| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
Indian trainsCountry forums / Indian Subcontinent | ||
I was looking forward to travelling first class but non- a/c on Indian trains. However, just read on a website that: first class non-air-conditioned coaches are 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. Just my luck, because one thing I truly cannot bear is travelling while "locked in" behind sealed and possibly tinted windows, thus effectively cut off from the life, colour, smells on the outside. Is it so, then, that the effective choice, for an eccentric such as myself, is something air-conditioned (and therefore sealed) or sleeper class? | ||
I'm afraid thats pretty much it. | 1 | |
Yep. There may still be a couple routes that run the traditional old first class but they are disappearing fast. Good luck. | 2 | |
your choices are sleeper class, non a/c chair and best of all: second class without any booking | 3 | |
travelling first class and want to experience life, colour, smells on the outside is contradicting. As the saying goes cant have ones cake and eat it too! If you want comfort take the AC coaches. If you want do not want to be cut off from the life, colour, smells on the outside, take the sleeper class. Edited by: avbeach | 4 | |
#4 you've obviously never travelled in one of the old first class carriages, as that is exactly what you got !! | 5 | |
your choices are sleeper class, non a/c chair and best of all: second class without any booking IS THERE non-a/c chair? My info so far suggests not, but I'd be happy to be wrong on this. | 6 | |
Non Ac chair is only available in short distance trains say a journey of 10 hrs. You have to book in advance just like sleeper and ac 2 / 3 tier. Better take AC and while the train stops venture out on the platform for the color and smell of the surrounding. | 7 | |
u would liketo chk info about the garibh rath! fully ac coaches but cheaper! Uselesbaba! did not know of the carriages u mentioned! are they still in use? | 8 | |
They still have some of the old rolling stock in Pakistan, but I think it all got upgraded in India years ago. I remember travelling 1st class Delhi-Bombay in '79 we had our own en-suite compartment,everything was polished wood and brass fittings and we had our own waiter. who would fetch us whatever whenever we wanted, ahh, the good old days ! | 9 | |
Last month, I tended to buy tickets for 3AC, as temperatures were sometimes near to 40 C in Tamil Nadu, and in order to EXPERIENCE life beyond the AC and tinted windows, I just opened the cabin door and then the train door and sat on the seat or bench there, letting the wind whip around me and taking in the beauty (and sometimes the sewage smell). I could retreat into the AC when I wanted to and then come out of the AC to experience the breath of India when I wanted. Nice to be able to go back and forth. (I often had company with the train doors open between the train cars.) | 10 | |
1000blessings, that sounds like a very nice idea. I’m not quite able to visualize, though, what you describe. I understood that 3AC doesn’t have cabin doors, and by “train door” I think you must mean door between the carriages. Is there a seat or bench in the vestibule between carriages? I travelled on an Indian train once, 23 years ago, between Varanasi and Delhi, in Sleeper, and am not familiar with the layout of the rest of the train - except via internet descriptions and photos. | 11 | |
what 1000blessings is referring to is the door on either side that keeps the AC air locked in... so you are correct, the 3AC (just as 2 AC) do not have individual doors created for each set of 6/4 berths, but there is a door which u need to open to use the bathrooms or wash basin. The vestibule is very flexible, so cannot really keep seat or bench there. this should help. | 12 | |