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Published: January 27th 2010
Sleeper Car
The bars give it a real homely look...When we left Tiru and wanted to head to the southern beaches of Kerala, we thought the train would be our best option. We’ve heard a few horror stories about Indian Trains, but since we want to cover a fair bit of this country we would either have to figure out these trains or take the bus. Tiru’s train station is under construction so we couldn’t leave from Tiru, we had to take a 2-hour bus ride (59km - the busses aren’t considered the quickest mode of transport!) to a town called Villupuram. We had purchased our Second-Class AC tickets 5 days prior in Pondicherry and although we were on the waitlist, we were number 1 and number 2 on the waitlist and apparently it is very common for people in the 50’s and 60’s to make it off the waitlist and get a ticket assignment.
Now before I get too far, I should first discuss the classes of tickets that you can get for Indian trains… Starting at the bottom there’s 2nd-class (aka open-class ticket), which is pretty much a free-for-all, in the oldest, most beat-up carriages, most windows are missing and replaced with bars, half the fans form
the ceiling don’t work and you’re fighting for space with your fellow travellers (who have all brought meals of potent curry dishes with them) and then there’s the resident rodents and insects that live in the train carriage. These fares are dirt cheep and so they should be! The next step up is a sleeper ticket which puts you in a similar environment as the open ticket, but in sleeper at least the seats (or beds) are actually reserved so you can only have so many people in one space, giving you a little elbow room. The seats/beds are basically 3-tier bunk beds that fold up during the day so 3 people are all sitting on the bottom “bed” and then at night the middle and top “bed” fold down to allow 3 people to sleep. The same is mirrored across the aisle. I use the word “bed” loosely because it’s basically a wood plank covered with some thin plastic padding. Then from sleeper you move up to 3AC which is the same bed layout, but the carriages are a bit nicer, the windows exist and are tinted and there’s air-conditioning and bedding provided, with curtains that separate each pod
Sleeper
Mind your head on the light, fan, ceiling, bar, cage... of six beds. Then getting even more “classier” is 2AC, which is like 3AC but rather then a 3-tier bunk bed it’s a 2-tier bunk, giving you much more space when using it for as a seat as you only have to share with on other person. And then the top-class is 1AC which has cabins of 2 set’s on bunks, with locking doors and obviously more privacy. To give you an example in price for a 500km, 9-hour journey (these are not speed trains!), in open-class it would cost about $2.75, in 2AC it would cost you about $20, and in 1AC $40. So you can now see the classes and the costs and their associated levels of (dis)comfort.
The bus ride to Villupuram was a good laugh, as we were the only foreigners on the bus and a few people looked at us like: “why are you on THIS bus?” But we shared a couple broken conversations with some friendly head waggling locals and arrived in Villupuram around 5:30pm. We walked to the train station and then I jostled in line (really there is no line) to get to the ticket window to change our tickets from
Close Quarters
People above and below... waitlist to a seat assignment. My “friend” working the ticket window was far from swift on the computer and really he didn’t even know the numbers of the trains that were coming and going, but with both index fingers going as fast as they could he punched in our tickets only to tell me that we were still on the wait list. I asked him to check three times due to my lack of confidence in his abilities, but he was the only one working so I had to take his word for it…shit! Now what do we do? Villupuram was just a train junction and not really a place to stay the night, and now the sun had set, the mosquitoes were out and we had no train ticket. It took me another 20 minutes to get my refund from “my friend” because he was so hesitant to hand over any money, even though that is the policy when a waitlist ticket doesn’t get allocated. Then I was at his mercy to see if there were any trains heading south (the direction we needed to travel) to get us to a bigger train station to increase our chances of
Down the aisle
Many people, little space reaching our desired destination: the beach town of Varkala. I found out that we could buy an open class ticket from Villupuram to Trichy. It would take 3 hours and we’d be there by 10:30pm and it would cost up a whopping $4 for the both of us. Even though we knew what open-class meant, we didn’t have much choice so we handed over the 160 Rupees. I thanked “my friend” and then asked if he had any other life ambitions (he didn’t get it) and then we waited on the platform in anticipation.
