Train travel in India . . .

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The platform at Amritsar before departure of the Shane Punjab Express for Delhi...

The best way to see India is at ground level on the Indian railway system, and not at 30,000 feet.  In fact, no visit to India would be complete without the experience of travelling on Indian trains and negotiating busy Indian railway stations..!  Train travel is safe, cheap and (in AC classes) comfortable.  Even long distances such as Bombay to Delhi or Delhi to Varanasi can be covered more time-effectively than flying, using overnight sleeper trains.

On this page:

Train routes

Train times

Fares

How to buy tickets - when in India

How to buy tickets - from outside India

Tips for train travel in India

What are Indian trains like?  The 8 classes of seat & sleeper!

Buying and using an IndRail pass

Where to go & what to see in India

International trains, buses & ferries from India

Europe to India overland (via Turkey, Iran, Pakistan)

Recommended guidebooks 

Finding hotels in India

Finding a flight to India

Sponsored links:

With 63,000 km of rail routes and 6,800 stations, the railway network in India is the third  biggest in the world after Russia and China, and the biggest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres.  Indian Railways are also the world's biggest employer, with over 1.5 million staff.

• The trains in India go almost everywhere, and it's generally safe to assume that you can travel between any two Indian cities or major towns by train.

• For an Indian railways route map see www.indianrail.gov.in and look for maps.

• For a printed map see the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable. 

• There's currently no railway to Kashmir, but a line to Srinagar is under construction, due to open in stages from 2007 onwards.  The line heads through tough terrain, and will feature the highest railway bridge in the world. 

• Khajuraho has no station, but can be reached by bus.

It's easy to check train times & fares for any journey in India at www.indianrail.gov.in, the official Indian Railways website.  This is an amazing site, but a little bewildering.  It's a good training course for your travels in India..!  There are some tips for using www.indianrail.gov.in below.  Indian trains are a very practical way to get around, and even long journeys can be done overnight by sleeper train more time-effectively than a flight.  Purely as an example, here are some key train times from Delhi:

Top tips for finding train times & fares using www.indianrail.gov.in...

• Look for 'Trains Between Imp. Stations' at the top of their home page.  This will give you train times & fares between all the most important places in India.

• Do you need to change trains?  www.indianrail.gov.in will only show direct trains.  If there isn't a direct train you'll need to guess at a likely interchange station and make separate enquiries for both sections of the journey.  For example, for Varanasi to Jaisalmer, try asking for Varanasi to Delhi and then Delhi to Jaisalmer, or Varanasi to Jaipur then Jaipur to Jaisalmer.  For journeys to Simla the interchange station is Kalka, for trips to Darjeeling it is New Jalpaiguri.

• If you have difficulty with a journey that involves a change, like Delhi to Simla or Madras to Ooty, try using the alternative unofficial online timetable at www.indiagroove.com.  It's new, and only in beta, but it can cope with changes of train.

• City names:  Bombay appears as Mumbai, Madras as Chennai, Calcutta as Kolkata.  Delhi is still Delhi, at least for now - forgive me if I stick to the familiar English language names..!

• Delhi:  The main city centre station in Delhi is New Delhi, so look for 'New Delhi' as well as 'Delhi'.  Delhi Junction station is in central old Delhi. H.Nizamudin and Sarai Rohilla stations are secondary Delhi stations, further from the city centre and best reached by taxi.

• Bombay:  There are several stations in Bombay, but the most important (and impressive) is the magnificent colonial Victoria Terminus, now renamed 'CST'.  So start by looking for trains from 'Mumbai CST'.  If you don't see any suitable trains, try Bombay Central ('Mumbai BCT') then finally Dadar which is a little way out of the centre.

• Calcutta:  The main station in Calcutta is across the river in Howrah, often just shown as 'Howrah'.  Trains from Calcutta to New Jalpaiguri (the railhead for Darjeeling) use Calcutta Sealdah station, often just shown as 'Sealdah'.

