The Russians have found Atlantis. Atlantis: beautiful legend or reality? What gives the establishment of the exact location of Atlantis

I have traveled in India many times. And it has always been independent travel. I will say more - my first independent travels began precisely with India. It was both very tempting and very scary at the same time. Do not start with a comfortable and correct Europe, but immediately plunge into Indian culture, with an incomprehensible mentality and way of life for us. Subconsciously, I was drawn to India and, finally, at some point, I decided.

I'm going, I said to myself! For 2 months I studied everything related to this amazing and mysterious country, from the gods to modern transport. I went. Stunned by the country. I went into culture shock. Has arrived. Retreated from culture shock. When I came to my senses, I realized that I want to go there again! And more, and more ... Soon I met Alla and offered to make another one together. So we began to prepare another joint trip.

We had plans to visit about 10 cities in different states of the country and ashrams in them. India is not small. To understand the scale: from north to south by train you can get 3 days. Not Russia of course, but nevertheless, the country is big. There were no questions about how we would get to the designated places. Of course on Indian trains!

Almost all of India is entangled in a network of railways that connects more or less all major cities and towns. In terms of its length, the Indian railway ranks 3rd in the world after Russia and China. The most convenient way to travel around the country is by rail. You can closely communicate with the locals and at the same time look at nature from the window.

At first glance, it may seem that their railway network is somehow chaotic and incorrect, and trains are even more incomprehensible. But this is at first glance. Having carefully studied it, you will understand how they have everything clearly set.

India train classes

There are several classes of trains. Depending on how far you want to go and how much you expect, you choose the type of car and boldly start moving on them.

AC First class or 1 class - the most expensive and comfortable type of carriage. It is used by the richest Indians and wealthy tourists. Sometimes the price is comparable to the prices of economy class air tickets of many Indian airlines. This class happens mainly on long-distance trains. The compartment has 2 or 4 shelves. The compartment is closed by a door. The windows are covered with tinted film and do not open. Air conditioning available + free food and linens. Travel for 1000 km = 3500 rupees.

AC Sleeper Tier or 2AC - cheaper than class 1 by almost 2 times. From this it is no less comfortable and suitable for long-distance travel. The compartment has 4 shelves + 2 side shelves in the aisle. There are no doors in the compartment, but from the passage, the compartment is fenced off with a thick curtain. Side shelves also with curtains. In such cars it is quiet and calm. Indians on trains are generally very quiet. Even children. We were amazed that we never heard the cry of a child, although we knew that several children and one baby were traveling in the car. The windows are also tinted and do not open. There is air conditioning. Bed linen is free. 2 toilets on each side. And also a washbasin in each vestibule. Not in the toilet, but separately. To wash and brush your teeth, you do not have to wait in line for the toilet. By the way, the queue, apparently, is why there is no. Food for money.

Appearance of car 3AC

AC Sleeper Tier or 3AC - inexpensive option with air conditioning. It costs about 1.5 times cheaper than class 2, that is, approximately 1000 rupees. The compartment has 6 shelves + 2 sides. During the day, the middle shelf leans back so that you can sit on the bottom one during the day. Therefore, it is better to buy a place on the top shelf. At any time you can lie down and at the same time go down to sit on the bottom shelf. The compartments are not fenced off from the passage. There is air conditioning. The windows are tinted and do not open. Bed linen is free. Food for money. 2 toilets on each side. 1 washbasin on each side.

Side shelves of the sleeper car

Second Class Sleeper, SL , sleeper or just a sleeping car - cheap, no frills. Just in this class you can get to know the most ordinary Indians. Opposite you will sit students with a bunch of books or a large family that will eat rice on banana leaves with their hands, and then throw the rest out the window. During the day, just like in the 3AC class, the middle shelf folds down. Windows without glass, closed with bars and closed with shutters at night. In general, everything is strict with them. The doors in the vestibules are usually not closed (they are only locked at night), i.e. You can admire the scenery from the open door. Bed linen is not provided. Food for money. There are no air conditioners, but there are 3 strong fans working on the compartment, correctly directed in different directions. Their speed can be adjusted as desired.

Wagon AC Chair or SS

AC Chair or simply SS - sitting car. There is air conditioning. Suitable for short trips. Travel in this class will cost 2 times cheaper than in 2AC.

There is also a class Executive Chair Car or EC - 2 times more expensive than a simple SS.

And finally, I’ll tell you about my “favorite” class: General Class, Second Class- shared wagon.

General Class, Second Class - shared carriage

Can you imagine that a small urban-type settlement fits into one carriage? After a short trip in such a carriage, I can easily do it! We decided to drive from the southernmost point of India, the city of Kanyakumari, to Varkala. Only 4 stops and 3 hours drive, we thought and bought tickets without seats. I knew that the car could quickly fill up at the nearest stations, but the Russian maybe did its job and we calmly took our places in the middle of the car.

