Stop and Read These 5 Tips Before Planning Your Dream Rail Adventure in India

(and Avoid Making the Same Mistakes We Did)

There is no better way to travel long distances in India than by rail; there is no disputing that. The extensive rail network stretches to every corner of the country (almost), and the sleeper setup of the carriages provides one of the more comfortable night travel experiences. If, like us, you are planning to traverse India, then you need to get comfortable with how the railways work, how you book tickets, and what on earth all these numbers and letters mean (WL, 2A, 3A, SL, etc.).

Here’s a very quick and easy guide to help you plan; and the first rule of Indian long-distance train travel is that you must plan…

Tip 1: Book well in advance. The biggest mistake we made on our journey was assuming we could show up at the train station and book a long-distance sleeper for a couple of days' time. This might be normal in many countries, but in India, the air-conditioned carriages on popular routes can sell out sometimes months in advance. The earlier you can plan, the better. Most bookings offer free cancellation and ticket exchange, so you are better off getting those tickets booked even if you're not 100% sure you will be able to travel then. Train tickets are released about 4 months in advance of travel, and some routes will sell out in 2. Once you’ve mastered online booking (see below) you can add yourself to waitlists for trains (note the WL1 or WL78 when booking, which will give you the size of the queue you would be in), and a few sites give a percentage chance of those tickets becoming available. We didn’t risk this especially travelling in a pair on a tight timescale, but it may be helpful for those going solo or with more flexibility. Note: you cannot board a train with a waitlist ticket, you need your reservation confirmed to board. We also heard from a fellow train enthusiast that they often release a few tickets about 48 hours before departure, but that securing them is a bit like the Glastonbury ticket rush online - if you know more about this, drop us a note below.

Tip 2: Spend some time getting to grips with the online booking system. There are 4 ways to reserve Indian train tickets in advance.

1. Go to a reservation desk at the train station. This option will only really work if you are in India for a while and have the time to reserve trains well in advance or at least some flexibility with your schedule. It can also be a bit difficult to go through all the options and alternative routes when the desk is busy and they are trying to move people along. We didn’t have much luck at the counter.

2. Ask your hotel/guest house to book. Depending on what type of accommodation you are in, someone may well be able to help you and book online on your behalf with their travel account. We have booked this way a couple of times, but again, it doesn’t let you reserve before you travel to India so for busy routes you’ll want to seek out online booking.

3. Use 12Go.com. Everyone’s favourite South/South-East Asian transport booking service can also now help you navigate and book Indian trains. If there’s plenty of availability and you’ve planned early enough, this can work smoothly, but note it takes about 24 hours from your booking to the seat actually being secured, and in that time, seats can go, and trains can sell out. Unfortunately, we booked our chosen train, and it had sold out. 12Go.com was fantastic at offering alternative options and eventually a refund when nothing suited.

4. Bite the bullet, spend a couple of hours getting frustrated but eventually register with the official Indian railways site, with the freedom of being able to instantly book and confirm tickets on any train - add yourself to the waitlists and order meals. We followed the Man in seat 61’s fantastically helpful guide, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, finally received our PNR and registered. The only addition I have to the guide is to say that you need perseverance; the site is glitchy, it will kick you out, the Captcha won’t work, etc., but when you have registered, my goodness does it make traversing the rail network easier, and we really appreciated being able to book a train confident that we would actually be travelling on it. So my strong advice is if you're planning on taking a few trains, give this a go. It did take roughly a full hour with two semi-competent-with-tech humans, but it meant we didn’t have to wait 24 hours to find out whether we had secured a place on a train.

Tip 3: Find the right app for you. Once you have your Indian Rail PNR (see above), you do not need to use the pretty clunky Indian Railways official site. There are a plethora of private apps you can use to find routes, view availability, book tickets and meals, view your coach layout, and get up-to-the-minute train status. We tried a few during our travels and have settled on Confirmtkt.com as our favourite. At no point on our journey south to north did we need to learn train routes, the App was helpful in piecing together our journey and offering nearby stations or alternative routes where connections didn’t exist. The booking process was easy, and the site took international cards no problem.

Tip 4: Know your carriages. Rather than go through all of the various classes on Indian railways, my strong advice would be that on any long-distance train (or train over an hour or 2 really) that a reserved air-conditioned carriage is a must. Train travel is relatively cheap (for example a 12-hour journey in 2A, roughly £20) and as the train is often your bed for the night too it’s great value and worth the few ££s for a comfortable sleep. To note, even in the day, long-distance trains are set up as bunk beds, and in the higher classes (1A and 2A), you will have a full bunk to yourself for the journey. You can shift the lower bunk into seats, but we (and most people) tend to use the bed for the full duration regardless of the time.

Classes to book:

1A: Unsurprisingly; this is first-class AirCon. Not all train routes have a 1A class, and importantly to note that you don’t get your own cabin in most trains, even 1A. You will get a bunk either upper or lower, bedding, and refreshments.

2A: This will be your go-to. It’s air-conditioned well (we found it often cold so bring a jumper), and you get a bunk, upper or lower, and bedding. You can request meals either with the booking or when you arrive on the train, with the choice being simply ‘veg or non-veg’ curry with dal and rice.

3A: This is the next class down, and the difference is that there are 3 beds per bunk rather than 2. This means in the day the bunks are shifted into seats, and at night you have a lot less room above, so I would tend to pay the extra and go for 2A if available. If not, this is still a comfortable and solid option.

CC: Chair class. Although Air Conditioned, I wouldn’t choose chair class for anything but shorter day trips. The bunks on Indian trains provide a pretty decent night’s sleep, so you can arrive at your destination feeling pretty good. Spending the night in a chair, not so much!

SL: WARNING!! This is called sleeper class, but it is not what you would expect a sleeper class to be. These carriages are non-reserved and you will not get a bed for yourself. They have beds, much like the 1A, 2A and 3A, but there will be as many people squeezed up on a bed as humanly possible. They are not necessarily clean like the other classes, and they are crowded and hectic. They are fine if you are on a journey of no more than a few hours, but they might be very uncomfortable for longer journeys. That being said, they are incredibly cheap, so it really depends on your budget and priorities.

Tip 5: No printing required, but carry your passport. It sounds odd to say what you don’t need to do, but after having to find a printer in Skopje before we could board our coach, it’s good to know that you don’t need to print any ticket details; the guard will have your reservation and name (and can help you find your bunk and coach) and may just ask to see your passport to confirm. We were never once asked for our actual tickets, just ticked off on their iPad. I was reliably informed by a fellow traveller that India was one of the first railway systems to computerise in 1986 (not sure it’s changed much since).

I hope you enjoyed reading these 5 tips before planning your Indian railway adventure. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can sit back, grab a cup of chai, and let the wide gauge carriages rock you to sleep while you traverse this fascinating and stunning country. If there are any tips I’ve missed or you have any questions, let us know below.

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