Train seating class, first time Indian Railway rider

I would like to know what each of the classes of seats available are like. I'm traveling with one other person and would like to know things like how many seats are in a row, are they in its own "room"? What is a berth? What are the differences between the 1A, 2A, etc classes? I like my privacy, so would like us to at least have just two seats with no other person sitting there in a third available seat, if this makes sense.
This will be my first time traveling by train in India. I read something on IM about the wait listed tickets and RAC tickets, which was all extremely confusing. We tend to purchase our travel tickets a day before we intend to leave. Will this be a problem on the higher class seating? Any other information you may have would also be appreciated. I've never really traveled by rail except in Europe but we had 21 day passes in first class and didn't have to really arrange anything at all, and such a thing isn't nearly cost effective here. So remember I don't know train jargon. Thanks..

Start off with a look at the stickies in this railways subforum iteslf. A few are pertinent ones are mentioned below.

Knowing the Indian Train

Sleeper Class details & photos.

RAC and Waitlists explained.

Another option is the India page on seat61.com

other threads listed would help get an idea of each class & what it offers. please note that you cannot book an extra seat (without passenger) to ensure more privacy.
buying tkts with 1 day notice is a bit tricky. for most of the trains, you may not have availability. so you are left with tatkal (one day before departure, at premium, with little chance unless done thru a reliable agent with his 'links'), FT quota for foreign tourist (if still available) or HO quota for high official (if you have the right links in IR).

So if I wanted to book something two days out, would that be possible? In a/c comfortable private or semi private seating?

Could you tell me more about the foreign tourists option?
Thanks.

You have some information Foreign tourist quota

Note that not all trains have FTQ and if available it will not be for all class.

You can check www.indiarail.info

For example this shows the availability of FTQ in all trains on July 19 2012 between Delhi and Mumbai.

Issokay, only to add to the good replies above, a current thread on issues regarding booking trains ahead and how to do it is here: http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...012-a-t165379/. Studying it will also make it sink in how traveling "on the fly" by train in India isn't easy. If anything, it will require time, patience, and flexibility -- and a supernatural sense of humor.

That India page at Seat61 mentioned above is here: http://www.seat61.com/India.htm#classes, this link takes you straight to its overview of train classes. It is no longer complete on all of the modern variants, but still covers pretty much all of the essentials. Do study that entire page, too. (I know that for instance Lonely Planet covers the railway system really well in just a few comprehensible pages, btw, or at least up until a few editions ago, I have no reason to assume they wouldn't now. You'd expect any other guidebook worth its salt to do the same. Entirely up-to-date with the latest changes they of course can't be by nature.)

You can search this site on my username +"on the fly" to find my previous takes on it, I've often commented on it. If you care to dig through this thread: Itinerary draft Northern India 6-8weeks Nov/Dec, it contains some of the lengthier of my notoriously lengthy posts, however I touch there on my takes on indeed traveling on the fly in India, on busing instead, and on Tatkal and the FTQ and their drawbacks, and linking on to other posts of mine on it. Similar stuff of mine (and, of course, always by others) would be along e.g. this thread: India Travel Feasiblity.

Happy planning, now, and welcome to IndiaMike When and where and how long for are you planning to go?

X - Cross posted with Mach - X


http://www.seat61.com/India.htm#classes

Only possible if you are lucky enough to be allocated a coupe in 1AC. As Indian train travel is heavily subsidised a nd most trains are overbooked any empty seats will be treated as a no show and re-allocated.

Almost certainly it will be a problem. Train bookings start 120 days before the day of travel and are often full weeks before the day. It sounds like you want 1AC accommodation which is in short supply on many trains. 1AC is not available in Foreign Tourist Quota except for a handful of trains.


There are things called Indrail passes which might help you.
have a look here.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...012-a-t165379/

You don't say when you are planning to travel. With IR forward planning is your friend.

We're in New Delhi now. We can stay 180 days on our tourist visa, and we intend to do so. We've been here for about three weeks, I guess. Next I think we'll be going to Agra, then possibly Varanasi, Kolkata, then we may head around central India on our way to Goa, eventually making our way to Chennai to fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka as we will still have almost a year left on our vacation. We've already been to Bali & Java Indonesia. (Saw Borobudur!), Singapore, a layover in Kunming, China, and before India, we were in Kathmandu & Lukla, Nepal. After Sri Lanka will be Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China (mainland), South Korea, & Japan.
I can handle logistics pretty well but the Indian Railway system just seems so unnecessarily complicated, confusing, antiquated, other words, too.. I guess I'll just have to see what happens when I tell them I want two 1A tickets from Delhi to Agra for one of the next two days... I know they'll love having to deal with me, it being my first time booking...

Ah, well, you know, this is going to sound old-fart'ish, but either way if you ask me, one major drawback of the internet, and perhaps to an extent of guidebooks before it, is this illusion that everything should and ought to to be plannable in advance and at the click of a button. Certainly a country like India doesn't lend itself well to that, anyway. Though I suppose one can try, to an extent, and perhaps depending on budget.

If you have your 180 days, you will pick it up as you go along, I am very sure. If a train don't go here, certainly a bus might, or it or a train will go elsewhere. It is kind of how I and so many got the knack of it, some twenty years ago in my case. Granted, trains didn't book out so easily back then, it's a major difference. But, you know, you'll get around; sometimes frustratedly so, at other times just fine and when you least expected it.