• Agra:  The main station for fast trains is Agra Cantonment ('AGRA CANTT'), which is an autorickshaw or taxi ride from the Taj Mahal, although Agra Fort is nearer the town centre.

• Goa:  Goa isn't a town or city, it's a region.  The main stations in  Goa are Magdaon and Vasco da Gama, so use these when you check for train times.

• How many nights?  If the system shows a train running overnight, make sure it isn't actually two or more nights.  The journey from Bombay to Calcutta or from Delhi to Madras is about 36 hours, i.e. typically two nights. On the other hand, travelling on a fast train, Bombay to Delhi or Calcutta to Delhi takes just one night.

• The 8 different classes...  There are 8 different classes on Indian Railways, but not all of them are available on every train.  There is an illustrated guide to what each class is like further down this page.  For overnight journeys, most visitors choose AC2 (2nd class 2-tier air-conditioned, shown as '2A') or if they can afford it, AC1 (1st class air-conditioned, shown as '1A'), although more adventurous backpackers might choose sleeper class ('SL').  AC3 is also fine.  For daytime journeys, air-conditioned chair car ('CC') is a good choice where it's available.

• Rajdhani Express trains are excellent extra-fast air-conditioned long-distance trains linking Delhi with regional capitals such as Bombay, Calcutta, etc.  These are the best trains to take:  The Delhi to Bombay and Delhi to Calcutta Rajdhani Expresses leave in the early evening and arrive in the morning, so actually save time compared to flying.  Meals are included in the fare, served at your seat.  The Delhi-Bombay Rajdhani uses brand-new German-designed coaches - see this link for photos.  Highly recommended, they beat flying, hands-down..!

• Shatabdi Express trains are excellent fast air-conditioned daytime trains running on routes such as Delhi - Agra and Delhi - Jaipur with air-con chair class and executive air-con chair class.  Refreshments are included in the fare.  Again, these are the best trains to take, highly recommended.

Printed timetables... The best place to find train times for India and train, bus and ferry times for everywhere else in Asia, Africa, America and Australasia is the famous Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable.  Probably the most adventurous timetable ever produced, it is essential for any serious overland traveller, and an inspiration for armchair travellers!  It costs £13.99 from UK branches of Thomas Cook, or you can buy online at www.thomascooktimetables.com (with worldwide delivery).  Alternatively, you can buy the twice-yearly  Independent Traveller's edition at Amazon.co.uk (also with shipping worldwide). Once in India, you can buy the equally famous 'Trains at a Glance' for about 35 rupees (50p) at bookstalls and railway stations across India.  Or download it online in .PDF format.

You can check train fares at www.indianrail.gov.in.  However, here are some sample one-way fares in rupees, including reservation and fast train charges.  This will give you an idea of how much Indian train travel costs, and how the fares for different classes compare. 

Children aged 0 to 4 travel free, children aged 5 to 11 travel at half fare, children aged 12 and over pay full fare.

Shatabdi Express = Premier daytime train, special fare payable, meals included. 

Rajdhani Express = Premier overnight train, special fare payable, meals included.

Do you need a reservation?

Yes, you do.  You need to make a seat or berth reservation for all long-distance journeys on Indian trains, you cannot simply turn up and hop on.  Bookings open 90 days before departure - this was originally 60 days, but it was experimentally extended to 90 days and now made permanent in 2008.  Some short-distance inter-city trains may open for bookings less than this.  Reservations are now completely computerised.  Indeed, according to an Indian professor with whom I shared a compartment, computerisation saved him 50% of his travel costs as he had always had to pay the same again in bribes to get a reservation!  Indian trains are usually very busy, and they often get booked out days or even weeks ahead.  You should make reservations as far in advance as possible - you may see TV screens in the reservation offices in major cities showing berth availability on the main trains from that city over the next few weeks.  However, a special 'tourist quota' gives foreigners (and IndRail passholders) preferential treatment.

