If you are planning your trip to India, I can assure you, that India is wonderful and beautiful country. But I can also assure you, that booking a train in India can be a pretty bad nightmare.

I remember myself going through that process later this summer. After one week, still trying without having the reservation, my boyfriend looked at me and said "I would give up after day one."

Honestly, I don't understand, why are Indian Railways so determined to make your life hell when you are just trying to book a ticket. Maybe it is their test: if you pass this, you are prepared to visit India. Nevertheless, traveling by train is the most comfortable and the cheapest way how to travel across India, so make sure, that you master this process before starting your trip.

Book your tickets as soon as possible: especially if you are traveling in the main touristy season. The reservations usually open 120 days before departure day. Generally, one month ahead is the latest you should book your ticket.

Where can I get the best information about booking in English? When doing it by myself in summer 2017, I found the most helpful this article. You can find my personal experience below. I also answered the FAQ about Indian trains HERE.

How to book a train ticket step by step:

Read an article I recommended. Read it carefully at least twice. Look at the photos of the each class to get an idea, which one is the best for you (although I highly recommend to book the best, because it is still quite cheap to European standards).

Remind yourself that you are determined to book the ticket and nothing can discourage you

If you are willing to pay an extra fee for a booking agent, you can try using this website. They are able to book the train for you without your registration at Indian railways. However! They can book only some trains. I asked for their service 1 month ahead and they were not able to help me, since the one train they could book for my journey was completely sold out. But try it, maybe you will have more luck. Even with the fee, the ticket will be pretty cheap comparing with European prices.      

Make your registration at the Indian railways. This is the official website of the railways. The registration process is quite simple, HOWEVER! I had a problem with my number. At the time of my booking, they have been making some changes, that you can use your international mobile number as well. But it didn't work for me.

How to verify my new account? You need to verify both your email address and phone number. They send the verification code to both, you need to enter it at the website afterwards.

Can I use my non- Indian mobile number? You can try. I red online, that many people successfully used their non Indian number and also received the verification code. But I wasn't so lucky and even after waiting for hours I didn't receive the code to my number, or I received it late- if you do not enter the code in some time (about 15 minutes or so) you will need to refresh the site and ask for another code.

I have a problem to verify my phone number. What should I do? Your only chance is to ask the customer care for help. Write email to: [email protected] , include your User ID, password and it helps to send the copy of your password. Kindly ask them to verify your account for you.

How fast they will verify my account? This may be the hardest part. Some people say they got reply in one day. Some waited much longer- including me. It took me about 10 emails, 5 calls (to get to the help line is quite impossible cause it is always busy) and 2 tweets- someone said it helped him, so I tweeted them my request together with my User ID. Finally, after one week of  trying desperately, they verified my account.

Do I need to pay some fee? Yes. You have to pay small fee of 100 rupees (1,31 Euros) for log in. They accept the international credit cards. Be careful, since the system works better or worse on some web browsers- sometimes it worked better on Mozilla sometimes on chrome.

I finally loged in my account. What now? From this point, the process is quite easy. You search for your journey in selected time and class. My advice is to also book the best class available. It is still gonna be pretty cheap. I also advice you to book the tickets with status “available” cause it simple means, the seats are free for booking. If the status shows something different, look here for explanation of each:  but is basically means, that you can be put on some wait list and wait for the confirmation, which only complicates the process again.

Do I need to print the ticket? I would advise YES. It is better to print it in advance and have it together than having a problem later.

Do I need to show my ID once traveling? You should have prepared your passport just in case. My experience was, that they just checked our tickets, but you never know...

Can they cancel my train? Yes, of course, this can happen. I recommend you, to check the both tickets and also the connection online some time before the departure. If you are staying at some B&B or hotel in India, you can kindly ask the hosts to check the train for you also at the day of the departure- to check if there are some delays or so.

I spent almost one month in India in autumn 2017. After coming back, most of my friends gave me all that questions based on common stereotypes about India. Honestly, I had to laugh most of the time, because some of the questions were quite funny. Since many inquires were about traveling by train, I prepared this list of FAQ with my experience included:

Is traveling by train in India safe? Yes. In my own experience, it is not more dangerous than traveling by train in western countries. I did not feel threatened neither uncomfortable at all. India has the fourth largest railway network in the world and is used more than a bus transport.

Are the trains clean? This really depends on the class you are traveling in. We used AC Chair Class (CC) and air-conditioned 2-tier (AC2) and I was truly surprised how clean the train was! We came quite early to the railway station so we had a chance to observe, how they prepared the train for a departure. First, there were some men cleaning the wagons, afterwards they cleaned the toilets and refilled the toilet paper. Moreover, once we were seated, they turn on the AC with some fragrance. The seats and windows were clean as well. I must confess that the overall impression was much, much better than using a regular train (in 2nd class) in Europe. Especially when it comes to the cleanest of the toilets and attitude of other people- mainly locals traveling with us- they were very nice.

Are the trains punctual and reliable? Well, our train left on time. However it was delayed more than 40 minutes- I don't know the reason, but we were waiting about 30 minutes in one station. So, it is best to keep some time reserve in your plans.

How are the train stations? Are they easily to orientate yourself? Keep in mind, that India is a huge country with huge population, so unless you are going to some tiny village, you can bet, that the station would be quite big and really crowded. There are of course less people early morning or late night. When it comes to orientation and finding your train and platform, it can be little complicated (but still better than e.g. in China, cause they use English signs in India as well). Fortunately, locals can pretty often speak English, so you can always ask for help. We asked several locals including the police man and they all were incredible polite and helpful!

Are the train tickets cheap? Yes! Again, compering European prices, you cannot find more comfortable and cheaper way of transport in India. We paid for air-conditioned 2-tier around 15 Euros for 3 adults for about 5 hours journey (I mean 15 Euros total, so 5 Euros per person!)

Can you buy some snacks and drink in train? Sure! They sell very cheap coffee or tea (chai tea) as well as many sweet or salty snacks. But the best thing is, they sell warm meal as well! Plus you can order some food to the train from some restaurants- you can find all info online. And again, it is better and much cheaper than I experienced in any European trains.

How can I book my ticket? Find the detailed info in my blog HERE.  

I traveled with my parents and my mum was really scared of using a train. This was mainly because of the media coverage- all the accidents you hear about or horrible pictures from India with people hanging from the windows. Well, I do not say, it may not look like that somewhere in India. But please, do not believe everything you hear or see in the media.