Wanting to take a picture with a white person

Leaving the terminal station, it was still half empty. The Indians always wanted to take pictures with us, and to keep them behind us, we temporarily mastered the profession of a fashion model. At the very first stop, a bunch of Indians ran in and took not only the empty seats, but also the aisles. At the next stations, people could no longer push through to the doors. Indians hung in the doors, protruded from the windows, and several pairs of students lay on the upper shelves. And the man sitting opposite me suddenly started yelling at his neighbor, who apparently wanted to move his bag and accidentally or not climbed into someone else's territory. A transformation has taken place before our eyes - the calm, intelligent Indian has disappeared. Instead, a furious baboon appeared. There was a feeling that this angry baboon was protecting his family and territory from an enemy invasion. The whole car got involved in the process and found out something. For 10 minutes there was a scream throughout the carriage, then immediately everything died down, the baboon again became a man, turned to us and stated with the sweetest benevolent smile: “This is the real India, madam.”

The train was 3 hours late. But we, nevertheless, reached Varkala. Our two exhausted bodies were squeezed out of the car without any damage, which made us incredibly happy and surprised. We exhaled and noticed: now we know what a common car is. Knowledge and experience is great, but next time we will go in a different class! This is in the near future.

In this video, Indians are not going to the football match. They just get to the place they need in the common carriage:

Meals on Indian trains

It is difficult to stay hungry on trains in India. They constantly carry tea and coffee, cookies, chips and all sorts of snacks. They also offer bottled water, vegetarian food or scrambled eggs. Order food from vendors. In grades 1-3, they go at a certain time with a pen and a notebook, and ask who will do what. You can also eat at the stations. But remember that Indian food is very spicy. If this does not suit your stomach, then stock up on other foods in advance.

For novice travelers, I advise you not to be extreme and start riding 2AC and 3AC classes. Then, after riding, you will understand whether you want more extreme sports in shared cars or comfort in 1AC. We made a choice for ourselves. queue for you)

Sincerely,

We go to the railway station.
We needed a train to Khajuraho- places where the temples depict essentially pornography: fragments from Kamasutra.
The reception of the inn from where we looked at the corpses floating along the Ganges could not help us, because the site for booking railway tickets hung deafly from last evening.
We go to the station...
Mom dear!
The gypsy camp will seem white soft and fluffy than what lies on the floor.

Where do you buy tickets here?
Aha! : sent to a separate booking hall.
Before you buy something at the box office, you need to fill out a piece of paper, where you indicate the direction, final destination, names and ages of passengers.

It turns out that the train Khajuraho He walks 3 times a week, and as luck would have it, we ended up on the day when he doesn't go.
We are advised to go to the main building - there is a ticket office especially for tourists.
The trip is about nothing - they book tickets there for several days in advance - for advance, but the trip is still successful: the policeman somehow slyly smiling offers us tickets without a seat, just boarding the train to the city Sotna.
- And from it you drive to Khajuraho by car for 2 hours.
Everything seems to be fine, but the policeman is smiling slyly.
We still decide to take the risk.

We are escorted from the back door to the ticket office, where we buy boarding passes for 30 rupees.
Then Andrei asks to take us to the controller, so that he confirms our possible seats.
The controller confirms and writes our places on a piece of paper.

Yes, everything is fine. Therefore, I propose an algorithm for buying train tickets in India:

Buy a boarding ticket without a seat.
Sit in any free seat in a carriage of this class - which is in your boarding.
Wait for the controller to come and pay him the rest of the money - for the place

The Indian cast iron is a bit similar to our reserved seat cars and at the same time it is not similar.
I will write about those cars in which I had a chance to ride:
Class 3 AC wagon: this is our reserved seat car, if we add a third sleeping shelf to it. One "compartment" is designed for 6 people + 3 seats on the side.
Whatever you say - our reserved seats are more humane: 4 + 2 side ones.
In the trip mode, people in a single section of the car are concentrated as follows:
three + three usually sit on the bottom shelf facing each other, like in an electric train. If someone immediately decided to go to sleep - climbs to the third shelf
On the side places: usually someone lies on the top and one lies on the bottom, and where the third one - the devil knows where, apparently joins 3 + 3 ...
In general, it looks like this:

The middle shelf is used as a seat back from below, and the top (third) is always in the unfolded state.
The conductor spreads the bed linen, having previously shaken off the cockroaches from it (sheet, towel and woolen blanket).
Linen color is grey.

