mumbai to goa - day or night train?

rosieglo · Nov 8th, 2005, 04:35

We are going to travel from mumbai to pernem for morjim beach using the Konkan railway. Trying to decide whether to travel during the day or go by sleeper train.

First time on Indian rail so not sure what to expect although I have read alot of threads.

What do you recommend?

Day time travel to see the countryside in a 3rd class carriage (as I understand the 2nd class has tinited windows so you cant see anyway)? Is the countryside interesting on that route?

Sleeper in a 3 tier sleeper carriage on the top bunk?

Whats the form for leaving your seat to go to the loo? Is it fair game for someone to take an epty seat or is it acceptable to ask someone to save your seat until you return?

All help appreciated!

Ta.

gregs71 · Mar 27th, 2007, 22:56

Hi.

In my limited experience i would go by day for the scenery.2nd class is ok for looking out the windows in my experience.You can get up and walk around.Night alright too but i couldnt sleep and its mildly costraphobic!

Its a great experience and beats getting on the south east trains that run into london here!!!!

steven_ber · Mar 27th, 2007, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregs71

Hi.

In my limited experience i would go by day for the scenery.2nd class is ok for looking out the windows in my experience.You can get up and walk around.Night alright too but i couldnt sleep and its mildly costraphobic!

Its a great experience and beats getting on the south east trains that run into london here!!!!

I agree, but please check the date of the original post.

I used the daytime train to get from Mumbai to Goa in October, and the overnight to get back in November, I was forced to use First Class air con (had a baby with me) and really didn't like it, I always wanted to be in another class, I will never use that class again.

Guniek · Mar 27th, 2007, 23:22

Can you explain what was wrong with the first class and why

Quote:

"I will never use that class again"?

Guniek

steven_ber · Mar 27th, 2007, 23:39

Too cold and isolated, but to be honest, I'm a bit of a peasant and never feel too comfortable with posh people.

Others will love First Class air con.

The following is from a travelogue I started, and starts with our arrival at Mumbai CST station. (after the fist few paragraphs you can skip all but the last 2 I think)

I was travelling with my girlfriend Michelle and my 7-month-old daughter Maggie.

Quote:

I spent about an hour trying to find out if we were booked into a 4 berth compartment or a 2-berth coupe (First Class air con), when booking over the internet we couldn’t indicate that we’d be travelling with a baby (you can if you book over the counter), and we were too late to request a coupe as the berths are allocated the night before, so I was eventually told that we were in a coupe, just to confirm I asked the station manager, he sent me to a reservation supervisor, he sent me back to the station manager, he then sent me back to the person I’d already asked, he then sent me to the reservation boss, he confirmed that we were in a coupe.

So we’re now on the train, due to depart at 7, but it’s 7:45, into the first class carriage and into a 4-berth compartment, we didn’t have a coupe after all, “It’s good to be back in India” I think to myself.

I’m no fan of First Class air con, and within 10 seconds of entering the compartment I’m reminded why, Michelle says “It’s bloody freezing in here”, so I turn the air con off and we try to get settled, we’ve got a load of luggage, and I’m horrified to find that the 2 biggest cases won’t go under the seat, there too high, the fixed bottom berth has a gap of about 12 inches (30cms) below it for luggage, but the modern suitcases tend to be smaller, but fatter, so I put them on the top berth.

An Indian man then entered the compartment to take his seat/berth, first thing he does is switch the air con back on, luckily, the 4th berth wasn’t booked, so we could keep our luggage on that berth, the man wasn’t too happy to see a baby in the compartment (and who can blame him), I said hello then offered him my newspaper to read, he took it, never said thanks and never spoke to us for the remainder of our 14 hour journey, and yes, he could speak English.

As any parent will know, one hour into the journey we had about 20 things out of the cases for Maggie and there seemed nowhere to put anything, but we tried hard to keep the compartment clean and tidy.

Michelle was looking tired and Maggie getting hungry, So I put Maggie into her harness, strapped her to my chest (facing out) and went for a walk down the train, eventually I found the Pantry car, there was about 15 men working in very hot, very slippery conditions, but they all looked very happy, I asked them to ‘make hot’ Maggie’s bottle (“heat up” doesn’t seem to be understood), they were happy to do so.

One thing I’ve learnt in India, is that people will do anything to please you, and will go out of their way to do the right thing, this isn’t always a good thing.

I watched as they emptied the contents of the bottle into a pan and boiled the milk, I was still trying to work out how to cool the milk down when I noticed the next helpful thing they done, they washed the bottle in tap water, I just smiled, give them Rs20 for their trouble and left, I will suggest to anyone not to try to get them to do this differently, they’re only doing what they think is best.