When the train showed up, half-an-hour late, we spotted the open class carriage and made a dash for it. As the train slowed to a stop a flood of people came pouring out (this is a good sign) and then we pushed forward with the other passengers. We managed to get our butts on the ends of two bench seats and then proceeded to put our bags up on the luggage rack above us, but we were then told that a guy was sleeping up there - on the steel-cage luggage rack! Ouch! So we slid the bags under the seat. Once the train got
The facilities...
On the wall it reads: "Gentlemen will lift the seat" (and not piss all over the place!) moving everyone relaxed a bit and the fresh air moving though the barred windows pushed out the humid combination of body-odour and food stench in the air. Ok, we were now riding in open-class. Our neighbours were friendly, although they too had the same looks as the bus passengers from earlier in the day: “what are you doing in THIS carriage?” But they all asked where we’re from, and “Canada” always brings out a smile and a head waggle of acknowledgement and just like that we were accepted by our close quartered travel companions. As our journey continued, we discovered that the stories of open class are all true as we tried to keep our sandaled feet off the floor to avoid the cockroaches and rats from running over them - there were a handful of each crawling and scurrying across the floor! As I followed one rat dart from our seats to the next set, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a guy sleeping on the floor under a seat (that had 5 guys sitting on it) with the rats and bugs all stopping in to visit him before taking off again. Four-letter words were all I
Tired and waiting...
In Trichy Railway Station could find when I realized he was under there, not disturbed by his visitors, I’m still a little in shock… The three hours took it’s time to pass, but except for the time when the train stopped and the air grew dank, we managed to keep positive; even though we didn’t know what we were going to do to get to Varkala.
When we arrived in Trichy we discovered that there was a train for Varkala the next day at 1pm, but could not purchase tickets until themorning. So, now that we knew we were staying the night in Trichy, we opened the Lonely Planet and saw that most of the hotels were near the bus station so we took a Rickshaw down there and found a place for the night. The room wasn’t much, it had a double bed, after a few requests we got clean(ish) linen, a ceiling fan, and a squat toilet and bucket shower (Indian style) that reeked like urinal pucks and mothballs. Oh well, it was a bed for the night.
The next day was a massive mission because after I went to the reservation desk at the train station I was told
that only open class was available for my journey…Shit! BUT, if I applied for an Emergency Quota Ticket, there might be availability in sleeper class; at least it’s a step up! After running back and forth between the hotel, the train station, and from what I could gather to be the Ministry of Railway Transportation building and speaking with over a dozen people (definitely a government gig) over the course of 4 hours I managed to secure 2 tickets in sleeper class under the Emergency Quota! A small victory, but a victory none the less, at least we would have a reserved spot. Even though the conditions in the carriage are pretty much the same, at least no one would be edging in on our space halfway through the trip. The train was scheduled to leave at 1pm and arrive in Varkala at 1pm. Technically we could still get to Varkala to check into our room on the beach we booked for a week. So with the thought of the beach at our destination as our motivation we hopped on for the 12-hour journey and did our best to stay comfortable. Thanks to a couple good books, Jack Johnson on
Ghandi's Instructions
Not always followed... the iPod and two “beds” to stretch out on we managed to bare the 12-hour journey with minimal breakdowns and even a few hysterical laughs. We got into Varkala around 1:30am and were greeted by Jai, the guy who looks after the building where we were staying. He graciously took us by Rickshaw to our place and after he left we crashed on the bed listening to the big waves crash against the shore. We made it! Thank God! Next time we’re not doing the waitlist thing and will book our tickets in enough time to avoid another experience like this one! None the less it was an experience and we earned our Indian Train Stripes (at least for first-timers) and are no worse for wear!
Until Next Time…
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LOU ELLA WEBER
non-member comment
HOW DID YOU DO ALL OF THIS????
DAN AND KELS---I FEEL I KNOW YOU BY YOUR BLOGS AND I JUST THOROUGHLY ENJOY READING ABOUT YOUR ENTHUSIASM, DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DIE-HARD DETERMINATION !! GUESS YOU HAD NO CHOICE IF YOU WANTED TO GET PLACES !! THANK GOD YOU ARE YOUNG YET---I THOUGHT THE TRAINS WERE CONFUSING IN LONDON AND PARIS WHEN THERE'S A LANGUAGE BARRIER !! BUT I ENVY YOUR WILD EXPERIENCES AND LOVE TO READ THEM !!! LOU ELLA