The side seats and the “compartment” are hung with curtains, so that when you enter the car and walk along the narrow corridor past the curtains, the main thing is to look both ways and not bump your face against the dirty heel sticking out from behind the curtain.
It is also customary to fart and burp in the carriage - why restrain yourself?

There is an air conditioner in the car, which makes it so cold that you have to go to the vestibule to warm up.
The conductor sleeps in the vestibule, on a special shelf.

There are 2 toilets in the vestibule: one with a sucked push, the other with a hole in the floor - like a toilet.
In the vestibule, the doors to the street do not close, so that you have to hold on to something so as not to fly out at full speed into the street if the car shakes.
You can smoke in the vestibule near the toilets, it helps not to smell the persistent smell of urine ...

2 class AC wagon, the same as class 3, only the layout is like that of our reserved seat car: 4 + 2 on the side
They also traveled in a carriage of some kind of electric train.
I think this shared wagon no class.
A distinctive feature of such a car is fans on the ceiling.
Windows with bars and no glass.
Or rather, the windows can be lowered if there is no rain outside.
I liked this train: it's not cold, you can smoke out the window. Here's roughly what it is:

We entered the wagon.
They sat down in empty seats.
Nearby sat two young guys and one hard worker. Two immediately moved to another place as soon as we opened a bottle of rum.
The hard worker looked at us like we were aliens.
He refused to drink rum, but ate all the chips and cookies that we treated him to.
Then, at a convenient opportunity, he moved to another place.
So the three of us rode on two benches (6 people are supposed to).
About 15 minutes after the start of the train, the conductor came up.
Immediately, 50% of the benches were vacated in the car. I understand that those who do not want to pay for a seat go standing up.
We bought places, something for 150 rupees per person.
So, those who do not want to pay for a seat go squatting in the vestibule or standing. Like this guy in the photo behind us:

Meanwhile, the train to Khajuraho dragged like a turtle, constantly stopping and letting oncoming trains pass. And then there was such a downpour that it seemed that parking in a remote place, among some bushes, would be eternal. In the meantime, the air conditioner sold out in earnest and I had to run out into the vestibule to warm up.
Oleg and I were traveling in the same compartment, and Andrei was in another carriage - a higher class. I went to him, so as to warn that our station was expected in 30 minutes.
I go into his car - and there everything is in curtains and it is not clear where to look for him. You won’t push them all apart and see who lives in the house. Rescued Indian

• Uuuu, ahh … he said something and happily showed on the coupe.
  I look, Andryukha is sitting on a bench, and opposite my grandmother lies and sleeps on the bottom shelf. You, Andryukha, why grandmother ...?
  We agreed that we would meet on the platform in 30 minutes, when our station would be.
  We met and went to the exit to the city. The taxi drivers are here already.

• How long until Khajuraho? 1500? No, let's go for 1200. Do you agree? Go.

That is, a distance of more than 100 km for three people in a comfortable jeep similar to the G-class Mercedes cost us 300 rubles per person. I wish Moscow had such taxi prices...

On the way we stopped at a liquor store and bought rum and gin (I did not like the local rum - it is very sweet for me - and I drank only gin).
We drive along narrow roads, the driver turns into a ditch, avoiding a collision with oncoming trucks and buses. But he himself periodically drives cars and rickshaws to the side of the road.
Therefore, I understood the Indian traffic rules as follows: whoever has a bigger car in India has an advantage on the road.

Everyone drives at night with high beams. How they see something on the road after they disperse and do not crash into cows grazing on the road is a mystery to me.
Cows by the way - really zadolbali. I'll probably give up beef now and eat chicken and vegetables. As an Indian...

Arrived at Khajuraho we are around 23:00.
The streets are deserted. It is noticeable that the village (and this is a village) lives prosperously because of its well-known temples.
On the outskirts there are signs pointing to the Holliday Inn and other chain hotels. Well, we're going to the hotel. Harmony booked online
All Khajuraho Hotels

5 /5 (12 )

A train ride in India provides you with much more comfort than a bus ride, especially over long distances. Some large cities in India have an extensive commuter rail network that offers great opportunities for travellers. At the same time, it should be remembered that during peak hours, Indian trains are usually overcrowded with passengers.

Part of the seats in most long-distance trains is quota for foreign tourists. Tickets can be purchased at special departments or ticket offices located in the main cities and tourist centers of the country (if you intend to pay for a ticket in rupees, you should have a receipt from the exchange office or an ATM printout).

Many stations have inexpensive luggage storage with a daily fee.
During the holidays, as well as with an increase in passenger traffic at the peak of the tourist season, additional trains are introduced in some directions. At this time, you should be especially careful, because. there were cases of death and injury of passengers in a stampede on crowded station platforms.