So I had fun tying to buy a plastic container off a man selling samosas, the language barrier didn’t help and he couldn’t understand that I wanted the container and not the samosas, so I bought all the samosas and the container for Rs150, he left, very confused, I give the samosas to a boy who was cleaning the floor in Sleeper class, he was happy, but much happier when I let him touch Maggie, he squeezed her cheek then touched her hand, she smiled and laughed and he went running through the carriage almost skipping, I caught up with him later as he was selling the samosas back to the samosa man.

I bought 2 bottles of cold water, quickly washed the top and the teat of the bottle, dried them, then washed them again, then began shaking the bottle gently, this used the boiling milk to sterilise the inside of the bottle, then I forced the milk through the teat far a minute, this sterilised the teat, then put cold water into the plastic container and cooled the bottle and it’s milk down till it was ready for Maggie to drink, of course, Maggie was asleep by the time her bottle was ready.

I took Maggie up to the upper berth, put a couple of blankets over her and cuddled her, we both slept for about 3 hours, she then woke up and wanted a bottle, here we go again.

Maggie was washed, changed and fed and was amazingly happy, but it was time for Michelle to sleep again (we were all in a state of constant tiredness), so I took Maggie for a walk again, I was very happy to do this as the first class cabin felt like a morgue and I wasn’t sure if the Indian man was still alive.

We walked up and down the train, getting off for a walk when the train stopped, trying new food, snacks and drinks and being photographed everywhere we went.

Walking through the train is one of the times I feel it’s important to have experience of India and the way Indian people can be, it seemed like everyone wanted to either hold Maggie, touch her or take her photo, but they all meant well and Maggie was loving the attention, but it can be quite intense and I think if I were on my first trip I may have just ran back to the first class cabin.

I got chatting to a family in Sleeper class, Maggie was playing with the children and the father was inviting me to take Maggie and Michelle to his home in Madgaon, the mother was telling me what food can be given to Maggie and I was asking their opinions on a role Maggie could play in a Bollywood movie, how much more interesting Sleeper Class is compared to a first class compartment with a man who won’t speak to us.

We were talking about the impact tourism has on the locals and Maggie was sucking on the only piece of melon that hadn’t dribbled down her clothes, when Michelle came walking down the train looking very worried, she said we’d been gone for over 3 hours, I wanted to say “No, not a minute over 3 hours” but she didn’t look in the mood.

I had to keep reminding myself that this was Michelle’s first trip outside the UK and I needed to make sure she was OK.

So back to our lovely first class compartment, the difference between the temperature inside the compartment and the temperature in the corridor (and Sleeper class carriages) was staggering and I think dangerous, I knew at that moment that I couldn’t take Maggie out of the compartment again.

I like First Class air con less and less each time I use it, it doesn’t help that I often get stuck with strange fellow passengers, though to be fair, if my fellow passengers always got stuck with someone like me, they wouldn’t be too happy with First Class either, the windows always seem darker in First Class, a lot darker than other air con classes, so it’s difficult to see the outside world, but maybe the most frustrating thing is the air con, Indian passengers seem to think “I’ve paid for the air con so I want it on full”, so it gets bloody cold, but to be fair, if you don’t leave the compartment, you will get used to the temperature and find it very pleasant, but the heat will hit you like a brick wall when you get to your destination.

Nov 8th, 2005, 04:35	#1
rosieglo Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: england Posts: 4	mumbai to goa - day or night train? We are going to travel from mumbai to pernem for morjim beach using the Konkan railway. Trying to decide whether to travel during the day or go by sleeper train. First time on Indian rail so not sure what to expect although I have read alot of threads. What do you recommend? Day time travel to see the countryside in a 3rd class carriage (as I understand the 2nd class has tinited windows so you cant see anyway)? Is the countryside interesting on that route? Sleeper in a 3 tier sleeper carriage on the top bunk? Whats the form for leaving your seat to go to the loo? Is it fair game for someone to take an epty seat or is it acceptable to ask someone to save your seat until you return? All help appreciated! Ta.

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Mar 27th, 2007, 22:56	#2
gregs71 Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: west london Posts: 17	Hi. In my limited experience i would go by day for the scenery.2nd class is ok for looking out the windows in my experience.You can get up and walk around.Night alright too but i couldnt sleep and its mildly costraphobic! Its a great experience and beats getting on the south east trains that run into london here!!!!

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