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Trains in India The first passenger train in India ran in 1853. The rail system in India is the second largest in the world, with about 62,000km of track. There are over 7,000 stations and over 11 million people a day traveling by train. Indian Railways has over 1.6 million employees and is the world’s biggest employer. The official Indian Railway Web site is www.indianrailway.com. It has schedule information. Trains
can be very cheap in India if you take second-class. From Delhi to Mathura
(150km, 3 hr) costs just 50 rupees. For long-distance travel (over eight
hours) trains are usually a better option than buses. Two-tier A/C (2nd-class A/C) has two sets of two beds facing one another, with two seats in the hall, in an air-conditioned carriage. There are curtains that can be pulled for privacy. The big advantage of two-tier A/C over regular second-class, other than the air-conditioning, is that no one is allowed on the car without a reservation, so it is much less crowded than second-class. There is also less chance of theft. Many people think this is the best way to travel. Often the air-conditioning is turned up extremely high, and it can be very cold at night. You can often put a newspaper over the A/C vent so it will not be as cold. This class is about five times the price of normal second-class. Three-tier A/C is less expensive than two-tier A/C, but it is more crowded. On air-conditioned cars, do not choose Seats 1, 2, 5, or 6 because you will be next to the door people will be opening and closing all night. In First-class you ride in a private two or four-berth compartment with no air-conditioning. It is fairly comfortable, and only people with first-class tickets can come onto the carriage. It costs about three and a half times what a second-class ticket costs. On most express trains there are no first-class carriages, just two-tier A/C. A/C
chair cars are air-conditioned and have airplane-like reclining seats.
There are also non-A/C chair cars, which are comfortable for day travel.
The problem with these carriages is that you cannot lie down at night
and you have to sit upright the whole journey. As these cars are cheaper
than two-tier A/C sleeper class, some people take them instead of second-class.
The berths in the hall are narrower than the inside berths, and they are also 20 cm (8 inches) shorter. You are much more likely to be robbed on the outside berths because your bags are out in the hall. It is a good idea to request an inside berth on the “accommodation preference” section of the booking form. Second
and third-class unreserved is usually very crowded and is best used
only for short distances. You are not guaranteed a sleeping berth, so
this is a very painful way to travel overnight. TIP
If you get a hall bunk, you may want to put your baggage under the inside
seats, rather than under you in the hall to protect against thief. Passenger trains stop at most stations, so they are very slow and should be used only for short trips. They usually provide only very crowded second or third-class facilities. Express or Mail trains are considerably quicker. Advanced reservations are essential for overnight sleeping facilities. Reservations often have to be made weeks in advance, unless the tourist quota is used. According to Indian Railways, passenger trains travel at an average of 27km per hour, express and mail trains travel at 47km per hour, and the Shatabdi Express and Rajdhani Express travel at 130km per hour. “Superfast”
Trains The
Rajdhani Express goes from Delhi to Mumbai in 16 hours 45 min. The Rajdhani
Express from New Delhi to Calcutta takes 18 hours, and the next fastest
train takes 24 hours. The Shatabdi Express departs from Delhi at 6.15
am and arrives in Agra two hours later. The same train returns from
Agra at 8.15 pm, arriving in Delhi two hours later at 10.20 pm. Other
trains between Delhi and Agra take 3½ hours or more. At most stations there is a special counter or place for tourists to purchase tickets. It is often called the “Tourist Cell” and deals only with tourists. This may be the only counter where foreigners can purchase a ticket, and almost certainly it will be the only place to buy tourist quota tickets. Your
reserved ticket will have the name of the train, your carriage number,
your berth number, and the time of departure written on it. There will
usually be a sheet of paper at the entrance of each carriage listing
each passenger’s name and berth number. A list of the people getting
on at that station is posted on a notice board, usually on the same
platform from which the train leaves. Each station has a quota of seats allocated to it. If you are going from Calcutta to Delhi, there may be ten seats allocated to Howrah station in Calcutta. Burdwan, a station about two hours outside of Calcutta, may have only one first-class ticket allocated or none at all. If you purchase a ticket departing from Howrah station in Calcutta to Delhi you must get on the train at Howrah station. If you do not present your ticket to the ticket collector within thirty minutes after departure, your reservation may be canceled. You are not supposed to get on the train at Burdwan, two hours outside of Calcutta, because by the time you board the train, you may find that your reservation has been canceled. The
most crowded time to travel in India is during the summer, May and June.
