Riding the Rails in India

Aug 25, 2011 7:47:00 AM

Joe Bindloss
Lonely Planet Author

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India is a big country, in the way that elephants, and skyscrapers, and continents are big. To walk from the tip of the subcontinent to the edge of the Tibetan Plateau would take most of a year. To cross the country from side to side would take almost as long. Lucky then that Indian Railways is there to transport India’s 1.13 billion citizens across the vast nation they call home.

Railways in India are not just a means of transport, they are a way of life. A staggering 18 million people travel by train in India every day, on more than 9000 scheduled services. Indeed, Indian society would be unable to function without the railways – religious pilgrimages alone account for hundreds of millions of journeys every year, and Indian Railways is the world’s largest employer, with 1.6 million staff on the payroll.

The first time you travel on an Indian train will stay with you for a lifetime. Booking is an art form, involving complicated paperwork, endless queuing and a comprehensive knowledge of train numbers, station codes, and classes of travel (wise travellers invest in the invaluable Trains at a Glance, listing every service). With ticket in hand, you must then navigate the train platform, picking your way between sleeping passengers, piles of packing cases, bellowing food hawkers and over-laden porters.

But once you find your seat and the train jolts out of the station, the journey truly becomes the destination. As the loco gains momentum, chai-wallahs speed up and down the carriages with giant kettles of sweet, milky Indian tea. For overnight journeys, attendants lay out vigorously laundered sheets and deliver breakfast to your seat at sunrise. And all the while, the mesmerising landscape of India unfolds in front of your window at exaggerated speed, like an early explorer’s film reel.

India is rightly famous for its classic rail journeys. Although the steam trains have mostly moved on to the great railroad yard in the sky, a few narrow-gauge steamers still chug up into the hills, following the route taken by the colonial sahibs as they fled the heat of the plains every summer. Then there are India’s ‘palaces on wheels’, the opulent former railcars of princes and maharajas, now pressed into service for the paying public.

But you don’t have to shell out hundreds of dollars for the Deccan Odyssey (the no-luxury-too-indulgent service from Mumbai to Goa and Maharashtra) to feel the thrill of Indian rail travel. Even ordinary journeys from one town to the next can be extraordinary by virtue of the scenery on all sides.

Take the Konkan Railway from Mumbai to Kerala, which clatters through 92 tunnels and rumbles over 1,998 bridges as it traces the edge of the Arabian Sea en route to Cochin, affording spectacular views of palm-shaded fishing villages, broad river deltas, steamy rice padis and dense jungles.

Another epic commute – best undertaken during the June-September monsoon – swaggers through the steamy jungles of the Western Ghats between Margao in Goa and Londa Junction in Karnataka, passing within metres of the thundering Dudhsagar waterfall, the fifth highest in India.

Then there’s the World Heritage-listed Darjeeling Himalayan Railway – aka the Toy Train – a narrow-gauge charmer that climbs more than 2000m between Siliguri in West Bengal and the tea plantations of Darjeeling, completing several 360° loops as it strains its way through the foothills of the Himalaya.

The only disappointment is the government ban on riding on the roof of trains – once an atmospheric escape from the overcrowded and overheated 2nd-class carriages.

For more information on train travel in India, visit the Indian Railways website or browse the India pages at Seat 61. Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree forum is a great source of traveller advice on Indian train travel.

