Is an Indrail pass worth the money?

steven_ber

Is an Indrail pass worth the money?

An Indrail pass allows unlimited travel on Indian trains for tourists and non-resident Indians (NRI)

Period of Validity and Fares in $US (1 $US = Rs 39.90 - 26th Feb 2008)

1/2 day, --1A = 57, ----2A = 26, ----SL = 11.
1 day, ----1A = 95, ----2A = 43, ----SL = 19.
2 day, ----1A = 160, ---2A = 70, ----SL = 30.
4 day, ----1A = 220, ---2A = 110,--- SL =50.
7 day, ----1A = 270,-- -2A = 135,--- SL = 80.
15 day, ---1A = 370, ---2A = 185, ---SL = 90.
21 day, ---1A = 396, ---2A = 198, ---SL = 100.
30 day, ---1A = 495, ---2A = 248, ---SL = 125.
60 day, ---1A = 800, ---2A = 400, ---SL = 185.
90 day, ---1A = 1060, --2A = 530,--- SL =235.

Children under 5 travel free, Children over 5 and under 12 travel for half the adult fare, 12 years and over pay full adult price.

Indrail Child passes available for half adult prices.
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The best 'value for money' Indrail pass is the 90 day pass, I have worked out the cost of a 10,000 km tour of India not using an Indrail pass, I have included reservation, safety and supplementary charges.

1A = First Class air-conditioned. (also includes executive chair class on Shatabdi's)

2A = 2 tier air-conditioned. (also includes 3 tier air-con, First Class non-air-con and air-con chair class)

SL = Sleeper Class (not air-conditioned). (also includes unreserved ordinary second class)

Description (including photo's) of the different classes of travel on Indian railways
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90 day Indrail pass costs:

1A = US$ 1060 = Rs 46,000
2A = US$ 530 = Rs 23,000
SL = US$ 235 = Rs 10,196
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A reasonable pace would allow for about 30 journeys in 90 days (allowing for many 1, 2 or 3 night stays at places, and 2 or 3 weeks at a beach).

With 3 months you will not need to do any 'long' journeys, so a breakdown of 10 x 200km + 10 x 300 km + 10 x 500 km journeys seems appropriate.

The cost in each class is as follows:

1A = 9290 + 12,160 + 17,480 = Rs 38,930*

2A = 5250 + 6510 + 9250 = Rs 21,010*

SL = 1410 + 1740 + 2350 = Rs 5500

*The 'high speed' Rajdhani (Capital City) and Shatabdi (Century) trains have some additional charges over mail/express trains that are included in the cost of an Indrail pass, i have not included the extra cost in the above prices as these trains are notoriously difficult to book.
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The following is my personal opinion, I know others will disagree and they are welcome to add their comments.


In favour of the Indrail pass:

You can plan and arrange your whole holiday from the comfort of your own home.

You never have to go through the (sometimes) hell of trying to get berths on a train, if you book all your trains from home.

Air-Conditioned Classes are good value if booking all your trains from home.

Showing an Air-Conditioned Class Indiarail pass to an official can sometimes magicaly make a berth available when all else fails.

An Indrail pass can be used when just jumping on a train for a short journey without the need to buy a ticket.

The exchange rate with the US$ is making the Indrail pass better value for money. (May 2005)


Against the Indrail pass:

You would need to travel by train regularly to get the benefit from the pass.

They do cost more money.

Planning everything in advance is not always a good idea, you may like a place more than you thought you would but have to move on, or dislike a place and be stuck there for too long.

If you get ill it can ruin your plans.

You may not like the class of travel you have chosen to travel in (I personaly find Air-con too cold and isolated from India).

If you are not planning the whole holiday from home you will still need to get reservations for the trains you choose to travel on (getting reservations is the hard part of purchasing tickets).

Queuing for tickets is part of the India experience and not that hard when you get used to it.

Not all usefull trains are on the http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ website or in 'Trains at a glance' so booking these trains is very difficult from home.

'Break of Journey' rules make buying tickets in India much cheaper and they are easy to book, 'Circular Journey' tickets are even cheaper, though a bit harder to book, details of both can be found in the Train Fares thread.
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Indrail passes are sold in the UK by S D Enterprises.

Worldwide Indrail pass General Sales Agents

More train information
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wonderwomanusa

On my last visit to India, I found my 90-day first class pass to be well worth it in terms of almost always being able to get where I wanted to go, especially at holiday time. Travelling south of Delhi at Diwali time, the trains were packed, yet it was no problem getting to places in Rajasthan, including Abu Road.

I travelled around 10,000 km in those 85 days, and keeping track of the fares (using Trains at a Glance) I just about broke even. If I'd spent less time on the beaches, I'd have come out ahead! <g>

I'll be going back in October, and yes, I'll have another rail pass.