If you intend to travel extensively by train, we recommend that you purchase the Trains at a Glance information booklet at any major station, containing, among other things, the schedule of all trains for the area.
Official website of Indian Railways: http://www.indianrai... and https://www.irctc.co.in
Indian train schedule between the main stations can be viewed via the link (links are constantly changing!) on the sites http://www.indianrai... and http://enquiry.india... , viewing of intermediate stations is also available there.

Indian train classes

The fastest and most expensive trains in India are the Shatabdi Exp., which runs between the main cities of the country within one day. There are only two classes on these trains: "seated air-conditioned" (AC chair) and "seated air-conditioned superior" (AC executive chair). Shatabdi are comfortable, but double-glazed carriage windows impair visibility, so in this regard, express trains lose to ordinary unconditioned carriages of slower trains, in whose windows you will see bars instead of glass.
Rajdhani Express (Rajdhani Exp.) provides communication between and state capitals and has the following classes:

- “first air-conditioned” (AC 1st class, 1AC) is an analogue of our SV, a double compartment with a closing door, wide seats, a wardrobe, a mirror and even a washbasin. The cost of this class is not much different from the cost of a plane ticket.
- "two-shelf air-conditioned" (two-tier AC, 2AC). "Double-shelf" means that in each compartment of the car there are two tiers of shelves + side seats, that is, a total of 6 seats separated by curtains. Such a compartment is slightly larger, and the shelves are slightly longer than in the "three-shelf" class.
- "three-shelf air-conditioned" (three-tier AC, 3AC) - 8 seats, no curtains;
- "second class" (2nd class).
The cost of a ticket in the "two-shelf" and "three-shelf" classes is, respectively, about half and a third of the ticket price in the first class. Both classes are suitable for long journeys.

Other express and mail trains tend to have classes 2AC, "sitting" (chair car), "non-air-conditioned sleeper" (non-AC sleeper, bring your own bed linen), and "second non-air-conditioned" (non-AC 2nd class) . The cost of a ticket in an "unair-conditioned sleeping" car is about a quarter of the cost of a "two-bay" one.

An air-conditioned AC car on a train (regardless of its name) implies the presence of a conductor, bed linen and blankets, comparative cleanliness, the absence of strangers (or beggars) in the car, and, of course, pleasant coolness or real cold, so the upper shelves in 3AC, located directly under the conditioner, it is not recommended to take.

The advantage of class AC is that you are assigned a seat that you can use for the duration of your trip. In unconditioned trains, seats are indicated nominally, in addition, you can only take your seat completely at night, during the daytime 1-2-3 more uninvited people who bought a ticket without a seat can sit on it.

Passenger class trains, following short distances, are an analogue of our electric trains, depending on the state and direction, the type of trains ranges from cars with benches, doors on rails (such as vans) and propellers on the ceiling to compartments for 8 people. In turn, such a compartment can have both wooden benches and shelves for luggage, as well as soft seats, and cars of different types can even be in 1 train. Seats in such trains are also numbered, but conditionally, the principle “who had time - he sat down” applies here.

A big plus of Indian trains is the presence of a toilet (except for heated cars), in cars there are 2 toilets at the beginning and at the end. Class AC carriages usually have 1 Indian toilet and 1 European toilet on each side.

The staff of major railway stations, as a rule, speaks English. At smaller stations, English is usually spoken by senior staff.

Railway ticket prices in India

Fares are calculated based on distance. Full fare information can be found on the Indian Railways website (see above) or in the Trains in a Nutshell brochure. As a rule, if you are traveling more than 500 km, you can make one stop along the way (no more than two days); in this case, you need to mark your ticket with the station master or ticket collector at the station where you decide to stay.
Bedding in 1AC (and often 3AC) is provided free of charge. In non-air-conditioned first class, they cost 20 rupees. Free meals are provided on the Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains, and cheap meals can be ordered on other long-distance trains.
Tickets can be returned with a refund (no later than 12 hours after the departure of the train). When returning a ticket 2 hours before departure, 50% of it was returned to us. There is no refund for a lost ticket.
There are for elderly passengers (30% for people over 60).

Indian railway stations
At major stations there are always, sometimes even very decent ones. In such restics, a branded one is sold, packaged specifically for the railway, it is recommended to buy it. In addition, at all stations on the platforms there are stalls and mobile food kiosks where you can buy bananas, biscuits and water in addition to thali.

The main stations have "rest rooms". " Rest rooms railway stations will be available to you with a ticket or Indrail Pass. The quality of the rooms can vary from very poor to unexpectedly good and often depends on the class of your carriage (AC or not). A good option is if you have to board an early train. At the same time, lounges at main stations can be noisy. There are both dorms (dormitories) and rooms (private rooms)" - Lonly Planet, p.1031.
Achadidi tried several times to move into such a rest room, but there was never a place.

