RE: India :~sleeper train
Hi all,
I thought BTW that I would post on my own transport experiences here for the sake of anyone else, either who posts on HP or who just reads this. ;)So to continue...
I can now answer my own questions. I found a quiet travel agent where good English is spoken. (Station was bedlam.) The rail ticket we had was actually a "RAC". That means Reservation Against Cancellation, I NOW know. And that means that you pay money as though you are reserving, but in fact the train is already booked up. There were, I now know, 31 ahead of us in the RAC queue when we bought the ticket, and there are still 24.
I doubt anyone on HP would care to travel that way! You don't know till the last moment if you have a place, and you may not, or you can sit on the floor for 12 hours ...
Not my cuppa, so I just bought myself a single bus sleeper ticket out at an earlier time. It turns out that the busses are not booked up. It was never a good idea to have got that rail "ticket". I thought someone else knew what it was ;)-- but it turns out not, so I acted for myself.
V 😉
RE: India :~sleeper train
Well done, V
You have done the right thing; at last!
I could have warned you about this but thought you were in pretty good hands already!
Anyone else contemplating making their own arrangements, please note:
1. There are plenty of ticket touts in India, far more than the genuine ones. There are only three ways of ensuring that you get a genuine rail ticket:
(a) From UK- buy online from the official Indian Rail Site, I linked to earlier or get it from the London agent that V linked to. But please NOTE, this is not foolproof. You still have to get the ticket CONFIRMED at an Indian Rail Office, (eg in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and possibly other major cities) at least24 hours (preferably 2 working days) before the rail travel
(b) From Within India- Go to the Foreign Tourist office or counter WITHIN the Indian Rail Station at Delhi, Mumbai etc. Queue. Get the exact ticket that you want using £ traveller's cheques, (Thomas Cook's are best). This is foolproof and they do speak English.
(c) From within India. - Go to a very reliable travel agent and ask him to sort out everything. If you pick carefully, this is the best way. They can book hotels, guidesand the rest too. But please nake sure you get a very good travel agent.
Of course, the agent will charge a commission, which is only fair. We picked a really good one in New Delhi who was superb. Charged only 10% commission on actual prices, which is very reasonable. Arranged all our train tickets within India and the hotel bookings. All done from UK.
2. Coach travel- tickets easier to get but a far riskier mode of travel.
3. The kind of ticket that V got is far too common, in fact by far the most common. Please do not fall in this trap. What happens is that speculators(travel agents)buy up a huge number of tickets in advance and try to sell these genuine tickets to customers. Meanwhile Indian Rail does sell a lot of these tickets which only become valid when a genuine ticket holder cancels. What V got was one of these wait-&-see type.
If you go to a good travel agent you will get the genuine ticket, admittedly at an inflated price.
If you go to Indian Rail Foreign Tourist counter, you will also get a genuine ticket at the correct price. But you will have toshow your passport and buy using £ or $ using cash notes or traveller's cheques (Cooks). Also you will have to know exactly what you want, whereas a good travel agent will give good advice for free.
No doubt our man in Karnataka, 00V himself, will tell us.
All the best.
Prashna.
RE: India :~sleeper train
oh I'm just gutted you're not going to Osho.
But what auseful thread!
Sharonx
RE: India :~sleeper train
Good heavens, Prashna. You make India sound like a horribly scary and difficult place to be. I have to say that I have made many rail bookings on my own and never had a problem. What I usually do is look up the train number on line and then go to the rail station and fill in a form requesting whichever class of ticket I require for that train. (Used to be 2nd class but I've upgraded this year!) Then I get my ticket and pay in rupees. It's all computerised now at the stations and on the few occasions that I have accepted a waitlisted ticket, I've then telephoned a special number nearer the time to discover how far I've moved up the list. I was once No. 74 and still got a berth on the train.
As for drinking water, I do have to say, V, that I think you've gone from one extreme to the other! You really can't tell how safe water is by looking at it! I drink bottled water most of the time, filtered water or boiled water for most of the rest of the time and only drink 'ordinary' water in about two places in the whole South.
Sorry to sound so smug - I can remember when I was 'new' in India and yes, it was confusing and overwhelming but it all gradually becomes clear!
With love
Sunanda (online at Chennai airport on my way back to UK alas - but thrilled to have been upgraded by BA and therefore looking forward to a comfy flight!) xxx:)
RE: India :~sleeper train
ORIGINAL: sunanda
Good heavens, Prashna. You make India sound like a horribly scary and difficult place to be. I have to say that I have made many rail bookings on my own and never had a problem. What I usually do is look up the train number on line and then go to the rail station and fill in a form requesting whichever class of ticket I require for that train. (Used to be 2nd class but I've upgraded this year!) Then I get my ticket and pay in rupees. It's all computerised now at the stations and on the few occasions that I have accepted a waitlisted ticket, I've then telephoned a special number nearer the time to discover how far I've moved up the list. I was once No. 74 and still got a berth on the train.
Hi Sunanda,
Good of you to give the other side. I think we operate on very different timeframes.
We go very rarely to India and so each visit is very precious. Secondly, We have to spend a lot of time with our relatives and some friends even. Thirdly we are most risk-averse and really are most uncomfortable with the idea of wait-listing.
If none of these apply, then indeed it is possible to buy tickets with INR at the normal counters. But if demand is heavy and your choice limited, then you could lose precious time. Which you may not have.
So my suggestions were simply to make the most efficient use of time, which in my view is of paramount importance on holiday. Others with different values and time frames will find their best compromise.
Regards.
Prashna
PS: I have never visited Dakshinatya (South India) and so cannot comment on how busy the Southern Railways are.
My comments are based ontravelsmainly on Eastern and Northern Railways. The comments about crowding and jostling apply to popular trains and classes below A/c or First Class. In normal sleeper trains, it can get quite hectic, as we found out on a recent night journey from Agra to Jaipur.
'Foreign tourist's are allocated guaranteed seats from a special quota.To avail this it is necessary to follow the procedure I have outlined.
Our travel agent had obtained guaranteed seats for us for all our train journeys except the sleeper from Agra to Jaipur. He hadthe "RAC" as it was the best he could do and because of his efforts on our behalf, we were high on the quota. Even so, we declined it and walked across to the Foreign tourist office in the Main Railway Station in New Delhi. Half an hour later, we walked out with guaranteed reserved sleeping berths, from the foreign tourist quota. Even our travel agent was impressed!