Asian Travel Blog

When considering travelling in India by rail, it is worth bearing in mind that even long distances such as Bombay to Delhi, or Delhi to Varanasi, can be covered more time-effectively than flying, using the overnight sleeper trains. The trains are comfortable too, provided you don’t pick the cheapest class of all – and even that can be fun. In terms of comfort, on its main lines the Indian railways now have carriages with air conditioning and tinted windows, instead of the old compartment carriages with open windows. If you still want to travel with the good views, open windows and heat, then you need to go second class - then you can still enjoy sitting on the steps with the door open, watching the world go by.

If you are planning on using the railways in India as part of your trip, it is well worth doing some research beforehand, which is pretty straightforward as there is an absolute mine of information available on the web. In this respect, once again it’s hats off to Mark Smith, aka known as The Man in Seat Sixty-One. His website has loads of information on trains and railways worldwide, not just India. Next up, take a look at the travel forum India Mike, which has info on all aspects of travel in India.

One recommended journey to take is a route that crosses the southern part of the Indian peninsula, from coast to coast, from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, a journey of less than 500 kilometres. You can journey either way, starting in Chennai or in Kerala.

If you feel that independent travel is not for you, and you fancy going with an established tour operator, then you could try Explore who offer a delightful two week guided railway journey across northern India from Kolkata to Amritsar, taking in the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort at Agra on the way.

Either way, the Indian railways offer a great experience, and a safe and inexpensive way to get about this vast and varied subcontinent.

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You only have to see the BBC’s excellent programme “Monsoon Railway” to realise something of the intricacy, human background, impressiveness and efficiency of India’s railways. Monsoon Railway tells the stories of some of the ordinary people who travel and work on these railways, that for the last 150 years have driven social and economic development in the country, providing an essential service to the billion-strong population who depend on it.

If you really want to see something of the true India, the railways are a fantastic way to get around the country, providing an insight into aspects of Indian life that you will not get from planes and tourbuses. With 63,000 kilometres of rail routes and 6,800 stations, the railway network in India is the third biggest in the world after Russia and China, and certainly the biggest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres. Indian Railways are also the world’s biggest employer, with over 1.5 million staff. In Britain, half a century or more ago, they used to say that if you got a job on the railways, you had a job for life, and this probably remains true today in India.

The Indian railways are a safe, inexpensive and friendly way to get about. In fact many inveterate travellers to India believe that no visit to this vast and diverse country is complete without the experience of travelling on the trains, negotiating the bustling urban Indian railway stations, and seeing the small country stations, where the hawkers have baskets of guavas, bananas and and other good things to sell.

In my next post we will take a look at Indian railways in more detail.

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