All railway stations have luggage storage, which usually work from early morning until late in the evening, do not forget to check the opening hours on the scoreboard at the entrance to the left-luggage office. The cost of 1 piece of luggage per day is about 10-15 rupees, depending on the period of storage. It is better to take things to the storage room in a locked or packed in a plastic bag, otherwise their safety is not guaranteed.

All stations have waiting rooms, and at large stations they are different for AS passengers and everyone else. Non-AC waiting rooms have propellers, but the toilet is often paid, for AC passengers there is a free toilet, shower, often air conditioning and soft seats where you can even sleep.

Buying a railway ticket in India

The purchase of tickets for personalized express trains is carried out at the reservation offices, for passenger trains at the ticket office of the station. If an express ticket can be purchased for any day, then for a local train only on the day of departure. All stations in India have a reservation system, almost all reservation offices, major cities also have tourist offices.
For an express ticket in India, you need to fill out a form that indicates the name of the train, its number and the class that you need. For a long distance trip, it is best to buy a ticket in advance - at least a couple of days before departure. If the station does not have a special ticket office for foreign tourists, you will have to queue with the locals. Often there are separate ticket offices (and queues) for men and women, such as "for women traveling alone".
If you do not want to stand in line, you can contact one of the travel agencies, which will provide you with a ticket for a small commission. At the same time, you should beware of cunning travel agents who may try to sell you a ticket for the mail train at the price of an express train. Do not leave the agent a full prepayment and carefully study the ticket before completing the calculation.
The ticket clearly indicates the seat and carriage numbers. In addition, a list of passengers indicating their seat may be posted at the entrance to the carriage. The car number is often written in chalk next to the list.
If there are no seats on the train you need, you can ask the cashier to put you on a waiting list. Another solution is to buy a ticket in a non-reserved class and try to make an in-flight upgrade. To do this, you need to go to a good class car and find the conductor (or TTE, Traveling Ticket Examiner). If you are lucky, you will be credited with the cost of the already purchased ticket and will charge you the difference and a small fee of approx. 30 rupees.

Please also note that having bought a train ticket, if there are seats in a better class carriage, you can “move into” it with the help of a conductor, paying the difference in price.

Train Passes

They allow you to travel on Indian railways without restrictions during the period of their validity. They are expensive and do not give you any privileges compared to other passengers. To fully justify the purchase, you will have to drive 300 km every day. Sold by travel agencies in many countries, as well as in all major cities in India.
5 to 12 year olds travel on Indian railways at half price.”

A trip to India has been long desired, a photograph of this multifaceted country has adorned my wish list for several years. But as it usually happens, one thing after another, and my cherished journey remained a dream. I studied a lot of information about India, but somehow I didn’t bother to read about trains. Of course, I was aware that super comfort was not worth waiting for, but knowing some things in advance, I would greatly simplify my Indian trip and keep my nerves in a box. In this article, I want to talk about our journey through India and what you need to know about local trains.

Where to see the timetable

On the official site

On the site you can see the train schedule in India and, in theory, buy tickets online. We had difficulties with the purchase, everything is very confusing. There is a quota for tickets for tourists, there is a quota for tickets for locals, payment does not go through all cards, but, as they say on the forums, only through cards issued by Indian banks. Plus, you need to go through a long registration. For more than an hour we tried to figure it out, gave up and went to the railway station.

At the railway station

At the station, you can not only see the timetable, but also buy tickets without any problems. At all major stations there is an International Tourist Bureau ticket office, where they will advise you on the route, trains, and help you buy tickets. This method is the easiest and cheapest, as tickets are sold at the official price without additional fees.

At the tourist office

You can also buy tickets at the travel agency, but with one caveat - you will pay a commission to the agency. And if you get on bad people, you can pay 2-3 times more than the recommended price. In addition, having come to the tourist office, they will impose other services on you: excursions, transfers, hotels. Assuring that it is for you that they are ready to sell them at the lowest price in the city, of course this is not true! I recommend that you check the price on the official website in advance so that you understand how much you are overpriced. Knowing the official prices, you can bargain and reduce the price to an adequate one. We tried not to go to travel agencies, but all the same, once we were lured and we, like blind kittens, .

What class of wagon to choose

There are 6 different categories of wagons in India. Before the trip, you should learn about each of them in more detail, as the wrong choice can lead to irreparable consequences.

AC Chair (Code: СС)

AC Chair (CC) is a comfortable carriage with air conditioning. Soft seats with tables, like on board an airplane. This class is convenient for traveling short distances (up to 6 hours on the way). This class is traveled by Indians whose wealth is average or above average. The carriages are usually clean and suitable for Europeans to travel.

