Train information

steven:
awesome train detailing
great to see samit's railway map link up here. samit is an absolute train freak and his indian railway atlas is his work of passion. positively amazing work - he's researched/designed/published it all by himself.

just out of curiosity - has anybody bought this atlas? if yes, was it helpful?

:brishti

Yes, I've got a couple of Samit's rail atlases, the first run (2003) and the first edition proper (2005).

Useful? - I don't know how I got by without it, it's incredibly detailed and a 'must have' for anyone interested in Indian Railways.

I met Samit in Kolkata, he's a very nice man and great company, he's also helped me a lot over the years with train and booking info, and this info has then been passed on to indiamike members.

The Great India Railway Atlas.

Namaste y'all!

I just got back from India a week ago but have been nursing a back injury (that's why I had to return 2 weeks ahead of my schedule).

I've had really good luck with my waitlists, I listened to the locals, and would usually buy a General Seat ticket and then board the train (find the class/car that you really want) and then wait for the conductor to walk by and tell him (in English, no problem) which class you really want. Then he'll charge you the extra fare, preferably in exact change or really close to it.

I've not been "kicked off" yet in my 2 months of travelling. But, for really popular or long distance trains, you should go to the Indian Rail website and find out which train has the shortest waitlist; i.e. WL3 is way better than WL9 or WL78(!).

OK, back to my bed rest again. Happy journey!

Hope you feel better soon, what happened to your back?

I stupidly tried to drop down to the floor from an Upper berth in Sleeper Class, I kept hold of the bars by the upper berth thinking the floor was closer than it was, this really pulled my arm and lower back, I either tore or pulled a muscle near my kidneys, I had food poisoning at the time, so really wasn't having a good day.

Indian Railways, and in particular railway routes, are much easier to understand if you use a good railway rail map, if you also have a good road map you can compare the maps and understand the routes even more.


Rail maps.

The basic Indian Railway map can be viewed at http://www.theodora.com/maps/new9/in...ilways_map.jpg

A very clear schematic rail map can be viewed at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ematic_map.png

Samit Roychoudhury done a collection of 13 regional rail maps, they're very detailed and cover all areas of the country, they overlap a lot, but this can be handy, view them at http://www.samit.org/irmap/index.htm (click on different areas of the country to view the maps.

Samit Roychoudhury also produced the ultimate rail map, the Indian Railway Atlas, it's scale is 1:1,500,000, the same as the best road maps, the Atlas covers every railway station in India, has all station codes, major bridges and tunnels are indicated, there are some metro maps, and a 1893 Indian Railway map.

The rail map lines in the map show what gauge the line is, and also if it's a single, double or triple (or more) line, he also includes all planned gauge conversion works and planned new lines, it also shows all lines and stations that have been closed, the map legend is in English, German and Spanish.

For more details, go to http://indianrailstuff.com/atlas/


Road maps.

The Lonely Planet India and Bangladesh road atlas is no longer being printed, a pity, it was good, you may still find copies on e-bay or elsewhere. (and in India)

A similar road atlas is the Eicher India road atlas, it's easy to read and a good atlas, read about it at http://maps.eicherworld.com/about.as...&toplink=India

(Eicher also do fantastic city maps of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, extremely detailed, I see they now do some state maps, but I've not viewed any so can't comment)

My favourite maps are the Nelles series of maps, they do 5 regional maps at a scale of 1:1,500,000 - North, West, East, North East (& Bangladesh) and South, very easy on the eye maps, look for the last 5 maps at http://www.mindbird.com/india_maps.htm

The ultimate (though confusing and old) maps of India can be found at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/india/ - click on an area of the map to view a page form the map (or scroll down the page for a list of the maps), these are extremely big maps, don't even try to view a map if you have a slow connection.


Online timetable route map.

'Trains at a glance' is an awesome 'all India' timetable of all mail/express trains, it is an absolute 'must have' if you plan to travel around India, it is available widely in India and you'll normally see it on sale in most of the larger stations.

There is an online (pdf) version, but you'll need the route map as it indicates the table numbers you need to check for trains on each route, view the route map at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Tag...le_No_2007.pdf - you'll need to increase the size to about 125% (just click on the map).

