Indian railway is without a second thought the lifeline of our country. It is such a wide network and it carries nearly 23 million passengers every day. With so many trains running round the clock, planning your travel could be a frightening task. It takes a lot of planning by the railway employees to plan train timings and keep them as they are supposed to be. But sometimes trains get delayed due to certain circumstances. This makes travelling more difficult. Hence, it is important that you plan your travel and to do that you must know and keep certain things in mind.
1) Classes of Indian train: There are six classes for travelling in Indian railways. To begin with, we have 1st AC which is luxurious, Air-conditioned and most expensive of all. There are 2 or 4 berths and a wash basin in a cabin. It comes with bedding and is very luxurious. Next to 1st AC is 2nd Ac. It is also Air-conditioned with 4 bunks together and 2 on the side. These are not as fancy as 1st Ac but still luxurious. It comes in half the cost of 1st Ac along with the bedding. The 3rd AC has 6 bunks in a compartment and 2 on the sides. These are usually more crowded than the 1st and 2nd AC and isn’t luxurious at all. It doesn’t come with bedding. Then comes 1st class Non-AC. This is much cheaper and doesn’t come with bedding and Air-Condition. You will also come across sleeper class, which is usually crowded. It is like 3rd AC, but it doesn’t have Air-condition and bedding. And then there is unreserved class, which is amazingly crowded and cheap. These are open cars and have benches for seating. In some short distance trains, you will also get to see AC chair cars.
2) Special tips: If you are planning to see the real India, you must travel in sleeper class because real India travels in sleeper and unreserved compartments. But if you cannot stand the crowd, you have an overnight journey, you have a long journey ahead or if you seek comfort and luxury during travel, you should consider travelling in AC coaches. For short journey, you can travel in AC chair car.
3) Reservations: It is better to plan your journey in advance. Reservations can be hard to get on the last moment. And if you don’t plan your travel in advance, you might miss certain benefits. For example, if you book a ticket for a journey of more than 500 km, you can take a 2 days break at any station enroute after 500 km. Also, a single circular journey ticket includes 8 days of breaks in between. But if you are not the kind of person who plans their travel in advance, you can book your ticket in tatkal, but it is expensive. You can book your travel tickets online as well through IRCTC or other websites that provide such facility. You can either take the printout or carry your ticket on your phone in form of message sent by the booking site.