Sleeper Class details & photos.

Ali-Monbeam

well thats my cuppa tea or ours I should say..nothing better than chatting and exchanging life stories.

steven_ber

Have a back-up plan.

The TN Express is reliable, I used it myself about a week ago, but by reliable, I mean it will likely get to Agra only an hour or so late, so have a back up plan, and get of the TN at Nizamuddin.

You can telephone 139 in India to see if the TN is running to time, do this a few hours before midnight, though I don't know how reliable the 139 info is.

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Ali-Monbeam

ok thanks...so get a taxi from Nizamuddin?.
my back up plan is to taxi from Agra. I can probably get the hotel to ring for me. I will put that number in my mobile phone tho.
or what other back up plan would you suggest?

I have just checked for yesterday and it was 20 mins late so I will watch how it performs over the week too.

steven_ber

The late Shatabdi the night before.

Ali-Monbeam

I cant find that train do you happen to have the number?

the only ones I have found with availability are 2919 Malawa exp and 2721 Nizamuddin exp

AprilFlower

Thank God I am ruining it . I know about OTHER perceptions of white women and I am happy to ruin in all cases . I can even add that I prefer using the indian style over the western. Anyways I am a big girl, not afraid of the piles of poo that often decorate the loo!

steven_ber

Do a search for 'all class' or search using www.erail.in

The Shatabdi only has Air con chair class and executive chair class, so wont appear if searching for Sleeper Class or 2A, and 3A.

Ambler

We just got back to Chennai from Kerala. We traveled in sleeper class from Calicutt (I know that's not the official name, but I can't remember the real one--Koz...). We caught the train at 2:00 am, about five hours into its journey, and we did indeed have people sleeping in our berths. We asked them to leave, and they did, but not happily. One woman suggested that instead of her moving, my husband and I should share a berth (not an option for us!). By morning, however, all hard feelings were forgotten and we had a pleasant jouney the rest of the time.

Based on this, however, I probably wouldn't book sleeper class tickets for trains that I'm catching mid-route after say 9:00 pm.

AprilFlower

Well now in their defense I never do anything at 2AM happily either ! I guess if I didn't have a reserved bed and I found an empty one I would help myself and get as many hours as I could manage. Lame as it may seem to think of suggesting your husband and you should share a bunk it may have made sense at that time of night. Then again if your white they were probably just thinking you are shameless foreigners that can sleep with your husband in public so whats the difference?

Glad to hear that at least the rest of the trip was pleasant.

steven_ber

It happend in 2A as well, and in the middle of the afternoon.

But I did witness a mircle, the 'very ill' old lady in my berth was almost doing cartwheels a couple of hours later.

snehansu-love2travel

When you are traveling long distances and have to buy food /water please buy it ONLY from IRCTC guys in uniforms.

IRCTC is a government approved vendor serving food.

There has been numerous instances of people being drugged and luggage stolen after eating food bought from local vendors.
Also please do not take food from any fellow passenger. There are a few hundred incidents in this year where thugs posed as passengers befriended others , drugged them by offering food and finally stole everything.

IRCTC food is safe, even though its not healthy and clean.

steven_ber

I've read this kind of scare story many times, and I disagree 1000% percent.

'Thugs' = violent criminals, drugging crimes have no violence, just theft.

The latest crime figures available (2007) show that there were 256 incidents of 'drugging to rob' on Indian Railways, and I'd guess that maybe 90% of these crimes are reported.

IR Statistics, Security. (pdf)

Each year, Indian Railways runs 3,268,210 trains (8954 per day) and carries 6,219,000,000 passengers.

IR Statistics, passenger business. (pdf)

So a person has a 1 in 24,292,968 chance of being a victim of this kind of crime.

A tourist will think that they may be singled out for this kind of crime, but this isn't the case, the majority of these crimes happen on 'passenger' trains (not mail/express), and they happen mostly in unreserved carriages (sometimes in Sleeper Class, but rarely in higher classes), and if the news I read is correct, about half of the total number of these crimes happen in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

I've traveled 35,000 kms on Indian trains and I have never refused food (I would if I was suspicious), and I've never been drugged.

I've read Indian newspapers every day for about 5 years, and I've only read of one incident when a drink/food seller was suspected of being involved in a drugging crime.

I buy chai, coffee, water, drinks, fruit and all kinds of food of almost every seller on a train, it's part of the joy of travel on Indian Railways.

People should be aware of the drugging crimes, but they shouldn't be put off enjoying traveling on Indian Trains, crime happens all over the world, but I feel 100 times safer on Indian trains than I do walking the streets of London.

Hal

That's one trip for every person on earth. It boggles the mind.

Hal

That's almost one trip for every person on earth. It boggles the mind.

Hal

Oops. Please remove this and my #148 post. Something went askew in the matrix.