Gretchen

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chrissawka

well thanks steve for all the time u spent on that to help all us india crazed nuts plan our next trip<yes i am suffering from withdrawl already>
i traveled in the south and never actaually kept exact figures but i really don't think it'd a been any cheaper for me to have bought a pass.i am sure of it
travel is so cheap in india anyways i think it is more a conveniance thing than real saving...unless you are constantly going from city to city long distances all the time you do not get the value out of it
also i liked having things open that i could take a private luxury or crowded gov't run bus or train or ? and decide whatever i felt like.alot of places i went to had no train service or it was more time consuming and difficult to take train so i opted for bus<buses more frequent for short trips>
i think if u r planning on travelling every second day<at least> rushing through triing to see as much of india as possible in the shortest time<but not reallly enjoying or understanding it> buy the pass.......................... .....but if u wanna relax meet the people and slowly travel; as u feel like just pay as u go and leave all your options of type of travel open
shanti shanti is the best i think plus call me crazy but if i had a pass i honestly think i'd always be rushing and moving on to the next town just so i could get use,or my money's worth out of the pass.........and i don't go on holidays to rush and be stressed out, i go on holidays to relax and enjoy my pace my way

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enjoyed 6 weeks in southern india and saving up to go back..
i never hated.....yet loved<more>a country soo much
words cannot truely describe the satisfaction it gives u

steven_ber

Gretchen, it sounds like you definetly got your money's worth with you Indrail pass, and to get berths to Abu Road at Diwali time shows the little bit of 'magic' an Indrail pass can help perform.

Were you always able to get the Class stated on your Indrail pass?

Were you reserving births as you went along?

Can you think of more things in favour of the Indrail pass that I could have left out?

Thanks,

steven

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Below is a reply I gave on the TT to a person enquiring about jumping on a train without a reservation if they have an Indrail pass, it may be usefull to some people.
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An Indrail pass is a ticket for the class of travel stated on the pass or any class of travel below that stated on the pass, however, it does not reserve a berth.

You can just board a train and if a berth is available you will get it, if not you will have to travel second class unreserved, but trust me, on a busy train you would not even get into a busy second class carraige unless you need to practice your climbing skills.

Last year I was about 10 minutes outside of arriving at Mumbai CST when I saw an express train that had just departed CST, there was just a mass of people lying on top of each other rising to above the hight of the windows, I cannot ever imagine what these trains must have been like at the time of partition.

Back to the pass, production of an air-con class Indrail pass can - as if by magic make a berth suddenly become available, but then the same can be said for the production of a couple of Rs 100 notes.

There is no advantage buying an Indrail pass unless you are reserving most, if not all of your berth's in advance, it is reserving a berth that is the hard part, not buying the ticket.

If you are on a 'normal' holiday period of 2 - 3 weeks reserving all your berths in advance is OK, but anything over a month and you just can't know how you will be feeling after a couple of weeks in India.

-m2-

While a long-term pass wouldn't be worth it to me as I tend to longer stays in places that turn out nice and I'd never want to lock myself in with a bunch of reservations in advance. However the short term passes, 1/2 and 1 day, could be of great use for someone wishing to get out of their arrival city quickly. to wit:

with a 1/2 day 2ac pass $26USD or 1228rp -- you could travel Mumbai-Goa your day or evening arrival in Mumbai. To advance book a 3ac berth on Konkan (1 night train only) costs 1250rp and you're getting 3ac rather than 2ac. Regular cost of the ticket (Pernem-Mumbai 3ac in march '03) was 742rp.

with a 1/2 day SL class $11USD or 519rp compared to around 300rp with the charges thrown in. This would be a reasonable premium to pay if you didn't want to spend a few days in Mumbai getting ticket sorted out.

An interesting 1day 2ac pass plan ($43USD 2031rp) would enable a trip Delhi-Sawantvadi on the Rajdhani Express (at least I think so as it the trip is scheduled at 23hrs 50min ) note: Sawantvadi is only a short taxi or bus ride away from North Goa. The regular Rajdhani ticket is 3110-2ac or 1825-3ac so the pass is actually a very good deal for a 2ac passenger. This doesn't work so well for SL as all regular expresses take much longer than the 24hrs.

The examples I used were for getting to Goa PDQ from Mumbai or Delhi -- I'm sure there would be some other useful examples for getting out of a gateway city in a hurry if a long train ride was involved.

wonderwomanusa

>>Were you always able to get the Class stated on your Indrail pass?<<

Once had to settle for Second Sleeper, and going out to Bhuj on a daytime train, it was the old 3rd Class cars from the 70s. Otherwise, I was always in First, or 2-Tier AC (only once, thank Heavens -- I hate AC and nearly froze to death).

