that past 20-30 km and from there all the way till Delhi there was no cause of worry. No fog, superb visibility and the lane markers glistening bright. Stopped at the refreshment centre at the last toll, munched despicable patties and palatable sandwich and gulped tea while bewildering that coffee was priced at Rs. 50. The drive further was leisurely and at 12.30 AM we stopped in front of our home. It had taken us close to 15 hours 30 minutes.

[kapursaket]

CONTEMPLATION
Contemplating to do a pilgrimage road trip Delhi-Allahabad-Varanasi-Delhi, sometime next week.Invested time in browsing through various experiences and following is synopsis of my comprehension.
1.Yammuna Expressway till Agra is a cake.
2.Stretches between Agra Kanpur have diversions owing to 6 Lane expansion.
3.Kanpur Allahabad Bye Pass is elevated concrete road and again a cake.
4.Allahabad Varanasi Stretch is also not a problem.
5. Paucity of Hygienic eating places after Agra.
6.Dubious Fuel pumps on the highway.
7.Menace of Wrong Side Traffic.

PREPARATION
My New Chevy Cruze VCDI AT with stock JK Vectra will do this circuit. Purchased Inflation Pump+Sealant combo from Snap Deal.Hotel Stay research is still not complete.

CONCERNS
Availability of
1.Euro 4 Diesel (Low Sulphur) during the trip.
2.Clean Toilets for Bio Breaks
3. NHAI Help Line for any emergency.
4.Break Down Service

SUGGESTIONS FROM BHPIANS

Solicit advise and suggestions from BHPIANS who have done this circuit on above mentioned concerns.

[Amukherjea]

Hi I very recently did Kolkata Varanasi Kanpur then on to Mumbai via NH25 etc. what should be of interest to you would be my experience between Varanasi and Kanpur. The NH2 is well maintained as compared to many other highways that I have done in recent past. The small portions which are slightly bumpy are normally the portions which pass through villages or small towns which have no bye pass. The Allahabad bypass is very well sign posted and smooth. The Kanpur bypass is also well maintained. If you do not get off from the elevated portion you can not go wrong.
As far as Diesel is concerned what I always do is to fill in a pump which is inside a town and lots of people are filling up from. Also as suggested by my car service centre I try and add an additive every second full tank, which cleans the injectors. Your service engineer should be able to give you a brand name which suits your car. Also in case I have to fill from a doubtful pump on the highway I fill as little as possible to take me to nearest big city. My last trip I filled in Kolkata then in Sasaram town in Bihar. then inside Allahabad next to high court. Next was in Shivpuri next to hotel where we stayed. I always look for a pump which is company operated.
There are no good eating places between Kanpur and Allahabad. However between Allahabad and Varanasi there are quite a few nice hotels and small restaurants which are clean and serve tasty food. They are mostly on your side of the road as you are going towards Varanasi.
Hope the above helps you a little.
A Mukherjea driving a Skoda Yeti 4x4

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by kapursaket

CONTEMPLATION

1.Yammuna Expressway till Agra is a cake.
2.Stretches between Agra Kanpur have diversions owing to 6 Lane expansion.
3.Kanpur Allahabad Bye Pass is elevated concrete road and again a cake.
4.Allahabad Varanasi Stretch is also not a problem.
5. Paucity of Hygienic eating places after Agra.
6.Dubious Fuel pumps on the highway.
7.Menace of Wrong Side Traffic.

Point 1:
Keep under the speed limit (100). Don't over inflate the tyres. Ensure tyres are in good condition.
Point 2:
Watch out for bone-jarring speed breakers just after YEW, and till Etawah. Drive dead-slow over these to avoid injury to your car.
Etawah to Kanpur - you will find plenty of diversions due to road-widening and flyover construction.Again go slow , as the traffic will be of mixed speeds with plenty of wrong side infarctions.
Point 3:
The elevated road overflies Kanpur city only
It is a 20 km 2x2 road,with concrete barriers in the median and the sides. Watch out for slow moving through trucks. Once you are on this road you are committed to it. There's very few exits off it. This is an accident prone zone. If you encounter a jam due to an accident, you are better off looking for a gap in the median , getting to the oncoming traffic lane, and U turning out to the nearest exit.
Past Kanpur city you are on regular GT Road again. Watch out for wrong-side traffic. Road conditions are good - except one small uncarpeted area just off Firozepur.
Once past Firozepur , till Allahabad bypass , conditions are very good. Occasional wrong side traffic persists - so watch out.
On Allahabad bypass - watch out for the sudden rise at the culverts. If not careful, your suspension will take the beating of its life. Ideally slow to 60 just before the culvert, cross it, and then accelerate to cruising speeds again.
Point 4
Post Allahabad bypass to Varanasi, is plain old GT road - length 75km. Its congested at Aurai and Handia so watch out here -specially for kids/people who have to cross your path at the most inopportune moment.
Point 5
Not true. There's plenty of dhabas on the Agra - Kanpur stretch. You need to get off the bypass and into the town to get a place to eat if you are particular about appearances.
Right after Agra - try at Firozabad , Shikhohabad - on the highway itself. If the timing does not suit you , try at Etawah.