Second class (Code: 2S)

Second class / Second Sitting (Code: 2S) - a general second class carriage, without specific seats. This is the cheapest class possible, so the poor people of the country move with it. As a rule, the carriages are terribly overcrowded; people lie down to sleep in them even on the floor or in vestibules. There are bars on the windows without glass, so there is a strong draft in the cars. I would not recommend tourists to travel by carriage of this class, as it can be unsafe, both from a sanitary point of view and from a criminal point of view.

Sleeping car (Code: SL)

Sleeping car / Sleeper Class (Code: SL) - somewhat reminiscent of our reserved seat, but the compartment has not four, but six shelves (three tiers). You can only ride lying on the third shelf, this is even if you managed to take the top places. The middle shelves are raised only at night, since there is a small distance between the first and second shelves and it is impossible to sit on the first one with the second shelf raised. Linen is not given out, usually they go to bed right on the shelf. There are a lot of beggars and sellers in the car, so peace and quiet do not shine for you. The carriages are without air conditioning, and the windows are without glass, so there is a high probability of catching a cold. I would also not recommend this class to tourists, despite the fact that it is much safer than the previous one.

Air Conditioned Third Class (Code: 3AC)

Third class with air conditioning / AC 3 Tier (Code: 3AC) — the car is somewhat similar to the previous one, but still more comfortable. The carriages are equipped with air conditioning, and the windows are glass. This class is newer and cleaner than the Sleeper Class. There is a conductor in the carriages who maintains order and provides free bedding and blankets. Of the minuses: it is very cold in the cars, the air conditioner is turned on at a low temperature. Despite the fact that I was with a sleeping bag and climbed into it with my head, I still caught a cold. My advice to you - if you choose places, take the first or second shelves, since the air conditioner, which is installed in the ceiling, is very blowing on the third. And, of course, there are also beggars and sellers in the car, but less than in Sleeper Class. This class is suitable for tourists, we ourselves traveled in these cars several times.

Air Conditioned Second Class (Code: 2AC)

Second class with air conditioning / AC 2 Tier (Code: 2AC) - this class is a little more expensive, but also more comfortable. In appearance, it resembles our reserved seat, 4 seats in a compartment and 2 side shelves. The compartments are fenced off from the passage by a curtain, which allows you to retire a little from other travelers. We also traveled in this class, it is comfortable for tourists and corresponds to the price = quality. There are almost no beggars and sellers. There is a conductor in the carriages who keeps order, gives out bedding and blankets.

First Class Air Conditioned (Code: 1AC)

Air Conditioned First Class / AC 1 Tier (Code: 1AC) - This class resembles our suite. Closed compartment with two wide shelves. The carriages have air conditioning, there is a conductor, there are no beggars and sellers. But such comfort is expensive, the price is almost the same as for air travel.

How to find your train and seats

Finding your train and seats is a whole quest. Some tickets have seats indicated, so the task is simplified, you only need to find your train. All major railway stations have an electronic scoreboard with which you can find your train by number and see which platform it arrives on. If the seats are not indicated on the tickets, then you need to find yourself on the lists. About an hour before the train arrives, the lists are posted near the Information desk.

It is important to be careful here, the lists are posted only at the train departure point, you will not find them at intermediate stations. By train number and direction, find the list you need (since there are a lot of lists), find yourself in it and remember what places you have, but that's not all ... When the train arrives at the platform, another list is broadcast for each car, with surnames those who ride in it. You will also need to check the list on the car to make sure it is yours.

Exchange / refund of train tickets in India

All tickets can be returned or exchanged for others, but keep in mind that you will not return the full amount.

If you return more than 48 hours in advance, you will receive a 75% refund.
If you return more than 24 hours in advance, you will receive a 50% refund.
If you return in less than 24 hours, you will receive a 25% refund.

You can exchange tickets either online (provided that you bought tickets online) or at the ticket office of the railway station. But it is worth remembering that if you issued a ticket for several people, then you will not be able to return only part of it. You need to completely cancel the ticket and purchase a new one. It happened to us with our friends, we bought a ticket for four, two changed their minds about going, we had to completely cancel the ticket and buy a new one, but for two.

Beware of deception

First and foremost, do not believe the Indians who say that there is no ticket office at the railway station. That it burned down / closed, that they don’t sell tickets to foreigners there, and other lies that they tell gullible tourists in order to lure you into a private agency from which they receive a commission. We even had a situation when at the station, right under the International Tourist Bureau sign, the station employee said that the ticket office was no longer working and on a piece of newspaper drew the route of the agency (almost the only one in the city where you can buy train tickets!) to which we should definitely go.