>Were you reserving births as you went along?<

Yes. There's no way I can decide today where I'll want to travel in two months, so I'd just go to the station and stand in line... and it never took very long. Maybe I was just lucky in my timing.

And I get to do it all over again in October... O Happy Day!

steven_ber

Well spoted Mike, your observation prompted me to investigate.

Bad news, Indian railways downgrades holders of half day, 1 day & 2 day Indrail Passes by 1 class on the Rajdhani's.

Meaning, if you wanted to travel 1A you would need to buy a 4 day pass, if you wanted to travel 2A you would have to buy a 1A pass, though you could travel 3A by getting a 2A pass.

This only applies to half day, 1 day and 2 day passes on Rajdhani Expresses.

Seems like we can't get one over on Indian Railways

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BTW. if the booked time of your train is 23 hours and 59 minutes you can use a one day Indrail Pass, if the train is late the pass is still valid.

Longer period Passes start on the day of your first journey (that day becomes 'day 1') and ends at midnight on the last day your pass is valid.

-m2-

oh well, seemed like a good idea -- guess someone thought of it before me.

wonderwomanusa

Ah, those rail passes!

I didn't get mine until I got to Kolkata, and then only bought 30 days... but it has worked its magic already! No problem getting from Kolkata to Puri or from Puri to Hyderabad (VIP quota) and then this morning, after only an hour on line, I had a ticket in hand for Tuesday's Rajdhani to Bangalore -- the agent tried various quotas until he found me a berth. It's an upper, not the lower I requested, but I'll muddle through.

steven_ber

If you're considering buying an Indrail pass, do it quickly.

Indian Railways are reviewing the prices, and I expect them to go up.

The exchange rate between the Rupee & the Dollar has seen Indrail prices drop in real terms, on certain routes an Indrail pass is almost as cheap as the ordinary ticket.

If the cost of an Indrail pass is put up, I have no idea when the new prices would take effect, it could be the very next day.

An Indrail pass can be purchased at least 6 months in advance (I think it may be up to a year in advance), also, reservations can be made at the time you purchase the Indrail pass, this can be months before reservations are allowed in India, so there will be no problem getting reservations on any train at any time of year. (As long as you book more than 61 days ahead of your journey)

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steven_ber

Just a reminder to people considering buying an Indrail pass.

The Indian Railway budget is this week (I think, maybe early next week), I have a feeling that the price of an Indrail pass may go up by 10 - 20%.

The increase will likely be charged from the day after the budget, all Indrail passes bought before the budget will be valid, an Indrail pass can be purchased at least 6 months in advance, (it may be up to a year in advance).


EDIT NOTE - there were no increases in Indrail pass prices in the rail budget.

jweinsto

I'm a little confused. Why does having an unlimited pass take away flexibility? Do you have to make your reservations from the internet? Otherwise, why can't you just make reservations from the train station and show your pass instead of paying?

steven_ber

The train ticket (not pass) is bought & paid for at the same time as you make the reservation.

It is very, very easy to buy a train ticket from anywhere to anywhere.

The hard part is getting the reservation.

The main advantage of buying an Indrail pass IS that you can get all your reservations done for you in advance (and before reservations open in India if you book more than 2 months ahead), why pay extra money for an Indrail Pass if you still need to make reservations?

You need to travel a lot (or long distances) to make an Indrail Pass good value for money, this will mean many hours queuing to get reservations.

All this said, I still think an Indrail pass has many great uses, and is perfect for those on a short fixed-itinerary.

renedu

I took advantage of the Indian Railway website and booked almost all of my tickets on line. They were delievered within a day or two to my hotel or friend's homes. At the time the only place you could pick up was in Delhi. (That may have changed now). It was extremely easy and efficient. However, if one needed to change a ticket - there was the whole issue of spending time taking care of that. Much easier in the larger cities where the "foreign quota" offices are large. I can only see the railpass being of value, if you are truly going to be doing A LOT of travel over a relatively long period. I too like some of the other posters, also stop where I feel good and might throw in all my other travel plans. I found a way to always get seats on trains that were sold out as I had a foto of myself with Amisha Patel and Aamir Khan that would somehow slip out of my Rough Guide to India, that would get me taken to the back office and I got whatever seat I desired...

Suek

Help, this whole train thing has taken me days and I think I'm getting an ulcer !! Can someone advise. I can't use my credit card to book thru irctc, next plan is to get an Indrail pass and I see that the quotas are getting full. When I buy the pass does the person I buy it from make the reservation and is it from the Foreign Tourist Quota ? I land in Mumbai at 19.15 and need to be on a train at 23.00 to Goa so can't get to the "Foreign Tourist Office" to book/collect ticket. Does anyone know if there is an Indrail office in Brisbane, Australia ?