Originally Posted by kapursaket

PREPARATION
My New Chevy Cruze VCDI AT with stock JK Vectra will do this circuit. Purchased Inflation Pump+Sealant combo from Snap Deal.Hotel Stay research is still not complete.

Have you tested your car for steering wheel vibration at speed range of 80-100 kmph after putting Sealant into the tyre?

Advance booking of hotel stay - it's your choice. But I would advise against it.

At Allahabad - look for hotels near the bus stand - preferably those with covered parking.
At Varanasi look for hotels near the Cantt. railway station - preferably those with covered parking.
Prices at any given hotel vary, depending on season, and room choice.

If you are carrying any tablet or smartphone, install trip-advisor on it for hotel reviews. While approaching, Allahabad or Varanasi, ask your co-passengers to start calling the hotels up (keep phone numbers in hard copy), to enquire the rates and directions. You can save precious time and money this way.

Originally Posted by kapursaket

CONCERNS
Availability of
1.Euro 4 Diesel (Low Sulphur) during the trip.
2.Clean Toilets for Bio Breaks
3. NHAI Help Line for any emergency.
4.Break Down Service

Point 1:
Buy only normal diesel - which is what the truckers use. Buy from well-frequented places - easy indication is out-of-state trucks refuelling at that point. Use a fuel additive such as System D, if you remain concerned about debris clogging the fuel lines. It's only for a day...so you need not be too worried about the damage to the environment

Point 2:
Ok - so you need to break down this problem into manageable portions.
a) If male , looking for #1 : the world is your stage
b) If male , looking for #2 , or female looking for #1 , #2 - I would suggest breaking at petrol bunks - which you will find in plenty. Note they may not be 'five star rated' - but they should do adequately.
You can combine bio-breaks, with fuel-stops to save time.



Point 3 & 4:
Why are you worried about break-down on a new car?
I am unable to also understand what sort of emergency you are worried about. If you are thinking of a medical emergency - such as a heart attack - surely it would be a risk to take such a passenger on a 800 km road journey - much better to take a flight.
If you are worried about accidents happening en-route- you can keep a watch for signage, which mention the helpline number. These are prominently displayed, so you can ask one of your co-passengers to keep a watch and note down the number as you pass-by. There is no single number for the entire route. Often, the concessionaire responsible to collect tolls, will be happy to provide you the helpline number (for that stretch) if you ask.

Finally
Keep adequate stock of sickbags , tissues and plenty of bottled water. Dont buy water en-route unless you are pretty sure of what you are getting.
Keep adequate stock of medicines which you regularly use, and other medicines for common infections, treatment of cuts etc.
Keep adequate stock of snacks/food in the car, which you can munch on, in case caught in a traffic jam - which delays your meal.
Enjoy your drive... best of luck!

[kapursaket]

Thanks Once again joybhowmik & amukherjea for your valuable suggestions. My concern was besides Diesel Quality the variety with Sulphur level not exceeding 50ppm which is available in Metros Cities and towns with Euro 4 Standards. On my last trip to Pushkar Rajasthan there were bunks displaying availability of Euro 4 Diesel. It seems Oil refineries had made huge investment to distil Euro 4 compliant Diesel and there is a supply constraint owing to which Euro 4 Standards are not being extended to rest of the country from April 2015.The other variety of Diesel available is Euro 3 in non metros and non state capitals.
Chevy Manual clearly recommends use of only Diesel with Sulphur Content lower than 50ppm and refrain from using any additives.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by kapursaket

\My concern was besides Diesel Quality the variety with Sulphur level not exceeding 50ppm which is available in Metros Cities and towns with Euro 4 Standards....The other variety of Diesel available is Euro 3 in non metros and non state capitals.
Chevy Manual clearly recommends use of only Diesel with Sulphur Content lower than 50ppm and refrain from using any additives.