The tourist quota:

Many important trains (but not all trains) have a special quota of seats or berths available for foreign tourists and IndRail passholders.  This is very useful:  A train which is fully booked for Indian travellers may still have a few 'tourist quota' berths available within a day or two of departure so that foreign travellers can travel around at short notice.  However, it's not foolproof.  Even using this special quota, you may have to wait a day or so before there is a berth available to your chosen destination in your chosen class.  There is a tourist quota on perhaps 200 trains a day out of a total of 9,000 trains, and the quota might be just 2 places, seldom more than 12 places, spread over each class.  Tickets issued against the tourist quota must be paid for in US Dollars, pounds sterling, or rupees backed by an exchange certificate proving they have been obtained from a bank or bureau de change in exchange for foreign currency.  Rupees backed by an ATM receipt and foreign bank card are usually sufficient.

'Reservation Against Cancellation' (RAC) & 'Waitlisted' places:

Indian Railways have a unique system:  After a train becomes fully booked, a certain number of places in each class are sold as 'Reservation Against Cancellation' ('RAC').  After all the RAC places have been sold, further prospective passengers are 'Waitlisted'.  If you have an RAC ticket, two things may happen:  Firstly, a passenger with a confirmed reservation may cancel before the departure of the train, in which case you will be promoted to a confirmed seat/berth on the train, and your name will be shown against a specific seat or berth on the reservation list on the day of travel at the boarding station (so remember to check it!).  A waitlisted passenger will then be promoted to RAC in your place.  Secondly, even if nobody cancels, passengers with RAC tickets can board the train and travel.  They will normally be given a place to sit (but not a berth) in a carriage of the relevant class, for example two RAC passengers might have to share a 2-seat space that would normally convert into a berth for one person.  If one of the confirmed passengers fails to show up for the train, the on-board staff will allocate the spare berth to the first RAC passenger (and the second RAC passenger may then find himself with a berth to himself, solving two RAC passengers' problems!).  Obviously, if there are no no-shows, the RAC passengers will have to sit up all night, or perhaps take turns using the berth to snooze.  What a system!

'Tatkal' places...

To allow travel at short notice on trains that had always become fully-booked weeks before departure, Indian Railways introduced a system called 'Tatkal' (Hindi for 'immediate').  A number of tickets on key trains are held back and released 72 hours (3 days) before departure, then sold with a Rs200 extra 'Tatkal' charge.  If there's tourist quota places available then the Tatkal system may be irrelevant for you, but if you can't get a tourist quota place, a Tatkal place may be useful.

Tourist reservation bureaux:

The main stations in big cities and tourist centres such as New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Agra, Jaipur and Varanasi have an International Tourist Bureau where foreign travellers can book trains away from the crowds and queues at the normal booking office.  There is also a 24-hour rail booking office at Delhi International Airport.  For a list of stations with an International Tourist Bureau, and opening times, visit www.indianrail.gov.in and select 'Information' then 'International Tourist'.  Ignore anyone telling you the reservations office is closed, but their travel agency across the street can sell you a ticket!

Left:  An AC2 sleeper car on the Delhi-Varanasi express. The yellow boards on the coach side tell you the train number and route, so you know you've found the right train.... Underneath the destination boards, the small yellow square shows the coach number.

Indian trains often get fully-booked weeks in advance, so it's worth booking before you get to India if you have limited time or need to be on a particular train soon after your arrival.   You have two options:  You can book Indian train tickets online at www.irctc.co.in, which some people find really easy and others impossible.  Or you can arrange all your trains, or even just one train journey, through the UK's IndRail pass agency, which is a bit more expensive but completely hassle-free.