The funny thing is that he asked us to give the agency a special code (he said it was a government code) thanks to which we would get a good discount. Yeah, but how! But we are not such simpletons, despite his cries of “no entry there”, we went further about the signs and went straight to the box office of the International Tourist Bureau. As it turned out, this was the same ticket office that “did not work”, in which we successfully bought the train tickets we needed. Therefore, remember an important rule: "No one can be trusted, even the employees of the station." At least you need to clarify the question you are interested in with 5 - 7 people and only then make a decision.

Indian Railway Impressions

In general, our impressions of Indian train travel were very positive, we were mentally prepared for even worse conditions. India has very good transport links, so we got from point A to point B without any problems. Of the significant disadvantages, I can note the fact that the trains are not very punctual and a delay of several hours is a normal practice. Also, air-conditioned trains are very cold, you must definitely cover yourself.

! For 365 days, multi!
For citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the total cost with all fees = 8200 rub.
For citizens of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia = 6900 rub

Trains in India have one invariable feature - they are always late. This must be taken into account. Especially if you have to dock with the plane - lay an extra few hours on it.
It's also good to take those things into account. Indians are very fond of turning on air conditioners and fans to the fullest, always and everywhere - in train cars, buses, hotels. This craving for cold sometimes goes beyond all reasonable limits - they sit wrapped in scarves, coughing, sneezing, but they will not reduce the power. They like it so much 🙂 That's why our people often take scotch tape with them on the train - the usual wide scotch tape to seal up the air conditioner, especially if you got a ticket to the top shelf. And do not forget a woolen hat, even if you are going to the south of India, but at the same time, air-conditioned carriages await you on the route. And if you plan to move in a sleeper car (SL), then a sleeping bag will not hurt, because. there will either be no glass (and a real refrigerator at night), or the fans will work at full power. And during the day you can go out at the stations to warm up 🙂

Read also:

Background information on wagon classes and other features of the Indian railway

About the old English narrow-gauge railway in northern India

The doors of the wagons are not locked during movement, and you can stand in the vestibule in front of the open door at least all the way.

How we ran after the train

At the railway station in Hospet, everything is very simple: all passenger trains arrive on the first track, while freight trains are on the others. Along the entire platform there are electronic displays on which the train number lights up with the number of the car. Our waiting chairs are right here on the platform. And they announce a hundred times which train is coming. There is nowhere easier, it is impossible to miss your train.
Ours is No. 7603, from Calcutta. SL car No. 10. We listen to which trains are announced, we look at the scoreboard. We are not here, it is late. We are waiting further. It's already two hours late. Here some express arrived, but not at all from Calcutta, and - most importantly - the number is completely different. Again, not ours. We are waiting further. We still need to ask when ours will be. And I must say that there are no, like we have, conductors in each car. Here is some respectable uncle, and dull passengers poke their tickets at him, and he waves his hand - shows where their car is. We approach it with our ticket (we have one ticket for 2 persons). He looked and waved his hand somewhere back, to where the trains come from.
— What, our train will be next?
— This train. This is your train, the 10th car at the end of the train.
Once again we show him the ticket. The number is different!
— This train.

Without understanding anything, they ran to the tail of the train, where he waved his hand. They ran through one car, another, a third ... Nadyukha shouts: “Ours cannot be there! These are general, and then luggage. And suddenly he moved.
- Nadya, jump!
- This is not our car!
- Jump faster! Who cares!
She jumped, I followed her, grabbed the inner handrail with my hand, he picks up speed, I almost dislocated my arm. Thank God, we jumped at least somewhere, we made it! It turned out to be a common carriage for a lady. It consists of only two compartments with a vestibule. Some women and two boys look at us, smile, they saw how we jumped on the go. We stand with backpacks like fools, we don’t know what to do next. And I must say that here there is no communication between the cars, you can’t get to your car by train. Just in case, I pulled some kind of door, it turned out to be a toilet. That's it, no more doors. Well, then, let's go here to the nearest station.
The women are so pleasant, in bright beautiful saris, with many bright bracelets, they smile at us, move in, make room. I was even glad that we were brought here. I started taking pictures of everyone. They, as always, laugh happily when they see the result on the screen. Middle-aged Indian women are a miracle, they are always friendly, smiling, in their multi-colored saris. The mouth itself blurs when you communicate with them.
We smiled at each other, took pictures: earrings, bracelets, mehendi - patterns on the hands.

