USING TRAINS / MAKING RESERVATIONS

ABOUT TRAINS

Rule number one , buy a time table.Rule number two , read it. It is that simple.

 The first fifteen pages that you read will go a long way in making you efficient in your use of the train.

On a day train in India you can go in the second class or AC chair class.

For an overnight journey , you have second class , three tier AC , Second AC , First Class and First Class AC. These are classes in ascending order of cost.

Train travel in India is cheap. A second class journey of about tweny four hours and 1200 kilometres would have a ticket of say Rs four hundred. The three tier AC would be about Rs 1200, the II AC ( second AC) would be about Rs 1800 and a first class ticket 2200 and first ac about 2500.

The trains in India are classified according to speed and are passenger trains, express trains, superfast trains. But the superfast does not cross 160 kms per hour.

There is a whole series of "Rajdhani" ( meaning capital ) trains which run from main cities of the country to the capital. Very fast they have limited stops , say three in a 20 hour journey, and they are clean comfortable and very good value for money.

Shatabdi trains are short distance trains that are about twenty five percent faster than express trains on that route. They are again excellent trains, but costlier . A distance of 180 kilometres would be say 80 rupees in second class,but three hundred rupees in a Shatabdi train.

RESERVING A SEAT

For short distances, without sleep one need not reserve a seat, but with overcrowding now a feature on most short distance trains it is best to reserve this seat too.

For overnight journeys it is a must to reserve a seat so that one has sleeping space.

During the festival seasons and when children have holidays , seats are difficult to come by. Typically first two weeks of June ,before schools start , Diwali i.e Oct or Nov and the months of April and May when children have their summer holidays are difficult.

For foreigners there is a special number of seats earmarked on each train. One has to show one’s passport and apply for the same – it is called the foreigners quota.

When going to the station to reserve a ticket , all travellers or foreigners can get into the queue for special quotas. This is usually the number one or two reservation counter. Is this only when you have the Indrail pass ? Can travelers clarify?

When reserving tickets , if the train is full you can be waitlisted. What this means is that as people cancel reservations you rise in the waitlisted queue. At the time of departure of the train , if you are still waitlisted you can return the ticket and get a full refund.

When you get a waitlisted ticket , information about the waitlist status is available on the telephone. Dial 132 ( usually that is the number in all cities) and enter the PNR Number printed on the ticket. An automatic response system will tell you the current status.

MORE INFORMATION

The railway time tables are an excellent source of a rich variety of information. They cost Rs 20 or 25 only. Read everything you need to know about rail travel in the rules mentioned in the beginning.