Buying train tickets online at www.irctc.co.in:

The best way for foreign visitors to buy Indian train tickets before they get to India is online at www.irctc.co.in.  This is the official government-sponsored sales website for Indian Railways.  Some people love it, but others struggle, so here are some tips for using this service:

• Period of operation:  The online booking service is not (at the time of writing) available 24 hours a day, but 05:00-23:30 Indian time, which is 23:30-18:00 GMT.  The system can sometimes be overloaded with visitors, so if you have any problems or if it rejects your credit card, try again later.    This may be why some people breeze through it and love it, while others struggle.  It gets significantly less busy after about 18:00 Indian time (13:00 GMT).

• Signing up:  The first step is to go to www.irctc.co.in and sign up for a user name and password.  This is a very straightforward process.  It won't accept UK-length postcodes, so just use the first few digits.

• Reservations for most long distance trains open 90 days before departure, although there was recently an experimental extension to 90 days.  Some short-distance inter-city trains open for bookings less than 90 days.  To state the obvious, you can't buy tickets before reservations open!

• Use tickets from the general quota (or if booking at short notice within 72 hours of departure, the taktal quota) as you cannot book tourist quota places online.

• 10 ticket limit:  You can only buy a maximum of 10 tickets per calendar month using this website, so bear that in mind if you expect to book a whole series of trips through this system.  A more complex itinerary requiring more than 10 journeys may be better booked using an IndRail pass, see below.

• Ticket delivery:  Tickets cannot be sent overseas or picked up at the station, but  there are both 'e-ticket' and 'i-ticket' options.

• The e-ticket option:  This is the recommended option.  You simply book online and print out your booking reference, then show it to the conductor on board the train along with your passport.  It's easy, and avoids any problems with ticket delivery.  www.irctc.co.in introduced this hassle-free ticketless option for travelling on the best Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains in 2005, then extended it to cover almost all long-distance express trains in 2006.  A small charge is made for e-tickets, currently RS 25, about 35p.  If you lose the printout you can still travel as long as you have your passport as ID, but there's an RS 50 fine.

• The i-ticket option:   You only need to use the i-ticket option if for some reason the e-ticket option isn't available for the train you want.  i-tickets (i=internet) are sent by courier to any Indian address you specify (for example, the hotel where you will be staying) in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and other specified Indian cities.  If you ask for them to be delivered to your hotel, the courier will need to see a letter authorising delivery if you are not there to sign for the tickets, so you will have to arrange this with the hotel.  An email or fax to the hotel authorising them to take delivery is sufficient.  To see which postcodes in which cities are covered by the courier service, select 'PIN codes covered' from the www.irctc.co.in home page.  You will need to know the full address and postcode (which is called a PIN code in India) for your hotel.  If these collection and delivery arrangements don't suit you, and for some reason you can't use the e-ticket option, it may be better to book through an IndRail pass agency using an IndRail pass as explained below.

• Credit card payment:  You pay securely by Visa, MasterCard or Amex credit card.  It will offer you a list of Indian banks, but don't panic!  It is not asking you which Indian credit card you have, but which Indian credit card merchant service you want to handle your transaction.  It's been reported that the Citi Bank payment option (top right) works better than the others with overseas (non-Indian) debit cards, and Axis works best with non-Indian credit cards.  Unlike some Indian budget airline websites, www.irctc.co.in does accept credit cards issued outside India, making it easy for tourists to book train travel this way.  After payment, you will receive an email from Indian Railways with your booking details.

• Some western banks are now so worried about fraud that they put a 'hold' on your credit card the moment any unusual foreign transaction goes through.  If your credit card doesn't work, or if it worked to buy one ticket but won't work for a second ticket, try contacting your credit card company to confirm that you're making a legitimate transaction and ask them to unblock your card.

• Feedback from people who have used this service has been very positive, but further feedback is always welcome.

