If you’re traveling from Siliguri to New Delhi then pretty much your best bet is Indian Railways and of course traveling by train down to India’s bustling capital city.
Not all trains, though, are created equal and even if you go for 1AC/first class there are still plenty of pitfalls that need to be avoided. Should you take the plunge though, this is actually a fairly epic and indeed enjoyable journey to take.
Why go to Siliguri?
Siliguri is not exactly a pretty city one might say and, with its airport in Bagdogra, acts as a transit point for both Sikkim and Darjeeling. For the former, that is because this former country, which was annexed by India in 1975 (happy anniversary y’all), is almost entirely up in the mountains and can only be reached by car from India or Bhutan, or perhaps one day by tank from China!
Usually it takes around 4–6 hours to get to Gangtok, the capital of the former country —all depending on traffic. This can be done by car if doing a tour, or by bus, private, or shared taxi if you are freestyling it.
Darjeeling to Siliguri by train
Darjeeling is also an interesting case with both Sikkim and Nepal claiming that the dastardly British East India Company stole it from them during colonial times. The place is equally hilly and, as well as being slightly more into tea than Sikkim, is also serviced by buses as well as private and shared taxis.
Perhaps more interesting though is that one can also take the scenic and rather cute Darjeeling Toy Train to or from the place. This is a hugely interesting option with the 7-hour journey perfectly linking you to the not-so-pretty Siliguri and its connections to Calcutta, New Delhi and much of the rest of the country by train.
Step 1 – There are two train stations in Siliguri
Step one for taking the train from Siliguri to New Delhi is realizing that there are two (main) train stations in the city, namely the much older Siliguri Junction Railway Station and the slightly newer New Jalpaiguri Junction Railway Station (NJP).
Now, unless you are going really, really off the beaten track into rural India and very much off the beaten track, there is quite literally no reason anyone should be going to Siliguri Junction Railway Station. Sadly this was something that I learnt the hard way, ending up spending a night next to the train station and allegedly where the next biggest red light district (Khalpara) in West Bengal after Calcutta is located.
And were that not enough I also had to stay in what was little more than a scam hotel slap bang in the middle of India at the extreme of its extremes. There was, though, as you might expect, at least some decent street food.
Sadly this also meant that I had to then take a taxi in the morning to the actual train station, namely NJP, as well as walk for about 15 minutes (with bags) to actually get to the train. Long story short, stay near NJP, or better still directly transfer—you are really not missing much in Siliguri.
Train options from Siliguri to New Delhi
I opted for one of the faster trains, namely the NJP NDLS Express (Train Number 12523) which leaves at 08:45 in the morning and, technically at least, arrives 26 and a bit hours later at 12:00 the next day.
I opted for this as it offered the A1 sleeper cabins that you can privatize, but this is far from the only option, with there being both slower and faster choices available.
| Train Name | Train Number | Departs (Station) | Departs (Time) | Arrives (Station) | Arrives (Time) | Duration |
| Brahmaputra Express | 15658 | NJP | 00:15 | DLI | 04:50 (+1 day) | 28h 35m |
| Avadh Assam Express | 15909 | NJP | 05:50 | DLI | 15:55 (+1 day) | 34h 05m |
| NJP NDLS Express | 12523 | NJP | 08:45 | NDLS | 12:00 (+1 day) | 26–27h |
| Dibrugarh – NDLS Rajdhani Exp | 12423 | NJP | 13:15 | NDLS | 10:30 (+1 day) | 21h 15m |
| Sikkim Mahananda Express | 15483 | SGUJ | 14:50 | DLI | 21:45 (+1 day) | 30h 55m |
| Northeast Express | 12505 | NJP | 20:15 | ANVT/NDLS | 21:50 (+1 day) | 25h 35m |
| Brahmaputra Mail | 14055 | NJP | 22:45 | NDLS | (varies) | ~28h |
Key Notes:
- NJP = New Jalpaiguri (primary station for Siliguri transit)
- SGUJ = Siliguri Junction
- NDLS = New Delhi Railway Station
- Some trains may terminate at Delhi Jn (DLI) or Anand Vihar Terminal (ANVT). Check carefully for your destination station.
- The NJP NDLS Express (12523) typically runs once a week—verify current schedule for specific days.
- Note this is India, so times, particularly those of arrival are more a theory than fact
Siliguri to New Delhi by Train – A question of class?
As with everything trains and indeed life what you get is what you pay for and it all pretty much boils down to class. Here’s my lowdown on what rooms are available on the Siliguri to New Delhi train, as well as what you get for your cash.
Sleeper Class (SL)
Price: ₹640 (about $7.50)
Cheap for a reason. It’s hot, loud, packed with bodies, no air conditioning, just fans that don’t work when you need them. Metal berths to stretch out if you can find the space. Expect everything to smell of onions and sweat. You’ll probably share your space with far more people than you wanted.
3AC (Three-tier Air-Conditioned)
Price: ₹1,680 (about $20)
You get a padded bunk, a blanket, pillow, and most importantly, air conditioning. The carriage is crowded, three bunks stacked up, and people are in and out at all hours. Still noisy, but you’ll get some sleep and a cold breeze, which is more than you can say about Sleeper.
2AC (Two-tier Air-Conditioned)
Price: ₹2,425 (about $29)
A proper upgrade. Two bunks per side, fewer people, better bedding, cooler, and much quieter. Curtains on berths pretend to add privacy. Shared with strangers (unless you got a lot of mates) but also the more civilized kind than your average working class Joe, or Ranjit. If you need to work, read, or just hate being crammed, this is the baseline for and form of sanity.
1AC (First Class Air-Conditioned)
Price: ₹4,070–₹5,485 (about $49–66), depending on train
This is as good as it gets with there supposed to be at least only two beds, one above the other in the room. This generally means that if you book with someone else you two are together, otherwise you might actually be lucky enough to just be alone. One can also do the hack of booking two tickets to oneself, although this is technically against the rules. Lockable doors, sheets, a little desk to work from and the lingering thought of if the “lifeboats will be seated according to class”.
So, how is the journey from Siliguri to New Delhi?
I’ll do a wider post later on what it is like to take the train in India, as I have done for other countries. I shall, though, summarize the journey as a whole. Basically, this is a really good journey, but without being great. Twenty-six hours was more than manageable, with stops every two hours and thus the chance to buy street food/train food.
The food at the station, though, was actually a little bit disappointing, as was that on the train itself, with the only bright spots being the samosas. These changed as we moved along the journey, with different spices as well as one station that even chopped them up and put them in a hot sauce type gravy.
And as for the journey, pretty cool, but rather lacking in the scenery department, with temperature, climate, and the like actually rarely changing all that much from Siliguri to New Delhi. There was also the matter of service…
Essentially, the train guys tried to pull a hustle on me over a stupid naming issue on my ticket. Said shakedown did not work, though, as this was not exactly my first rodeo. OK, so I got away without the bribe, but it is always a little offensive that you even have to dance this dance.
You are also not allowed to smoke on the train or platform. Now, I know most vegan beatniks will love this, but what this actually meant was being told to smoke in the toilet and that people were literally hanging out of open doors for a puff. And all this while we regularly saw people defecating on the train tracks.
These things, though, all combined put Siliguri to New Delhi trip in the pantheon if great journeys, alongside those offered in other great railway nations, such as Russia, Vietnam and China.