I really enjoyed riding with them, I would have gone further here, but I bought a ticket for a sleeper car with the expectation that I could lie down. So, at the next station we will run to look for our car. They arranged a meeting: they showed these kind women their ticket and asked where our 10 SL could be. They conferred and decided that he could not be at the tail of the train, he had to run to the head. Nadyushka was delighted: “Yes, we rushed to the wrong place. Uncle on the platform told us wrong. Well, the uncle was painfully representative, and it hurt too confidently to wave his hand. Maybe our wagon is some kind of trailer? After all, the train is not from Calcutta. And the train number is not ours at all ...
Okay, let's get to the head. In general, I didn’t care where to go, I would have looked at all the cars with pleasure, after all, the first acquaintance with an Indian train. And these women are great.
How many minutes is the train at the next station?
- Three minutes.
Wow! You have to run very fast.
In 3 minutes we managed to reach the 5th SL car. We jumped again on the go, and it was already clear that the 10th was not in my head.
The next station was large - the city of Hubli, parking for 15 minutes. Well, in 15 minutes we managed to reach our 10 SL. He was still at the tail of the train, as we were told by that respectable uncle in Hospet. Our seats turned out to be occupied, they were driven by two female students from Hyderabad. We went on vacation to Goa by the sea. Tickets have been dealt with. From the top shelf, the woman also became worried when we began to put our backpacks: “This place is busy, my husband is coming here.” I had to show our ticket to this woman, then to my husband, then to the controller.
In general, more tickets were sold than actual seats. So we still didn’t manage to lie down, but we managed to run with backpacks behind the train, jump on the go and sit in different cars. 🙂 But I even had fun from this story. Especially in the very first - a cheap women's carriage. There are slightly different women in the sleeper car. They don't wear bright saris made of cheap artificial fabrics, they don't wear 20 shiny bracelets on each arm, their jewelry is more stylish, they wear Punjabi, and the girls - their daughters - are dressed in shorts and T-shirts. Their husbands ride next to them. But their smiles are just as joyful and white-toothed.

Much later, however, it became clear why the train had the wrong number and the wrong departure station. It turns out that in India there are such mysterious trains - with two numbers. Rather, these are two different trains that depart from two different stations A and B, each with its own number, and at some mythical station C they merge into one. One of the numbers (in this case, ours) is discarded. So for a long time we could sit and wait for the non-existent train number 7603 from Kolkata 🙂

About the general class of the Indian train

From Gwalior we had to get to Datia. The road is not long, so it didn’t matter to us which car to ride in - sitting, lying down or whatever. We came to the ticket office at the railway station.
- There are no tickets.
- What, not at all?
-No tickets. There is only a general class. Will you take?
-Of course we will, what's the difference!
We didn’t know yet, naive, what a general class is 🙂
We bought tickets and, while waiting for the train, settled down on some large soft bales piled on the platform exactly opposite armed men in uniform.

If you are afraid to miss your train, or don't know which platform it will be served to, or if you just want to practice your English, or if you have an increased level of anxiety, or some other troubles, then the surest way is to show up with your ticket either to such a person in uniform, or to collapse with a broad smile into the office of some station worker, where they will patiently explain everything to you - how late your train is, when it is expected, on which track it arrives, and where your car will stop.

So we did - we turned with our tickets to these armed men in uniform.
“Wait here,” they said, and we happily relaxed on these bales.

... Time passed, trains came and went, armed people went about their business and seemed to have forgotten about us. We approached them again.
— Don't worry, ma'am, your train is late. We'll tell you.

For a long time we sat on these bales ...
But at last they waved their hands at us, we jumped up, grabbed our things, and,
accompanied by a man in uniform, we reached the place where our general-class car was to stop.
There were suspiciously many people there and a lot of all sorts of bales, bags, baskets ... We suspected something was wrong.
But in the depths of my soul, there was still a glimmer of hope that maybe these people are not all in our car ... maybe they will somehow resolve themselves ... maybe they need some other train ... in the end, maybe they just come here for a walk came...

And so he appeared. And all these people (everyone!) moved, stirred, picked up their bales, bags, baskets and rushed to our general class car. At first, we also rushed to him. But when he drove closer ... they saw with horror that he was already full!!
- I'm not going there with things! my friend screams.
- I won't go there without my things! I scream.
We are confused - what to do? The next train is coming soon...
And suddenly, a painfully familiar man in uniform appeared in this crowd. He looked at us, understood everything, pulled us out of the crowd with a gesture, and ordered us to follow him with a gesture. We, dumbfounded, obediently followed him with our things along the train. He brought us to the SL car, led us into the car. And there were also quite a few people here, there were no empty seats, people even sat on the floor in the aisles. In the nearest compartment, he gestured to the people sitting on the shelf to move, and in some miraculous way we fit in - sitting! - in this compartment, they squeezed their things between someone's trunks, and did not have time to thank their savior, as he disappeared, and the train started moving ...