Buy tickets via an IndRail pass agency:

The hassle-free way of booking an Indian train journey in advance from outside India, or indeed booking a complete itinerary by rail around India, is to buy an IndRail Pass from the official IndRail pass agency in your home country, complete with any train reservations you need.  Even a single Indian train journey can be arranged using a ½-day pass for any journey lasting less than 12 hours for $26 (£16) in AC2 or $57 (£34) in AC1, or a 1-day pass for any journey lasting less than 24 hours, for $43 (£26) in AC2 or $95 (£56) in AC1.  There are IndRail pass agencies in the UK, Australia, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, South Africa and some other other countries - see the IndRail Pass section below.

Checking your reservation:

Your train, coach and berth number will be printed on your ticket.  Reservation lists for each long-distance train are posted on the noticeboard at each station about two hours before departure, showing the name, age and sex of each passenger reserved in each berth in each coach - the age and sex help the ticket inspector identify that the right passenger is in the right berth.  The reservation list for each coach will also be pasted on the train itself, next to the entrance door.  Check to see that your name is listed.  The system is very efficient, and the days of finding your reserved berth already occupied by several passengers are long gone.  Pictured left, my glamorous assistant Karen demonstrates reading the reservation list next to the entrance door on the Delhi-Varanasi overnight express...

Berth numbering system, AC1, AC2, AC3, Sleeper Class cars      Seat numbering plan, AC Chair cars

Above:  Enjoying a curry in the AC2 sleeper on the Delhi-Varanasi overnight train.

Food and drink on Indian trains:

There are no restaurant or buffet cars on Indian Railways, but on long distance trains an attendant will appear in your coach and ask you if you would like to order food.  He will note down your order (usually a choice of 'veg' or 'non-veg') on a bit of paper.  An hour or so later he will reappear with some rice and curry in small foil containers from the kitchen car.  It is not expensive - you can reckon on £1-£2 per meal.  Attendants also regularly pass down each car selling soft drinks, snacks, or excellent hot sweet Indian tea (garam chai) for a few rupees.  On the premier Rajdhani Express trains (linking Delhi with Bombay, Calcutta, etc.) and the premier daytime Shatabdi Express trains (linking Delhi with Jaipur and Agra, etc.), food is included in the fare, served at your seat.

Above:  The reservation lists posted on the platform at Agra Cantonment station.

Cleanliness, toilets and crowding...

The efficient reservation system means that you can safely forget any photos you've seen of overcrowded Indian trains with people on the roof or hanging on the side - these photos show suburban trains, or basic unreserved 2nd class on long distance ones.  On fast long-distance trains in AC1, AC2, AC3, or AC Chair Class, all passengers have an assigned seat or sleeping berth so there's no overcrowding.  Don't expect pristine western standards anywhere in India, but you'll find AC1, AC2, AC3 and AC Chair class fairly clean by Indian standards, with both western-style and squat toilets usually in a reasonably sanitary condition.  See the train interior photos below.  On the other hand, Sleeper Class gets much grubbier than the AC classes and unreserved passengers can sometimes enter the coaches making it crowded.  2nd class unreserved can be incredibly crowded.  Toilets in sleeper class or basic non-AC 2nd class seats can leave a lot to be desired...

Security on Indian trains

Indian trains are quite safe to travel on, even for families or women travelling alone, and you are unlikely to have any problems.  Having said that, theft of luggage is not unheard of, so just for peace of mind take along a bicycle lock or medium-sized padlock to secure your bags.  In the sleeping-cars, there are wire hoops hanging down underneath the seats to which you can padlock your luggage.  As in any busy place, pickpockets operate at the major stations (for example Delhi and New Delhi), so take care.

Above:  An AC2 bay of 4 berths.  There are more photos of what each type of seat and sleeper are like below.

Do Indian trains run on time..?

Generally, Indian Railways are very efficient, but Indian trains do run late, and sometimes it's hours rather than minutes.  To get a feel for it, why not go to www.erail.in and see how late yesterday's Delhi-Jaisalmer Express arrived, or last Thursday's Bombay-Delhi Rajdhani Express?  At www.erail.in, select the origin and destination that interests you, and bring up the train list.  Now find the train that you want and click on it.  Now select a date and click the 'train running status' button.  It will show you a table of scheduled times and actual times at each station.  Data is only held for the last few days, not weeks or months ago.