Enjoy, now! And if any trouble, as hopefully you've found this forum is just a keyboard away

That's quite a trip you've been doing & have ahead of you still, btw, good for you. I'm sure nothing much should be very daunting to you no mo' Again: Enjoy!

You old hippy Mach. The flaw with your non-plan for the OP is that not too many empty 1AC compartments will come along while he whiles away the time in Boondoggle UP.

Thanks (from an ol' hippie punk rocker, or was that a punk rocking hippie)

Yes, however with 180 days to play with and a sufficient open-mindedness and sense of humor, my idea was you'll get where you want to be sooner or later, or perhaps end up in unexpected places sometimes, instead.

Perhaps still the best way to see India, if you do ask me ; the luxury of time will of course be of the essence here. Apparently the poster has that. Do not be afraid to opt for some "lower" transport modes instead sometimes; or conversely, perhaps higher than you were aiming for, if indeed it gets you to where you want to be. The good news to travelers is India and unlike many another place perhaps generally doesn't bite much. It is by-and-large really a very safe place, probably much more so than many of the places us foreigners live in, or visit. Of course a certain street-wiseness never hurts, anywhere in the world, but all in all it may be called on much less here than indeed in many another place. Well, perhaps the usual tourist rip-off schemes apart, but on the whole, nothing much physically threatening.

ps Certainly a thing to add would be that of course the more one wants to limit oneself in terms of class of transport and accommodation, and such, the more one, well, will find one's options limited.

As noted above by Dave, the higher train classes number (far) fewer seats, so book out even more easily. Whereas conversely in Unreserved Class (not necessarily recommended, certainly not for longer or overnight train rides, but just by way of perspective) you can always travel along -- provided of course you even manage to get on, and manage once you are on board, if you do, with everyone else doing just that. (Make no mistake, while Unreserved aka General Class can sometimes be quite OK or near-deserted, more often than not this will really be like several tins of sardins all jammed into one -- and to an outsider at least, there'll be little telling which it's going to be. On a longer journey, those carriages will mysteriously fill up to the brim and beyond, then empty again, all the time, too. To do with significance of those stations and stretches, of course.)

Similarly, a long-standing complaint in the Indian hospitality industry itself and the bodies governing it is that mid- to certainly high-range accommodation and facilities so far fail to keep up with the demand, and with that demand having boomed over say the past decade or so. Both with a steeply increasing influx of foreign tourists at that level, and a domestic market being able to afford it having quite quickly developed. So again, if anything pre-booking here becomes more of an issue, and you may well find your destinations to meet those demands more limited; though conversely, in no few an off-beat place that isn't easily reached without your own wheels anyway, you may find nothing but such facilities. (Now indeed preferably or necessarily pre-booked, sometimes well in advance.)

It's where my notions of time and patience and flexibility and a good sense of humor kick in. Lacking any of those, and the more you wish to wing it, (and perhaps and no doubt depending on budget, though I think people shouldn't be mistaken what even the highest budgets will do for you. If there's no flight, there's no flight, period, save for buying the jet perhaps. Etc.), no doubt the country can quickly drive you just stark raving nuts.

Based on limited experience with AC1 it seems to me that these represent pretty poor value for money and are often left unpurchased, as to how often I couldn't guess but I've upgraded to 1AC three times from a lower class, whilst on the train..There is often a VIP quota in 1AC which doesn't get used too, no waiting list means these go empty..

Downside of this theory is of course there aren't many 1AC berth on a train so there's not many TO sell in the first place but I reckon at least some trains don't sell out their 1Ac berth..

.

Well first you'll have to present them with a option, so you'll need a train name and number to put on the form so as to proceed.
the most populat train is the Bhopal Shatabdi but that doesn't have availability until the 19th I note

This train has availability in 2AC from 17th onwards on the FT quota which is perfectly fine for such a short journey, especially as the four berth cabin may be exactly what you get in 1ac anyway

12412 GONDWANA EXPRES NZM 15.25 AGC 18.47 travel time 03.22hrs

I don't mind traveling in seats that resemble an airplane seat layout. I just want to be comfortable. I still don't quite understand the differences between the a/c classes (1A, 2A, etc) and separately, the differences, if any between the (two?) sleeper classes, if there are two. So I'm not actually wanting to limit myself to Executive First Class Gold Standard Diamond Car, I just thought it may be a good place to start out so I know something about the seating having been on the train, I'm just wanting to get out of New Delhi. We've been here for 3-4 wks and two of those weeks I was sick, so I'm just ready to move on. Agra is a rather short trip, 2-4hrs depending on the train from what I saw. I've looked at all of those links and pictures but I'm a little stressed about it and I guess I'm having problems retaining it. I'm actually on psychiatric medication for social anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, among other, more body-related injuries/issues. Yes I have plenty of my medication, but I mention this to provide you with e knowledge that I'm easily overwhelmed with something new and seemingly so convoluted in its "organization" - to me, at the moment. So what should I expect if I just try to book a comfortable a/c seat, seated with my boyfriend, if I book it 1-2 days in advance NDLS-AGC? At the moment I just want a comfortable seat since its a short enough trip...

I wish I could just tell them the day I want to travel, and where to, I don't care about the time or train much, all I care about is having a confirmed seat... So inefficient