Indrail Passes

Unregistered

Anyone here has traveled with Indrail passes?

I am planning to take 90 day Indrail pass, but I don't have any clue about the difference between the AC Class and First Class AC2/3 Tiers. Their official web site doesn't give any description to justify the double fare for the AC class.

1. Do all trains have AC Class and First Class AC coaches?

2. How difficult is it to get reservation on the way?

There are lots of experienced travelers in this forum. I appreciate your comments as well as your bad and good experiences with Indrail passes.

Indianrobin

Look, I am not speaking from personal experience. I have heard a lot of people say the Indrail pass doesn't really help. You can make your reservations as you travel in India. There are no separate queues or counters for Indrail pass-holders.

AC class means that you get the cubicle to yourself. AC 2-tier means you are in a compartment full of two rungs of bunks. Ac 3-tier means there are three rungs of bunks.

The major trains (called "Express", "Mail" etc) will all have the AC coaches. But if you intend to travel to places off the normal tourist circuit, you might have to use slower, "Passenger" trains that don't have AC coaches.

Hope that helps! Should u need more info or help, feel free to mail me at indianrobin2002@yahoo.co.in

Heraclitus

I have used the Indrail Pass. Virtually everybody (including its adherents) agree that it doesn't save you any money. You have to travel almost every day for it to make economic sense. Then why get it? There are two reasons. First, you can reserve your seats as much as a full year in advance from abroad (that is, if you make your reservations at the same time that you buy the pass.) This is good for people on a tight schedule with limited time in India. However, since you are talking about 90 days, I don't think you exactly fit in this category.

The other (alleged) benefit is that it give you so-called VIP status. You can use all the railway station facilities such as special waiting rooms, short-term sleeping accomodations, and showers for no additional charge. It also (supposedly) helps you get better service. Some claim that it helps you jump to the head of the que in the foreign tourist quota for seats on otherwise sold-out trains. I frankly saw no evidence of improved service or any greater degree of accomodation on the part of Indian rail personnel. In fact, some conductors on routes less travelled by foreign tourists looked at my Indrail pass as if it was some strange foreign object! Some insisted that I must have a regular ticket. (If my name hadn't already been on the (reserved) passenger manifest, they would have thrown me off the train. )

My recommendation is to save your money and just pay as you go. The Indrail pass is a good idea in theory but the execution of the idea is severely lacking.

Unregistered

Thank you for sharing your experiences with Indrail.

May be the concept of this rail pass is good but the Indian attitude doesn't help to reach its goal. I guess those train conductors need backsheesh from passengers.