Had some Indian rail trips a couple of weeks ago.
First was for work, organised by my staff member in Delhi, from Delhi to Ludhiana in Punjab. The journey was about 4 hours. Executive class (EC) seat, was clean, 4 seats across, air conditioned (rather cold) and service started with a thermos of tea, then water bottle plus meal and juice all served at our seats.
Next my partner joined me for a trip down to Agra to see Taj Mahal on the weekend. We booked over the internet on
www.irctc.co.in following the advice from the Man in Seat 61. This involved setting up an account and sending off passport scan to have the account authenticated. Once done, tickets were easy to book. We booked the fast train down to Agra, the Gatimaan express, India's fastest train which does the 200km journey from Delhi's Nizamuddin station to Agra in about 1:40. We went in Chair Class (CC) which is five across, were served the juice, cup of tea and tasty meal, and service just completed in time for arrival.
Coming back, we booked confirmed seats on one train, but waitlisted for later train which came available, so cancelled early train at penalty of about $4AUD per pax. This was a 2nd class sleeper, no food service this time. As it was day train, seats were made up. Not so comfortable, but an experience nevertheless. Journey took a much longer 3.5 hrs. The main downside was at the start, before the train left Agra, a young begging child came through and persisted with us being the only white people in the carriage, grabbing my ankles. But it is India, you come to expect that.
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