Further reading: Dehli to Darjeeling – a child-friendly train adventure

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Comments

27 August 2010 5:07AM anabaena Report this comment
While train travel in India is quite the experience, there are a few precautions you should take. It is quite common to have your bag stolen, especially at night if you don't have a private cabin. I bought a cheap wooden bangle and a little lock and chain and slept (no kidding) chained to my bag. That way I would wake up if anyone grabbed it. Also, try to make friends with the people around you. This is usually pretty easy in India. They were quite nice and looked after my stuff while I was in the bathroom. Despite this, I would recommend trying this once. Although it was stressful, these were some of the best memories I made while in India.
27 August 2010 1:45PM peterdundas Report this comment
a few more very valuable points for travelling on trains in india.
do as much travelling as you can by trains, time permitting. absolutely amazing, the some of the best photo opportunities imagineable.
you need to book very far in advance, although Tatkal might save you.
the indian rail website link above is useful but you need to visit www.irctc.co.in to book online. it is a massively busy website, patience required but less stressful than standing in a queue at 40+ degrees with 15 kg on your back, and yes, you will be the only person queuing, the rest will be pushing you to one side.
for the best train info go to the excellent www.erail.in
to make payment with international credit card on the www.irctc.co.in site use the axis payment gateway. /contd.
27 August 2010 1:46PM peterdundas Report this comment
unless poshbacker, sleeper class is perfect, although daytime do expect to share your reserved seat with many families, usually 20+ crammed into 6 seats, but an amazing experience, if not select the very cold and sterile AC class.
as always when travelling ensure you take appropriate precautions with your baggage. chained to chair/bed common amongst indian travellers (dont buy padlocks at stations - one key fits all!) but still not foolproof, dont let this thought spoil the fun, you are more likely to get robbed in london or new york!
4 May 2011 10:42PM writetolouis Report this comment
I disagree with much of what was written in the original article--see my reply posting: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?messageID=18450334#18450334
5 May 2011 7:58AM eeefje Report this comment
I'm quite surprised to read that booking a train in India is considered an art form and needs to be done very far in advance. I've spend 6 months in India and never booked any train in advance. The trick? Just buy a second class ticket (for which you don't need a reservation), go to the train manager once you get on the train and tell him you want an upgrade to sleeper class. You pay the normal price minus the money you already paid for your second class ticket. It always worked out for me except for once when the train was overbooked.
6 May 2011 12:55AM homerus Report this comment
It took me 3 hours before my booking,Kalka-Shimla,went through,boy did my head hurt. I'm sure India will give a few more this july.
8 May 2011 11:06AM jasmine_p Report this comment
It helps to mention that while traveling by train is by far the best way to see India, it is not like traveling by train in any other country. When I embarked on my journey I WAS expecting the unhygenic, cramped conditions that the sleeper class offered. I WAS NOT, however, expecting that my journey from Mumbai to Delhi would take 41 hours. While most of the scenery is beautiful, these train journeys can bite huge chunks out of a trip - before deciding to travel this way, make sure that you factor in the travel time.
9 May 2011 4:24PM sandpitmanrob Report this comment
what a load of nonsense travel writers write. as if your average backpacker is going to climb up on the roof of the train and risk death to sample the 'atmosphere'.
the trains are really useful if you are travelling on a budget. you can sleep on the train for the same price as backpacker type accomodation, meaning you effectively get your travel or your accomodation for free, whichever way you look at it.
watch out for the routes which arent frequented by tourists though - such as mumbai to johdpur. the locals can give you some real stick. one guy threatened to throw me from the train because he thought i was taking up too much leg room. and once one starts, they all start. quite a hairy journey i can tell you !
the main problem i think most people will encounter with booking is that in the major cities, tourists need to use the tourist ticket office. this facility can be advantageous - but only once you have found it.
16 May 2011 5:56PM howtotraveler Report this comment
I just spent 7 weeks in India and traveling by train is definitely an experience like no other! I recently wrote a <a href="http://www.howtotraveler.com/2011/05/india-by-train-a-comprehensive-how-to-guide/">comprehensive how-to guide for train travel in India</a> that folks might find helpful.
26 September 2011 5:01PM rathi_sachin Report this comment
They are not comfortable as European train have but the prices is 1/10 what they charge in europe If you able to make certain adjustment than you have really a great journey and you never be bore in an Indian train
28 February 2012 5:57AM lcaldwel Report this comment
I recently bought tickets via cleartrip.com to travel from New Delhi to Agra. It was the only website that would take foreign credit cards. IRCTC requires an India mobile phone number to create an account. It appears that Clear Trip also now requires this per: http://www.seat61.com/India.htm
Beware, there are many fraudulent persons that convincingly act like they work for the railway. Note that you DO NOT need a boarding pass if you have an E-Ticket. Likely your train is not canceled even though the guy standing at the head of the security line says it is. Beware of any person that initiates a conversation with you--for any reason. Actual railway personnel are not going to drop what they are doing to give unsolicited advice to you. Trust the electronic reader boards and listen to the PA announcements.
We found the trains to be easy to figure out and fellow travelers generally helpful. Swapping seats didn't appear to be a problem either. Happy travels!