Special Tips for Planning Train Travel in India…

Travelling in India by train is very exciting, unique and you’ll have some great memories. The destination is important but journey should be equally interesting. Travelers, both domestic and foreigners, looks for great accommodation options in India and rely on local travel agents for local transport. It is also interesting to plan your journey on Indian Railways.

There are some tips for tourists who want to travel in India by train are:-

Plan your journey

The first thing is to plan in advance. The reservation is available 60 days in advance, excluding the date of journey at the train originating station. Tickets are booked out days or sometimes weeks in advance, especially for long-distance overnight trains, so book your train tickets as early as you can.

Railway Booking Counter

Classes on Indian trains

1st AC – These coaches are fully Air-conditioned compartments with 2 or 4 bunks and a wash basin, including all bedding.

2nd AC – Air-conditioned compartments with 4 bunks, but still very nice, and about half the price of 1st AC.

1st Class (non-AC) – Similar to 1st Class AC above, but without bedding or air-conditioning, and much cheaper.

3rd AC – Air-conditioned compartments with 6 bunks per compartment so it’s more crowded but still comfortable and clean.

Sleeper Class – These are similar to 3rd AC but without air-conditioning or bedding, and usually quite crowded.

Unreserved 2nd Class – Open carriages with bench seats and often amazingly crowded, and extremely cheap.

Break Journey

If you book a single journey ticket for a distance more than 500 km, and can break the journey once for a period of two days at any station en-route after 500km. These two days do not include the day of arrival and day of departure. And if you want to travel the main tourist destinations then you can spend up to 4 days at any destination en-route. This will give you enough time to cover all the tourist destinations in and around the city where you break your journey.

Circular Journey

The Indian Railways also have the facility for tourists who wants  to cover many destinations in a single trip, then you can book a circular journey ticket such that the journey begins and ends at the same station. A single circular journey ticket permits 8 breaks in between your journey. Indian Railway has some standard circular journey routes covering most of the popular tourist destinations across India. The passengers have the choice of either purchase the tickets for planned routes or plan the route yourself

Indrail Pass

The Indian Railways has made some flexibility for tourist like Indrail Pass allows foreigners (and Indians residing abroad) to travel anywhere without any route restriction within its validity period. If you plan to do most of the traveling by train, it offers better economy as well. Indrail Passes are available at the tourist bureau set up in all major stations. You just have to decide the class by which you wish to travel and the period.

Some Extra Tips

Favorite Time Pass in Trains

I would give some tips for making your journey more relaxing via Bring a good book! This is the best time to catch up on your reading, spend time looking out the windows, and admiring the ever changing landscape, strike up conversations and chat with your fellow passengers and If you’re a light sleeper, bring some earplugs or headphones.

If you want to be notified next time, subscribe to the RSS feed or say hello via Twitter @theotherhome. You can plan your dream holiday with us, visit The Other Home.