We had booked the train a few days ago, no problem. We arrived at the station early and found the train and our carriage, it is massive, I guess 500 m long. I should have been more curious when one of the guards said it wasn't going to Jaipur but the ticket matched the train so no problem. We got some snacks for the journey and boarded on time, the train even left on time.
We had been chatting and playing cards with the young man in the same cabin and his father tells us the train don't stop at Jaipur. We were quite surprised as the conductor had just checked our ticket and hadn't said a word. After tracking him down again we found out the train has been re-routed to avoid protesters that have been blocking the tracks, now we have to change at Ringus station and catch another train from there after 1 1/2 hour wait at 9 pm. In my travels up and down the train I found 2 other groups of Europeans and when checking they also were going to Jaipur and hadn't been told. We were about 1/2 hour late arriving at Ringus so thought cool, less time to wait. After alighting from the train we went to the station office and confirmed the info for the next part of the journey. 9:15 platform 2. We went to wait, half way there we were met by 2 chatty young men going the other direction but on a later train. They followed us over the bridge and stayed chatting. Soon after we had taken our packs off we started to gather a crowd of young boys and men, many of whom were homeless and lived in the station. They were all curious, mostly shy, some said hello then when we said hello back had an embarrassed giggle and turned away. It was quite an interesting experience and felt very safe. Our train eventualy turned up at and we departed about 10pm on the 1 hour ride to our final destination where we were picked up by the hotel without incident.
Waiting for boarding.
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