I am quite that Chevy says to only use Diesel with low sulphur content. That would put most Indian buyers of the product at risk of voiding warranty terms!
You could ask the company and t-bhpians about this point in other threads.


Back to topic:
If you are very particular about the quality of diesel , and considering your car is AT (so probably a lower mileage compared to it's stick shift cousin), here's what I suggest you do:
Call up friends/acquaintances about availability of this Diesel at Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi.

1) Fuel-up at NCR before you hit YEW
2) Top-up at Agra (for this get off the exit , drive into Agra town ) and re-fuel.
3) Top-up at Kanpur -so get off the elevated road , find a bunk and refuel.
4) Top up at Allahabad - so don't take the Allahabad by-pass. Instead drive into the city, and re-fuel near bus-stand, where you can find hotels as well.
5) Top up again at Varanasi - you can take the exit for GT Road which goes to Cantt Railway station, leaving Vishwa Sundari bypass (NH2) behind. En-route , you will find a big BP petrol bunk - at which you can enquire for this quality of Diesel.

Avoid top-ups in-between these cities.

When I went in December/Jan, I am pretty sure I did not see Euro 4 signage on petrol bunks.

[mints21]

Am sharing his pic over here too, so if he targets any other Bhpian or some one reading the post can be careful.

This is an eye opener for me. I could have never imagined that such a thing could ever happen and that these kinds of organized gangs exists.

I appreciate your presence of mind.

By posting a picture, you have done a commendable job.

[kapursaket]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I am quite that Chevy says to only use Diesel with low sulphur content. That would put most Indian buyers of the product at risk of voiding warranty terms!
You could ask the company and t-bhpians about this point in other threads.


Back to topic:
If you are very particular about the quality of diesel , and considering your car is AT (so probably a lower mileage compared to it's stick shift cousin), here's what I suggest you do:
Call up friends/acquaintances about availability of this Diesel at Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi.

1) Fuel-up at NCR before you hit YEW
2) Top-up at Agra (for this get off the exit , drive into Agra town ) and re-fuel.
3) Top-up at Kanpur -so get off the elevated road , find a bunk and refuel.
4) Top up at Allahabad - so don't take the Allahabad by-pass. Instead drive into the city, and re-fuel near bus-stand, where you can find hotels as well.
5) Top up again at Varanasi - you can take the exit for GT Road which goes to Cantt Railway station, leaving Vishwa Sundari bypass (NH2) behind. En-route , you will find a big BP petrol bunk - at which you can enquire for this quality of Diesel.

Avoid top-ups in-between these cities.

When I went in December/Jan, I am pretty sure I did not see Euro 4 signage on petrol bunks.

Boss my highway average on AT tyranny is 15Km/L and almost same as its Manual Cousin. Moreover using Euro 4 Diesel is a must for all Euro 4 Vehicles and is not Just confined to Chevy. In light of my Fuel Tank Capacity of 60L and the indicated average I have construed following fuel Plan.

1.Tank Full in Delhi. Fuel Enough For 900Km
2.Tank Full in Agra (Euro 4 City) Distance Travelled 200KM Fuel Enough for 900KM
3.Tank Full in Kanpur (Euro 4 City) Distance Travelled 300KM Fuel Enough for 900KM
4.Reached Allahabad Distance Travelled 200Km Fuel Enough for 700Km
5.Reached Varanasi Distance Travelled 150Km Fuel Enough for 550Km
6.Return Journey Tank Full at Kanpur Distance Travelled 400Km Fuel Enough for 900Km.
7.Return Journey Tank Full at Agra Distance Travelled 475Km Fuel Enough for 900Km.

Apropos above plan, need help on Good Fuel Bunks in Agra and Kanpur region on the Highway, without entering the city.

Incidentally Agra and Kanpur are listed amongst Euro 4 Cities in the Country.
My concern still remains on damage to the Engine owing excess dose of sulphur in Euro 3 Diesel 350ppm as compared to 50ppm in Euro4, if forced to fill.