Alternatively, these examples from my own travels may give you a feel for the likely delay:  Delhi-Varanasi overnight express spot on time, Bombay-Calcutta Mail 1½ hours late, Madras-Bombay 'Chennai Express' 40 minutes late, Calcutta-Delhi 'Rajdhani Express' spot on time (Rajdhani Expresses get priority and are pretty punctual), Delhi-Agra 'Shatabdi Express' spot on time (Shatabdi Expresses also get priority and are pretty punctual), Jaisalmer-Delhi Express 2 hours late starting and 3 hours late arriving, Delhi-Kalka-Simla 'Himalayan Queen' spot on time, Varanasi-Agra-Jaipur 'Marudhar Express' 50 minutes late, Delhi-Madras 'Grand Trunk Express' 1½ hours late.

Other Indian train tips...

Bring your own toilet paper.  You'll normally find one one western toilet and one squat toilet at one or both ends of the car.  In AC1, AC2, AC Chair Class and even AC3 the toilets are normally reasonably clean by Indian standards, and in full working order.  Sleeper Class and 2nd class toilets may be a different matter..!

There are 8 classes of accommodation on Indian trains(!), although only some of these classes will be available on a particular train.  These are the classes, in roughly descending order of cost:

Air-conditioned 2-tier (AC2) AC2 provides seats by day, convertible to bunks at night.  AC2 coaches are not divided into separate compartments, but are open-plan, with berths arranged in bays of four (two upper, two lower) on one side of the aisle, and in bays of two along the coach side above and below the windows on the other side of the aisle.  Each bay is curtained off for privacy, and an attendant distributes pillows, sheets and blankets in the evening.  AC2 is found on almost all decent long-distance trains, and it is the way the Indian middle classes travel.  It's relatively clean and uncrowded, and a good choice for most visitors to India.  Berth numbering system, AC1, AC2, AC3, Sleeper Class cars. Right:  A bay of 4 berths in an AC2 sleeper.  The seat back folds down to form the bottom bunk. Far right:  The aisle in AC2.  Bays of four are to the right, bays of two on the left.

Air-conditioned 3-tier (AC3) AC3 is very similar to AC2, but it has three tiers of bunks - upper, middle and lower - arranged in bays of six on one side of the aisle, and bays of two (upper and lower) along the coach side on the other side of the aisle.  It's more crowded than AC 2-tier, and it lacks the privacy curtains and individual berth lights found in AC2.  As in AC2, an attendant distributes pillows, sheets and blankets in the evening.  Berths convert to seats for daytime use.  Berth numbering system, AC1, AC2, AC3, Sleeper Class cars. Right:  An AC3 sleeper on the new Jaisalmer - Delhi Express.  In the far photo, the middle bunk is shown folded against the wall.  The seat backrest folds down to form the bottom bunk.

First class Non-air-conditioned coaches with lockable 4-berth and 2-berth compartments.  Bedding is not included in the fare, but may be available for a small extra charge if booked in advance.  Non-AC 1st class  accommodation has now almost disappeared, as Indian Railways have largely phased it out in favour of AC 2-tier.  It is generally grubbier than either AC1, AC2 or AC3 as it is not sealed against the dirt.

AC Executive chair class AC Executive Chair Class is only found on the most important 'Shatabdi Express' trains, for example Delhi to Agra.  It is available to holders of an AC1 IndRail pass.  Seat numbering plan, AC Chair cars.

AC Chair class Comfortable air-conditioned seating cars.  AC Chair Class is found on a number of 'intercity' daytime trains (for example Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Kalka for Simla), and is available to holders of a AC2 class IndRail pass.  A good choice for daytime travel!  Seat numbering plan, AC Chair cars.