This is not a good time to travel anyway because it is so hot. Also
March, October, early November, and the Christmas holidays can be crowded. If all the reservations are full on a train, you can be added to a waiting list. As there are cancellations, you may be allowed to board the train. It seems that if your waiting list number is under twenty, you will get on most trains. When you get a waiting list ticket, you should ask about your chances of getting on the train. Usually the person selling the ticket will know. Sometimes extra carriages are added to a train. If
you are on the waiting list, you should arrive early for the train and
look for the reservation board, which has a list of all the passengers
on the train. This board will either be by the entrance or at the beginning
of the platform from which your train departs. If you have gotten a
seat, your name will be listed along with your carriage number. If you
do not see your name on any list, immediately go to the person in charge
of the station and ask for help. There is a good chance he can help
you, because he is in charge of emergency and VIP quota seats, which
he releases an hour before departure. Personally, I would have gone
to the station superintendent before even purchasing a waiting list
ticket. These tickets are purchased at a special office in the larger cities, and at a special counter in some stations. You must show your passport to purchase a ticket in this way. Also, you are supposed to have a tourist visa. If there is no tourist quota office, one of the windows in the reservation hall may be allocated for tourist use. If you are in a town that does not have a tourist quota or a special window for tourists, you may have to see the Station Superintendent, the Deputy Superintendent, the Chief Reservation Supervisor, or the Station Master, depending on the station. This is usually the person in charge of the station. They can allocate a ticket to you from the tourist quota, emergency quota, or VIP quota. They may have you purchase a waiting list ticket for the train and then send you to someone else to give you the needed reservation. Tourist
Quota Office Locations If you are not sold a ticket, you then ask the person at the counter what you should do. He or she may tell you to go see someone in another office. If they do not send you anywhere, go and see the station superintendent, the person in charge of the station. He may have a different title, depending on the size of the station. An important point to know is that the station manager or station superintendent is usually highly educated and expects people to treat him with respect. Do not burst into his office. Knock before entering his office, and get his attention. Ask him meekly, “Sir, I need your help. Could I talk to you?” He will then answer, “Yes, of course you may.” You then say “Sir, I would like to go on the 5 pm train, and I was told to come to you for help. Can you please help me?” He will answer, “Of course I can.” He definitely can help you, because, besides the tourist quota, he also controls the VIP and emergency quotas. He may tell you to return to the ticket counter to purchase a ticket. His words are not good enough. You should get something in writing or have someone accompany you. Remember: the key is to treat the station manager with a lot of respect. He really can make your life much easier. One
important point is to always make getting your train ticket a priority.
If you are on a tight schedule, it is best to purchase a train ticket
as soon as you arrive in town to the next place you wish to go. Train
Conductor Information A handkerchief or cloth will save your seat while you go to the bathroom. The best seats on the train are in the middle of the carriage that are not over the wheels. When you get off the train, you will probably have to show your train ticket to leave the station. If you do not have a ticket, you can be charged the maximum fare for the train from which you just got off. During the monsoon season, trains can be badly affected by floods, especially in Andhra Pradesh, where major rivers flow to the sea and to the Ganges Basin. Air-conditioned carriages can be quite cold at night, so you may need bedding at night. On air-conditioned carriages you can normally rent bedding for Rs 15. You are supposed to book the bedding with your ticket or before you get on the train. Often,
rickshaw drivers know a train station as the “railway station.”
If you ask for the “train station,” they might not understand. If you are a woman you should be especially careful, unless you have a man with you to protect you. Very few women make this mistake twice. I have talked to several women who have told me that when they got on a train unreserved, they spent one of the worst nights of their lives. If you are a woman by yourself, if you would do this, I would highly question your sanity. You definitely won’t do it twice. Ladies’
Queue & Compartments On a second-class sleeper carriage, there is sometimes a compartment reserved just for women. If you are a woman traveling alone, it may be a good idea to request the ladies’ compartment. Ladies Warning It is not unusual for Western women traveling alone to be hassled by young Indian men. If you have a problem, do not waste your time telling the person to act like a human being. Appeal for help from your fellow passengers, especially older, respectable looking gentlemen. Tell them what is happening, and they will usually protect you. If this does not work, approach the train conductor for help. Act immediately. If
action is not taken immediately by the train officials, ask for their
names and tell them that you will complain about them at your destination.
Also ask for the complain book (which must be given to you), and if
they do not act, put your complain in this book. Thomas Cook publishes a good train schedule called Overseas Timetable. Fares Each class of travel, train type, and seating is a different price. There are extra charges for faster trains and sleeper reservations. Lost
Tickets and Refunds If
you realize that you have lost your ticket on the way to the railway
station and it is a reserved ticket, get on the train without the ticket.
