TIPS FOR TRAVELING BY INDIA (AND DON'T CHARGE IT)

India's rail network is one of the largest in the world, which moves several million people a year. And not another thing, but the Indians travel and travel, they go from one place to another, they love to move! So if you thought you were going to go alone in the car, you are very wrong! In fact, you have to plan trips in advance so as not to see you without a ticket on the day of departure.

We are going to tell you our experience with trains, trying to give as much data as possible (how to buy the ticket, train types and ticket types) so that whoever wants to come here knows where he gets! Just kidding, things are not that complicated! Here goes our super guide full of tips for traveling by train in India (and not shit)

You have to be very lucky to get to the station on the same day of the train and be able to buy the ticket (although there is the option of TATKAL that we will talk about later). So we will focus on reserved tickets.

1. In the station itself: You can buy tickets by filling in a pink paper with our personal data and the train info we want to take. You need to present your passport to be sold.
2. Book online: It is the most comfortable option, because you do it from wherever you want and you can check schedules, prices, etc.

We first tried with the IRCTC website, let's call it the state agency, but after logging in and others, when paying the ticket it gave us problems, because we have to choose an Indian bank to make the payment. After trying with everyone we could not find the one that would accept the card.

So the best choice It is the CLEARTRIP website, where they charge an insignificant commission, but it is much simpler than the previous one (we recommend doing so directly here, as this website connects with that of the government and it is better to create a single user). The most complicated thing you will find is how to register on the Cleartrip page, but we will explain it to you in the post: HOW TO REGISTER FOR CLEARTRIP

* The option of TATKAL What we said is a type of tickets that go on sale the same day of the train (or the day before, we are not very sure). There are few places and it is difficult to get them. In addition the price is higher. We have not tried but talking to a girl told us that I try for 3 days and in no one got a place. The purchase is made directly at the station.

There are 8 types of train ticket in India that you can book:

• AC first class (1A). The most expensive of all. They are compartments of 2 or 4 people closed, provided with bed linen, plugs and AC.

• AC 2 tier (2A). 4 bunk compartments, plus 2 in the hallway. They are not closed but there is a curtain for privacy. They have bedding, AC and plugs.

• AC 3 tier (3A). The compartments here are 6 bunk beds (two rows of 3), plus 2 in the hallway. Like sleeper, they become places to sit for the day. They give bedding and have AC. Sometimes they also have plugs and curtain.

• Sleeper class. Compartments for 6 people (plus two in the hallway). They do not give bed linen and do not have air conditioning. The windows usually do not close and at night it enters quite cool. The best, the price. During the day the middle bunk disappears and people sit on the lower bunk, although we have traveled by day lying on the upper bunk without problems (they usually use it to put luggage). It is the most economical class for traveling lying down and the one we always use. There are many vendors at almost any time, it has a lot of glass.

• AC executive chair car (EC). In the big lines. The most comfortable for traveling sitting. Two rows of two seats, with AC and food included.

• AC chair car (CC). Rows of 3 and 2 seats separated by a corridor. They have AC and a small snack.

• First class (FC). We have not found this class. We believe it is AC-free and in 4-seat bunk compartments.

• Second Sitting (2S). Unlike the rest here, the places cannot be reserved (although we have some that the place was written on the ticket and therefore without problems to sit). They are the most varied: wooden or padded benches, sleeper-style bunk beds, seats at various heights ... It depends on how lucky you are to sit or suck your foot path (hopefully you don't have to go on the roof). Here prevails the law of "fagot the last." An experience The prices are thrown away.

Once you have decided the route and the type of ticket, if you are buying it in Cleartrip you will have to choose the train that you like (schedules, prices ...) and check the availability of seats. It is very possible that you find something like WL, or RAC ... so we talk about it now:

• Ticket confirmed (CNF). When you make the reservation and payment you will receive an email with the electronic ticket, where the assigned position and the wagon appears. If you print it it will be worth as a ticket. If, once here, you have purchased an Indian SIM, you can change the telephone number on the CL website and thus the tickets arrive to you by SMS, which you can show to the reviewer and you are worth as a ticket.

• Wait list (WL). You enter the waiting list. You will receive an email with the ticket, which is not confirmed. It means that as people cancel their reservations you will go down the list, people usually wait until the last days to do so. With each reservation a PNR code is assigned with which you can check in which number you are, both on the IRCTC website and in your list of reserved Cleartrip tickets. If you go with a waitlist ticket a few hours before the train departure you can go to the “ENQUIRY” window to ask if they have given you a place. We went on several occasions with WT of 10 or so and they always gave us. They also put the lists on the boards and on the trains themselves, with the names of the passengers and their real “status” (whether or not you have a seat, let's go).

• Reservation agains cancellation (RAC). It is an intermediate status. It remains as a waiting list (if you have this ticket almost certainly when you book it, you will have a place for you insured) from which you are falling as there are cancellations. But if you finally have this ticket when boarding the train, it means that you will have to share your bunk with another person. In other words, the squares are divided into two, a slap we go. We never touched this guy, fortunately!

The truth is that trains in India are a world apart, and there are many things that escape us, but knowing these keys you can easily move around the country. We have also met many travelers who go from trouble and directly book tickets at the agencies or in the hotels themselves. We always try to do it from the web.

Keep in mind that trains in India they are not characterized by their punctuality, so you will probably have to wait some more time at the station. Consider it in case you have to catch a match or even a flight! We were only delayed by a couple of them and the thing was nothing serious, we were lucky!

We hope this guide to travel by train in India has been useful to you 🙂

Good trip!!

Since 2017 an application of the Indian government train company is available, it is called 'IRCTC Rail Connect', here you can see more info. We have not used it but apparently have these options:

• New users can be made and existing ones can also use the app.
• Train reservations can be made, modified and canceled. You will have everything in your control panel.
• You do not need to print the ticket to travel, you can use the app.
• There is option for "Ladies", "Premium" and Tatkal.
• If you already have reservations made through the web, you can synchronize them with the app with your user. You can also cancel and modify them.

If someone has used it with or without success, please stop by and tell us! Thank you!

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