Keyser

i love train journeys in india....i take a couple every month....but i do understand where iahphx is coming from....& its fair to say that if he didn't enjoy the rail experience in thailand then he probably won't enjoy it here in india....

Skyman65

Keyster, for my upcoming trip to India, we are primarily relying on trains to get us around the country. I figured out the booking system, and we have everything booked and confirmed (except for one WL1).

Two questions:

1) I've heard that the trains frequently run late. We have some legs of our trip that have us getting to our destinations late at night (around midnight). In your experience, do we have a good shot at getting in reasonably close to the scheduled time, or should we pretty much plan on getting in significantly late.

2) As I mentioned, for one of our reserved trips (JSL-DEL), one of us is confirmed, the other is WL1. In your experience, is it very likely that the WL1 will get confirmed?

Thanks.

Keyser

it all depends on the route you are taking....the trains i usually take are on time mostly....the only time they get delayed are during fog season....

wl1 has a very good chance of getting confirmed....

Skyman65

Thank you.

Is it fog season now?

Our routes are Varanasi-Allahabad-Agra-Jaipur-Jodhur-Jaisalmer-Dehli

abhilife2001

1. It addition to the route even the train matters a lot.. Trains like Rajdhani / Shatabdi / Duronto are quite decent in terms of time maintenance if there are no fog related delays ( very possible in Northern parts of india during Jan till mid Feb max)...
2. WL1 is as good as confirmed .. after WL comes RAC where you are guaranteed a seat ( even if booked a sleeper) .. I will never worry if I have WL1 even a few days before the train..

iahphx

Using the seat61 instructions, I have successfully registered for an account on the Indian railways site. I've been a bit surprised by how limited inventory appears to be, even months in advance. Like when I try to book the Delhi-Jaisalmer train in first class, they only show 4 seats available on every train. I'm assuming their complicated inventory system keeps seats in reserve?

In my case, we're a party of 5. Anything to be done other than book the 4 seats in A1 and then book 1 seat in A2? I see I can waitlist for another seat in A1, but (to my knowledge) that doesn't get me a confirmed seat. Should I book the 5th pax in A2 and ALSO waitlist them for A1? It's all a bit confusing. Thanks.

Skyman65

I wonder if you could try double booking (book 5 seats in 1A with--one person WL1), then book a backup in 2A in case the WL doesn't clear. Then if it does clear, you can cancel and refund the 2A reservation.

ETA: If you try this, you may want to make the fifth person in 1A as a separate reservation from the other four. This way, if you end up having to use the 2A seat, the waitlisted reservation will cancel without affecting the other four. Not sure if it works that way.

Keyser

you are right in the middle of fog season....trains sometime get 8-10 hours late....

abhilife2001

+1..
ur route is mostly in the regions having severe fog during night time / early morning resulting in many delays for all kinds of trains.. this goes on till jan end / mid feb sometimes..

Skyman65

Not even a little sugar coating, guys???

abhilife2001

yes , double booking would work..
Bookinng all confirmed tickets under 1 PNR and the waitlisted seats under another PNR is a better way, simply because the waitlisted seat will get auto cancelled after chart preparation ( usually 3-4 hrs before train departure) and refund processed automatically..
While this also happens if 1 or more pax are waitlisted but some others confirmed, better to keep both separate if possible ( as in your case)..
Ofcourse, there would be some charges involved if the ticket gets confirmed during chart prepartion and the person has 2 confirmed seats ( 1 in 1A, another in 2A).. but guess this is the risk premium we pay

iahphx

Thanks. This India train stuff is complicated.

I've got a family of 5 traveling on an overnight Indian train. There were 4 seats available in A1 (first class) on the official Indian railways site, so I grabbed them and paid for them with my AMEX card (I sure hope we get assigned a single cabin!). I also have a 5th pax. Since there weren't anymore A1 seats, I booked her an A2 seat (and asked that she be put on their upgrade list for A1, which I understand to be different from a "waitlist").

So if I now go in and book a waitlist A1 seat, what exactly will happen? They'll charge me the fare and put her on the waitlist? Will I know in advance if she's cleared? If not, what chance do I have to get back either the money for that ticket, or the money for the separate A2 seat I bought her? And, btw, do refunds from India Rail just go right back on your AMEX card (I recall reading there's a very modest cancellation charge of a buck or so).

Thanks for the help. As an India newbie, I really need it!

abhilife2001

If the seat is confirmed, then the seat/ berth numbers would be there on the ticket.. If its consecutive, and the train A1 has 4 bed cabin's then a good chance that you all will be on the same cabin.. Have travelled rarely on 1A, but IIRC they had 2 bed's and 4 bed cabins earlier.. Not sure if things have changed..

Actually there is no upgrade list perse.. basically if the seats in lower class are full and they have seats in an upper class available, then they move some folks from lower to upper class .. FWIK, it is based on 1st come 1st served basis, as in the person who booked earliest in the lowest cabin gets the upgrade while the W/L person gets his seat..and so on..

Yes, this ticket will be a separate ticket and your Amex will be debited. You will get to know whether she is cleared when the chart is prepared at the latest and this is usually 3-4 hrs before the train departure. If the ticket does not get confirmed even after chart preparation, then it gets auto cancelled and ur Amex will be recredited after deducting some small charges..
If the A1 ticket gets confirmed after chart preparation and you already have another A2 ticket ( which now needs cancellation) --> this refund process is a lil more cumbersome and IIRC you would need to write to them thru a link and this usually takes some time..
Search for cancelling confirmed e-ticket after chart is prepared on google for indian railways @:-)

Skyman65

Are you saying that we will only find out if a WL ticket gets a confirmed seat 3-4 hours before departure?

I assumed that confirmation could come at anytime if space opens up (i.e. someone cancels).

We want to travel from Jaisalmer to Delhi on Feb 8. We need two tickets. When we booked, it was showing Available1. So I went ahead and booked it, and got one confirmed and one WL1. As a backup (in case the WL doesn't clear) we made a second booking for the following day (both tickets confirmed). I was originally thinking that we had a decent chance of getting confirmation of the waitlisted ticket clearing within a couple days of departure. But if what you are saying is true, we won't know until 3-4 before scheduled departure? That sucks.

abhilife2001

NO, I didn't mean that.. the waitlist can confirm anytime if other pax cancel their tickets.. Latest is the time the chart is prepared..
If you are lucky, your waitlist will get cleared much before the date of departure..
You can check for the status at this link..
http://www.indianrail.gov.in/pnr_Enq.html