Your name is reserved with the conductor on the train, and no one else
will be in your seat. At the worst, you will have to pay extra. If you return an unreserved ticket up to three hours after departure, you are charged a Rs 10 fee. If you are refunding a ticket you are technically allowed to go to the front of the queue. Breaking
the Journey Luggage allowances are based on the type of ticket you have purchased. 70 kg is permitted for A/C first-class, 50 kg in first-class or A/C Sleeper, 40 kg in Chair Car, and 35 kg in Second-class. If you have more than this, you are supposed to weigh your luggage in advance and book your bags in the luggage van attached to the train so that it will reach your destination with you. There is an extra fee per kilo for luggage over the allotted weight. I once read about a person who checked his baggage. It took him forty-five minutes to retrieve it when he arrived at his destination. To check in overweight baggage can take half an hour to do all the paper work. I have heard of a case where someone was fined over a thousand rupees because he was 50 kg over the weight limit. If you have five trunks, you may be checked. I
have seen and heard of people who had half their baggage on the train
and the other half on the train platform when the train took off. In
the case I witnessed, one of the luggage owners asked the conductor
to stop the train, which he did, and we loaded the rest of the luggage
on. In another case, the train took off and one of the two persons stayed
with the luggage and caught the next train. Of course, the luggage left
on the platform was his friend’s. Cloak
Room (Luggage Storage) All your bags are supposed to be locked to leave them in the cloak room. In some places, they will not accept backpacks. Retiring
Rooms & Waiting Rooms For
upper-class ticket holders, most stations have an upper-class waiting
room, which has decently clean showers and toilets. There is also usually
a waiting room for ladies only. The
pass does not mean you have a reservation on any train unless you have
confirmed it in advance when you purchased the ticket. It is best to
confirm your ongoing reservations when you arrive at each destination.
You are given preferential booking treatment and are eligible for tourist
quota and other special quotas. The Indrail pass can be purchased 360
days in advance, and reservations can be made at the same time. A
first-class air-conditioned Indrail pass is not really worth the price,
as it costs a lot more than other classes, and this class does not exist
on most trains other than the superfast express trains. The
Railway officials are told to give Indrail pass holders special consideration
concerning reservations. The main advantage is that you can get a sleeper
when there are normally none available. I have seen this with my own
eyes. It also makes it easier to get a railway retiring room, and you
can use the Upper-class waiting rooms. When you purchase your ticket overseas, you can make all your train reservations at that time. You may be advised by the salesperson about following a particular schedule. I have heard they tend to give a schedule that is impossible to follow, as it moves too quickly. For a short vacation of two or three weeks, their advice can be invaluable and the fact that you can reserve trains in advance can save you a great deal of time and trouble. If you decide to change a schedule you reserved when you purchased your ticket, you are supposed to cancel it and pay a Rs 50 fee. Unless you cancel your booking, you cannot book another ticket at a place that does computer reservations, as you cannot have two different reservations on the same day. A high percentage of people who purchase Indrail passes overseas regret it. Often, it is easier and much cheaper to take a bus than the train, especially in South India. With an Indrail pass, you are obliged to take the train. Also,
I believe that many budget travelers who purchase First-class or A/C
passes would have purchased a sleeper class pass instead, because it
is much cheaper and some people prefer it. If you plan to stay two or
more months, my suggestion is to come to India for at least a week before
purchasing the pass. You
can also get an Indrail pass at the central reservation offices in Jaipur,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Gorakhpur, and
Rameswaram. Also, some travel agencies are authorized to sell Indrail
passes. USA:
Hariworld Travels Inc (212-957-3000; fax: 495-2383), 30 Rockefeller
Plaza, Shop 21, North Mezzanine, New York. Palace
on Wheels On the train are beautifully decorated bedrooms, dining rooms, and lounges decorated in traditional Rajasthani designs. Along the way, tourists are greeted with garlands and trumpets in the larger cities. The tour starts in Delhi and goes to Jaipur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur, and Agra. Along the way there are guided tours of forts and palaces and a camel ride and dance show in Jaisalmer. It costs $300 per person per day for double occupancy, $450 for single occupancy, and $240 for triple occupancy. Meals are included in the price. Another
popular train tour is the luxury Royal Orient run by Gujarat State Tourism. The
official rate is about Rs 8 for 40 kg. If you can move your bags, it
might be possible to get that rate, but it’s not likely. If you
have so many bags it would take an elephant to move them, expect to
pay much more than the official rate. Be careful, as they do steal. They are also expert at putting your baggage in a taxi that you do not want. If you know of a informationthat is not correct or if you would like to help update our listings, please e-mail us at:
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