Booking Indian Rail tickets from abroad: A Beginner’s Guide

bound4india

well i feel completely overwhelmed and a little special about now , i'm trying to work out if i can book a tain from Goa to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Delhi.

the trek i'm looking at is from delhi to goa and the flights i want to book are delhi return, so i thought, what the hey, i'll get a train from goa to mum to delhi

for what it's worth, i have just as much issue with rail/bus/plane info here

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Baba

@ Mary Poppins:
you do not need an Indrail Pass. You can book most tickets 3 months ahead over the Internet and even cancel and re-book them if you want. Now this means some patience in front of the screen, probably at some inconvenient time. If you don't want this, go through an agent, but I can't help you with that.

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Baba

Mary Poppins

I think maybe that's the best thing to do, thanks Baba

Now that they have e-tickets, can you still only book during Indian business hours?

sitka

Hallo-I´m unable to find the train schedule and the booking procederes for the train from HOSPET TO GOA Madgaon --incl the class .(starting in December 08)Can anybody help here?BTW: is this train ride worth doing?.
thanks Frank

Baba

The train doesn't run every day, only mon, wed, thu, sat. Station Codes for Hospet are hpt and mao for Madgaon. IRCTC gives two train numbers, but for the same departure and arrival times: 2847 and 7603. Also the timetable will probably change between now and December.
I think I have been on the 2847 and it was a nice and quiet trip. I wouldn't take it just for the train journey, but it is a good connection to/from Hampi.

machadinha

Thanks Baba, was just about to get searching btw It's been said for a long time connections Goa-Hampi weren't so great; I take it that's a thing of the past then?

Sitka, remember that booking normally only opens 90 days in advance (I believe).

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sitka

Thanks to both of you-- good info!-Frank

gqsmoothie

Trying to book my first train ticket. I can get to the part where you enter your passport # and then I click to get the fare, but it just says "Unable to Retrieve Fare Due to Communication Failure".

Do I just keep on trying to book until it works or am I doing something completely wrong?

Gracias amigos

Señor Quirk

praveengupta

Hey Quirk, I have faced this particular problem quite often after making the payments, and the amount gets blocked with the railways for a week before I get it back. The solution that worked mostly for me is to retry in the time-window when the regular reservation counters are closed but online is open, thats when the system is not very loaded and generally works! Those are two time windows, between 5am and 8am IST, and between 8pm and 11pm IST. Try during those times and you may get lucky!

HelenR

Join the club That error message can greet you anytime, after any screen.

I had that problem after I entered my credit card. If that happens to you, just go through the whole thing again. If they charged you, you will automatically be refunded, without any effort on your part. It does take 3-4 days for the refund to get posted to your account but I don't think that's a problem.

I forgot to look what country you're in but if you're in the US, book when it's very early in India, which will be around 4 PST or 7 EST depending on your time zone. The website works really well without problems when it's 5am there.

Good luck!

zerostress

I just booked my tiket to Kalka, everything smooth.
very very easy. Thanks for your tips!!!!!

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ossen

Hey,

I booked a few tickets online and all the berths are given as 0000, coach as non-existant, surely this can't be right, can it? How and when are the actual coaches/berths allocated?

S# Name Age Sex Seat/Berth Coach Status
1BOB THE BLDR 025 Male 0000 CONFIRM
2BERTHA THE MCHNE 020 Female 0000 CONFIRM
Total Fare 00001892

The tickets are in 1A, sleeper trains, and paid for. Are we likely to get a place for ourselves?

Thanks!

steven_ber

First class air con (and non air con) berths are only decided when the reservation chart is prepared (a few hours before departure), this is to help place passengers in the best places (for example, so they dont end up with a single woman travelling with 3 strange men in a cabin).

It is normal to only have 'Confirmed' on your ticket when traveleing by 1A or FC, so dont worry, enjoy your trip and don't forget your sleeping bags to protect against the icy conditions in 1A.

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How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

ossen

Fantastic, I love this forum!

s.seifert

so is that right, that i can't make a reservation via the indian railway website today for train travel on Dec, 18, 2008? just from 3 month on before my travel date it is possible?

and over which website would i make the arrangements?

thanks!