I don’t know who the man in Seat 61 is, but he has an answer for every train related question in every country: http://www.seat61.com/India.htm
You can purchase tickets at an Indian train station. For some routes Tourists are allocated seats and you may be lucky and get one of those. If those seats aren’t available you can always ride in Sleeper…which is a bit misleading of a train class name.
Best option is to purchase tickets online in advance of your trip:
High Level: FIRST REGISTER AT INDIAN RAILWAYS: https://www.irctc.co.in/ - this requires you to have an Indian mobile phone…or wait until you get through the first part and send an email stating your not an Indian citizen and you will receive a PIN number to complete the application. This website doesn’t accept US credit card payments so next you’ll…
THEN REGISTER AT CLEARTRIP: http://www.cleartrip.com/ - once you’ve linked your IRCTC account with Cleartrip you’ll be able to purchase train tickets online.
TIcket Booking Considerations:
Indian Railways has several classes available but the best option is 2nd Class AC. For ~$4 savings you can get a 3rd Class AC ticket - the only difference is 3rd Class AC has 8 seats in berths vs. 6 for 2nd Class AC. This may not sound like much but you need to factor in the luggage involved for those two extra people. If you board at a midpoint, say Varanasi, on a Calcutta to Delhi train there may be no place for your bags other than your seat on a 3rd Class train because everyone else already has the space occupied.
I always tried to get the side upper so I could be somewhat removed from all the riff-raff.
If you get a mobile phone in India you can check train schedules and delays on your phone by sending a text. It’s very useful to know if your train has been delayed because the India Train Stations are not a fun or interesting place (after an hour or two) to kill time.
You can purchase tickets at an Indian train station. For some routes Tourists are allocated seats and you may be lucky and get one of those. If those seats aren’t available you can always ride in Sleeper…which is a bit misleading of a train class name.
Best option is to purchase tickets online in advance of your trip:
High Level: FIRST REGISTER AT INDIAN RAILWAYS: https://www.irctc.co.in/ - this requires you to have an Indian mobile phone…or wait until you get through the first part and send an email stating your not an Indian citizen and you will receive a PIN number to complete the application. This website doesn’t accept US credit card payments so next you’ll…
THEN REGISTER AT CLEARTRIP: http://www.cleartrip.com/ - once you’ve linked your IRCTC account with Cleartrip you’ll be able to purchase train tickets online.
TIcket Booking Considerations:
Indian Railways has several classes available but the best option is 2nd Class AC. For ~$4 savings you can get a 3rd Class AC ticket - the only difference is 3rd Class AC has 8 seats in berths vs. 6 for 2nd Class AC. This may not sound like much but you need to factor in the luggage involved for those two extra people. If you board at a midpoint, say Varanasi, on a Calcutta to Delhi train there may be no place for your bags other than your seat on a 3rd Class train because everyone else already has the space occupied.
I always tried to get the side upper so I could be somewhat removed from all the riff-raff.
If you get a mobile phone in India you can check train schedules and delays on your phone by sending a text. It’s very useful to know if your train has been delayed because the India Train Stations are not a fun or interesting place (after an hour or two) to kill time.