Getting Around India

• 1A: a compartment with a door and bedding; overnight travel that feels "like a hotel."
• 2A: four berths plus curtains, bedding included. The sweet spot for overnights.
• 3A: six berths, air-conditioning, bedding. Comfortable and affordable; noisy during the day.
• SL (Sleeper): the same six berths, but no AC and no bedding, windows open. India as locals ride it, for very little; hot in summer, cold in winter.
• CC/EC: seated day trains (Shatabdi, Vande Bharat), meals included if chosen when booking.
• 2S/UR: reserved second-class seating / unreserved general class. Avoid UR: it's a standing-room lottery.

Bedding is included in the AC classes; in SL bring a sleeping-bag liner. At night, clip your backpack to the loop under the berth with a cable lock; that's normal here, not paranoia.

Step by step, so nothing trips you up: 1) register on irctc.co.in with a foreign phone number and email (confirmation comes to both; a one-time verification carries a small fee). 2) Buy tickets in the IRCTC Rail Connect app or on the website; foreign cards don't always go through: Cleartrip and MakeMyTrip often take them more successfully, though the outcome depends on your bank and the payment gateway. 3) Your trump card is the Foreign Tourist Quota (FTQ): a separate quota, booked online under Foreign Tourist Booking; the booking window is long, up to 365 days (less for some trains; that's the maximum, not a fixed point), and the fare is higher than standard. Offline, there's the International Tourist Bureau at New Delhi station (passport + visa). 4) Alternative, if online payment won't work: offline ticket resellers in town will book it for a markup; check the ticket's price online beforehand so you don't overpay.

Tatkal (the quota that opens a day before departure): since 15 July 2025, booking it online yourself requires authorization via an Indian Aadhaar OTP, which an ordinary tourist doesn't have. Tatkal also exists at station counters, but seats sell out fast, and availability and ID requirements need to be checked at the specific station. For a tourist it's an emergency fallback, not a strategy. It's wiser to check FTQ first (seats sometimes remain there when the general quota is sold out), then another train, a bus, or a flight.

CNF: your seat is confirmed, you're travelling. RAC: you're allowed to board; at first two passengers share the lower side-berth as a seat. If a berth frees up, the conductor can give you a full sleeping berth. WL (waitlist): if after the chart is prepared all passengers on an e-ticket are still waitlisted, the ticket is cancelled automatically and you can't board with it. If some passengers got CNF/RAC, the rules for the rest differ; check each passenger's final status. The rule: a WL deeper than 10–15 on a seasonal route means look for an alternative right away (FTQ, another train, a bus, a flight). Check status by PNR number in any railway app; the same apps show a confirmation forecast (ixigo/ConfirmTkt).

Arrive 40–60 minutes early: big stations are kilometers of platforms. Your coach and berth numbers are on your ticket and in your SMS; reservation charts are no longer pasted on carriages but are shown on platform boards. You can order food to your seat through IRCTC e-Catering (delivered at stations along the way). Don't accept food or drinks from "friendly fellow passengers" (a rare but real scenario involving sedatives). "Your ticket isn't valid, come with me" on the platform is a trick: tickets are checked only by railway ticket staff, at platform entrances and, on board the train, by the conductor (TTE) with a tablet.

Distances in India are made for flying: Delhi–Kochi is 40+ hours by train, 3.5 by plane. Most standard domestic fares allow around 7 kg of carry-on (55×35×25) and 15 kg of checked baggage, but the cheapest fares play by different rules, so check the fare conditions before you pay; excess is cheaper to buy online. At the terminal entrance they check passport + ticket (PDF/app). Power banks go in carry-on only and stay with you (not in the overhead bin); they can't be used on board. Buffer: 2 hours for domestic, 3 for international. December–January: fog in Delhi regularly delays morning flights; take afternoon departures and don't schedule tight connections.

Delhi (a huge network; the first carriage is for women; the ticket is a QR in the app or even via WhatsApp), Mumbai (Line 3 links the airport to the center), Kolkata (the Yellow Line from the airport, the Green Line under the Hooghly River), Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur (the Pink Line to Hawa Mahal), Kochi (plus a water metro), Agra (the Taj East Gate and Agra Fort stations are the best way to reach the Taj), Pune, Lucknow. Tokens, cards, and QR codes differ everywhere, but the rule is the same: in rush hour the metro is usually much faster than a taxi.

Two worlds. State RTC buses run from official terminals on a schedule, from rattletraps to Volvo AC; buy tickets at the bus station or in the state apps. Private buses are booked through RedBus/AbhiBus (foreign cards usually go through), with comfort from "seated" to a 2×1 sleeper (proper flat berths). The catch with private operators: you board not at the bus station but "by the office on the highway"; arrive at the point early and track the bus in the app. An overnight sleeper is a working substitute for a train when the WL is deep; if you get motion-sick, take a lower berth in the middle of the cabin.

The rate is roughly ₹11–15/km + ₹300–500/day for the driver, counted garage-to-garage. Solo it's expensive (Delhi–Agra ₹3,000–4,500 versus ₹700–900 by train), but for three or four people it already makes sense, especially chains like Delhi→Agra→Jaipur with stops along the way. Book through your hotel, Uber Intercity/Ola Outstation, or trusted firms; "two meters" and "return-trip surcharge" get settled before you set off.

In the cities it's Uber/Ola (plus Rapido in most, inDrive here and there); in Bengaluru it's Namma Yatri (autos by the meter, no commission); in Kolkata it's Yatri Sathi. In Goa, Uber and Ola have historically never worked; there it's the local apps GoaMiles and the state-run Goa Taxi App (Goa's taxi-app scene keeps shifting, so check what's current once you're there). The app solves the main pain point, the price: you see it before you get in.

Where the apps don't reach (old towns, small villages): a short 2–3 km ride is ₹50–100, across half the city ₹150–250, an hour of waiting ₹100–150. Mumbai and Delhi are officially metered (Mumbai: approximately ₹27 to start + ₹18/km; +25% at night), but in practice, outside the big cities, it's haggling: name half of what's asked, meet in the middle, and lock the price BEFORE you get in. E-rickshaws (electric) are the cheapest for short hops.

At night and with luggage: the official prepaid counter (a receipt with the price before you get in) or an app car from the marked pickup zone. By day in the metro cities, the airport express or metro. Detailed routes and prices are in each city's chapter, under "Getting There." Give the touts in the arrivals hall a miss: real drivers wait outside with name boards or in the app zone.