To view the timetables, go to http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Tag0708/ and click on 'Select table no'.

Have fun.

Just to add so taht you know you can now book and plan your railway tickets online at www.irctc.co.in Earlier only people holding Indian Debit / Credit card could book this. But now if you use Citibank gateway to pay you can pay using International Cards.

Good Lord Buddha, Steven! That drop sounds painful!!!!

My problem was accumulative, over the two months there I kept having to heave my backpack onto trains, yank them back from hotel touts @ stations, etc. And finally, my muscles stopped working. I'm much much better now, thanks for asking.

Oh yeah, and I had food poisoning on my very first train ride - overnight from Jaipur to Bikaner. THAT's another story. Still, I love travelling by train in India, so many great people, so many great scenery to keep you eyes busy.

Cheers!

Stevenji, have they started booking wait listed tickets on the e ticket system yet.?

I haven't checked.

Indian Railways asked companies to send in quotes for a new, all inclusive, much improved website with many new features, the quotes had to be in about 10 days ago, so I'm kind of assuming that the new website will have waitlisted e-tickets, though I wouldn't be surprised if they have already started issuing the tickets.

I'm also assuming there will be announcements about this, and the new website in the rail budget (next Tuesday), if not, I'll have a good look through the IR & IRCTC websites for more info and post any details I find.

I paid by credit card for 10. 2A/C Train tickets at the begining of Feb for the overnight train from Delhi to Haridwar (Mussourie Exp. )
I am still wait listed for all the tickets.WL1 to WL10......nearly 60 days before the train leaves from date of purchase........any idea why this train is so full so far in advance ?
Do you think i should cancel and rather go by bus ?
Are wait listed tickets worth taking the chance for ?

Ishvara
South Africa

Just to say ... now I've stopped laughing - I just logged out of indiamike, checked my emails, and found one from IRCTC confirming my registration with them ... at least 5 weeks after I must have contacted them - possibly more. I can't remember, as I did the proposed journeys by plane in the end, and have been home a week now, anyway.

I wish I could say it'll be useful for the next trip - if I knew that would be within the next couple of years or so

People will need to know your exact waitlist numbers in order to be able to comment on your chances of getting a confirmed seat. They should read something like WL X/WL Z; the first number indicates how many seats were waitlisted when the waitlist started; the second indicates the position you came in, and now hold, on the waitlist (if I'm explaining this correctly). So the second number is really all you need to know; the first will never change (it's just there for the Railways to keep an overview, how else would they know how the waitlist progresses, or if it should be shut altogether as there's no chance anymore for anyone to get on), the second ideally will, as you progress along the list.

The reason for them getting clogged up right from the beginning is anyone including you, and travel agents and so on who will buy in bulk, can book 60 days ahead, or today again 90 I believe. Cancellation fees right up to, or even after, departure are minimal, they just increase a little very close to departure, and run up to 50% or so after it. The system means that it's also easy to book any trains you might conceivably want to take, then cancel at the last minute according to the Waitlist situation or your precise wishes.

Because of this all, waitlists tend to start to really move only shortly prior to departure. 60 days ahead there's very little to say about it, but again, if you want an answer, you'll have to give your WL nr. and maybe someone can make an educated guess.

btw If those rides fall through, you will get refunded, but you may have to apply for this yourself, and possibly in time, I don't know the details of this. I'm sure it will be explained on the Railways site http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/

ps Kingstonian I'm not sure what you ran into; booking ahead and online seems to be all people do these days? Although by all accounts that Rails site isn't easy to deal with, but it is reported to work with some persistence; as an aside, I find it isn't easy with many such sites across the world including in Europe, for that matter.

Whatever you do, when you register, don't tick the box that says they can send you information about offers.

Right little spammers they can be! I was getting several a day.

Actually, I sent them a rude e-male last week and they seem to have stopped! Well, that's points, I suppose.

Hi Machadinha

I didn't try very hard over the trains - I'm sure others could get better results than I did if they persisted - I opted for the flights in the end due to lack of time in India, not lack of response from irctc.co.

Gracias Steven..