Transportation

Transportation

Shirdi is well served by a network of public transport. The nearest airports are Aurangabad (130 kms), Pune (200 kms) and Mumbai (300 kms), from where taxis and frequent buses are available.

Kopergaon station, sixteen kilometres away, is the railhead for Shirdi. The daily Bangalore-Delhi Karnataka Express (known as the "KK") stops here. It is eighteen hours from Delhi, twenty-one from Bangalore. From Kopergaon station you will need to take an autorickshaw to Shirdi (around 100 rupees per vehicle), or a shared tempo (about 15 rupees). Taxis are available from the taxi stand in the village a couple of kilometres from the station.

There is a greater choice of trains to Manmad (including the Jhelum Express, Punjab Mail and the Goa Express), which is a railway junction about eighty minutes by road from Shirdi. This is also the station for those coming from Mumbai. From Hyderabad the Manmad Express leaves in the evening and arrives the next morning. The train also stops at Nagarsol which is the station before Manmad and is closer to Shirdi. Buses operate between Shirdi and these two stations. Another route to Shirdi is to take one of the several mainline trains to Pune or Daund and proceed by road (about four hours). At certain peak times special trains run between south and north India (usually Chennai and Ahmedabad or Jodhpur) via Kopergaon.

There is a small computerized railway booking office in Shirdi within the Temple Complex.

Long-distance buses run from many different cities, including Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The bus station is opposite the Shri Sainath Hospital on the main road. The private bus service from Dadar, Mumbai, terminates opposite Hotel Pilgrims Inn, Pimpalwadi Road. There is also a local bus service from Kopergaon and Manmad. There are numerous travel agencies in Shirdi which can help with bookings and onward arrangements.