My reservations about reservations!

Buck

Hi All.
I've read so much on this site my eyes are going funny but I'm confused.
My plan is to arrive in Delhi early November armed with a 60 day AC2 rail pass. I'm going to Amritsar back to Delhi then the usual triangle stops, Agra, Varanasi, Calcutta, Madras, Mysore, Kerala then after New Year up to Goa. Might do it all, might do more, might not.
Some threads are full of dire warnings that there will be no berths, others say you'll be fine might have to wait a day or two (fine by me) others say make sure you have booked everything before you fly then there are foreign quotas, wait lists, RACs, nightmares in booking halls and the threads I like from people saying it's easy we never waited for more than ten minutes and got berths to everywhere. Told you i'd read a lot!

So the question is - at last! - with my rough route above and my timescale of two months (Nov/Dec)is there any part that is a MUST book well in advance situation? Or if I'm easy going will I be OK?
Two more!
The price difference between an AC2 pass ($400/£200)and booking trains as you go. For my intended route anyone think one is considerably cheaper than the other? (I don't want anyone to work out the cost of the whole route!) Just thoughts.

Finally, for now anyway! When in Amritsar how far is it to the border to see the flag lowering ceremony with the feet stamping (know what i mean?). Can it be done by taxi as an afternoon/evening trip?
Sorry I rambled on but the more I get straight in my head the more questions pop up. This is my fifth time in India but first time solo!

Buck

steven_ber

Hello Buck and welcome to indiamike.com

Yes, all very confusing.

Amritsar-it's likely that anyone with such info will not be reading a thread in the Indian Railways forum, and even if they did, they'll see that this is about reservations and wont read till the bottom of your post.

There was an excellent thread about Amritsar a few days ago, Amritsar, a trip report or something like that, it had details of the trip to the border.

I'll assume you've read my thread...Is an Indrail Pass worth the money?.

The Indrail pass will cost you more, there's no doubt about it, you don't sound like you'll be travelling every 2nd day, but the pass is sometimes still worth it, even though it does cost more.

However, I will advise against it, for 2 main reasons: -

1, to me, the pass looses some of it's value if you're not booking all your journeys in advance, buying a train ticket is very easy, getting a reservation is the hard work, when you go to get a reservation, you purchase your train ticket at the same time, at the same window, so having already purchased your train tickets in advance (Indrail Pass) will not help you one bit.

2, if you want to leave reservations till the last minute, you may well end up travelling in First Class air con (or non air con), or in 3-tier air con, or in non air con Sleeper class, so you could end up paying a lot more for the pass than the total cost of all your tickets.

In general, you'll be travelling on a lot of busy routes, try to book at least 2 or 3 days ahead, be flexible with your choice of class and look for alternative stations. (eg. Mughal Sarai station is about 16 kms from Varanasi, but is on the main Delhi-Calcutta route)

You may run into problems on the Kerala-Goa-Mumbai route, this route becomes very busy November to February, it may even be difficult to get reservations a week ahead.

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Buck

Thanks Steve.
The Amritsar report was excellent. I appreciate it was the wrong forum I just threw it in at the last moment.
I had read your post about the worth of passes but as I said I've read so much I think i'm beginning to confuse myself.
I was leaning toward not using one before but I think I will now 'pay as I go'. Of course I can buy short term passes if the journey warrants it and they are cheaper. Go with the flow!

Using alternative stations, would the Trains at a glance be helpful for this or is this a homework thing before I go?
As for Kerala - Goa I'm leaving that until well after New Year and I will have plenty time to wait for a reservation.
I have to keep reminding myself that although I'm travelling solo there are hundreds of others I'll meet and get advice from. It's just nice to have things (sort of) straight in your head before you go. And that will be a first!!!!
Once again thanks.
Buck

happysnapper999

"Paying as you go" is far cheaper and better, and depending on where you are, there is often the tourist office which has the tourist quota tickets.

I travelled second class sleeper everywhere, and as an example, the train from Chennai to Kolkata took about 32 hours and cost around £3 for a 1700km journey!

The trains in the south are far less packed than the north. The Kolkata to Delhi route may need to be booked up to a week ahead even with the tourist quota! It is rammed! Especially if you are travelling around any of the religious festivals.

PS.. for Goa, the sleeper buses are a much better option than the trains

PPS... as for trains at a glance... Good Luck!! You need a degree in thermonuclear dynamics to make any sense of that! There is always somebody on hand to ask what trains and more importantly what train number you need to fill out the request form!

vpsingh

I will not advise anybody to use Indrail pass, since they do not guarantee reserved seats. Without reserved seats travelling in Indian trains is nightmare.
Amritsar anyways fall under a busy route and you will face problem if you donot get a seat/sleeper berth.

__________________
Don't follow the herd, grass is already eaten!!

Buck

Thanks all. The penny has dropped that you can forget tickets it's reservations that count and different days and different journeys will dictate different classes.
Still got millions of questions but I'll move to another forum for them.
No doubt I'll be back to this one soon enough for more train advice.
Buck

vsp27759

Dear Mr.Buck,

Sorry for chipping in late!!!

1) INDRAIL PASS DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOU RESERVED ACCOMODATION.

2) SINCE IT IS ISSUED ONLY FOR A SINGLE CLASS, YOU HAVE TO NECESSARILY TRAVEL IN THE CLASS FOR WHICH THE INDRAIL PASS IS ISSUED.
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##Since you plan to performm journeys in the last two months of this year and first two months of next year, book your tickets 60 days in advance so that you can avoid Tatkal Tickets.

##To the best of your ability, please avoid purchasing tickets with Waitlist Status.You can book tickets with Confirmed/RAC Status.

##That's all for now.

vsp27759

Dear Buck,

>Still got millions of questions but
>I'll move to another forum for them.

##Unless you choose to keep it confidential,
I am interested, just to know the name of the
Forum, you have in mind :-)

Buck

Thanks again to all that have replied.

I think it can be taken now that I am not going to buy an Indrail pass. You have converted me!

I've moved on now to this thread

Can you suggest other places to visit?

And whilst I'm so grateful for all the advice - if I get many more suggestions I might have to sell this house and just travel forever. The thread has really been helpful and i think I know now what my rough itin will be.

To all those above with your marvellous help and advice I thank you.
Please - no more replies to this thread let it RIP!

Buck

nick

Sorry, but this is not true. With an Indrail Pass you may travel in the class for which it was issued or in any other lower (cheaper) class. On trains, where the class for which the pass was issued is not available, one is automatically booked on the next lower available class. This is my personal experience from last winter (06/07). It was also possible to change seat and/or class in the running train, after checking with the TT.
Happy journey.

vsp27759

Dear Nick,

Thanks for the correction.

But, if a passenger intends to travel even in lower class, wherever the situation so demands, perhaps, the 3A Indrail Pass should serve the purpose.