Tips for Getting Train Reservations in India

Traveling by train in India can be very pleasant if you have reserved your travel tickets well in advance, based on your choice of class. The trains in India run fully packed almost all through out the year. However, the school vacation times from April to June and October/November are the most crowded periods. There are some very useful and pertinent tips that require to be followed for fast, efficient, and economical train reservations in India.

The train reservation opens 60 days in advance of the date of your travel. This period was 90 days, few months back but is now 60 days. It is advisable to reserve your ticket at the earliest within 60 days of your travel date. The train reservation can be done in three ways in India. The first way is to reserve tickets by visiting reservation office at the railway station yourself. You shall have to collect the railway reservation form from the railway station, which are available free of cost. Then, you will need to know the exact train number of the train you are going to travel. This information is available on all the railway stations and is displayed on big sign boards. However, if you are going to travel a lot in India, I would recommend to buy latest all India railway time table, which can be easily available from the book stores of all the railway stations at a nominal rate of Rs.30 (75 cents) only. All the information of the Indian railway like train timings, numbers, classes available to travel, stations at which each train stops, the fares, the seat quotas of each station etc are given in this time table.

You can easily fill the reservation form based on this information. You can then approach the reservation office at the railway station and present your form to the booking clerk. You can also give the choice of your seats/births in the form. Make sure to carry various other train alternatives with you so as to immediately switch over to those in case the tickets are not available in the train you have requested. You can pay by cash or credit cards but the payment through checks is not acceptable. If you want to pay cash, try to avoid paying in Rs.500 notes as the railway authorities take address and the phone number of the person giving Rs.500 notes. This would waste your time. The computerized tickets shall be issued to you. Make sure to check the ticket from destination point of view as well as the departure time, your names and age, and the date of your travel prior to leaving the booking window. Indian railways offer concession of 25% to all senior citizens above the age of 60 years. This aspect has to be specified clearly in the reservation form. Such travelers have to carry a photo identity with them during the actual travel for verification in case of need. There are 3 to 4 reservation offices located in each city. So, try to select the nearest reservation office from your hotel. As the entire reservation system is now computerized, you can reserve tickets of any destination from anywhere in India.

The second way to reserve the train tickets is on Internet on computer. However, this option is not so common still in India and you may find it difficult at times to reserve your ticket. Moreover, you will need to register yourself online with the website of Indian railway prior to reservation of the ticket.

The last way to reserve your train tickets through authorized travel agents. There are many such travel agents available in each city. However, make sure to deal with only government approved travel agents. Incidents of cheating and the mall practices are sometimes noticed. Always make sure to purchase your train ticket in your name only as it is a criminal offence to travel on somebody else's name in India. The travel agents charge additional Rs.50 ($1.25) to Rs.100 ($2.5) per ticket depending upon your class of travel. After buying the tickets, you need to keep them safe with you till the travel is over. The procedure of getting the duplicate train tickets is really very lengthy and cumbersome.

If these simple tips are followed while reserving your train tickets in India, I am sure your experience of train travel in India would be the most pleasant and the memorable one.