I\'m going to India in three weeks and pre-booked some overnight train rides online. One of them went through just fine, but the other is showing me and my brother as waitlist 15 and 16. How long does it take until I\'ll know if we got a seat? Should I cancel the ticket and rebook in another class? Thanks!
Reply to this I should add that the ticket is in sleeper 2AC class.
Reply to this Based on my experiences travelling in India a couple of years ago, such a short waitlist will probably clear within 2 or 3 days but definitely by the time you get there. I'm pretty sure the India Railways website gives the current status of which waitlisted numbers are now confirmed seats so you can simply query that.
Reply to this I suspect that you will be fine. I've travelled extensively on trains on India and the only time an India Railways booking officer told me that I was not going to clear a waitlist was when I was around waitlist 38 with under a week to go before my travels.
Even if you are still waitlisted on the day of your travel, just approach one of the India Railways officers on the platform before the train departs and attempt to get a ticket (even 3AC is good). He'll look through his clipboard for options and you should be able to find a seat somewhere. Unless it is a major festival or holiday, there are almost always seats spare.
I agree with John, the Indian Railways website does give the current status of your booking. It is a very good resource.
Reply to this Thanks for the responses. I'll be traveling on January 1. Is that typically a busy train travel day?
Reply to this I was never in India during the New Year period, so not sure what it is like then - hopefully someone else can enlighten us.
Reply to this Christmas and New Year are high season in India, but as it's actually Jan 1st you're travelling on, I think that'll be a bit quieter - from what I remember (I was there over that period) trains got busy again from 2 January, after new years day. But I wouldn't worry - like the others said, by Indian waiting list standards, numbers 15 and 16 are very low, and it would be really unlikely that you wouldn't get a confirmed seat. Keep checking in every day online, you'll probably find you have those tickets confirmed in the next few days. Which train ride is it that you're on the waiting list for? - between where and where?
Reply to this It's train 2955 from Mumbai to Jaipur. Do you think it's necessary to pre-book some of the shorter distance trains? Later in the trip I'm planning on going from Delhi to Amritsar and then right before I leave from Delhi to Agra.
Reply to this There is no harm in prebooking the trains as a cancellation fee for 2AC (more than 24 hours in advance) is about US$1.2, I think (though for daytime journeys I'd say that Chair Class, where available, is a better choice). Alternatively, you can keep checking on the availability via the Indian Railways site and make the booking if it looks as though seats are disappearing fast. I didn't do Delhi->Agra but Agra->Delhi was one of the very few routes I did that I could not get a seat on my first-choice train - beware you don't end up on some clunker that takes forever to do the trip (the voice of experience ...)
Reply to this I did Delhi to Amritsar and vice-versa overnight and it is a pleasant journey. It was full-ish if I remember, so booking in advance and having to deal with a small cancellation fee could be way to go if seats/beds are looking scarce.
The best trains to take from Delhi to Agra are the Rajdhani or Shatabdi trains - they are fast, comfortable and very efficient. They do the journey in only a couple of hours. These trains also run between Delhi and Amritsar.
Reply to this Patrick - it depends how tight your schedule is, in whether you want to book later trains in advance. If you have some time to play around with it, you might want to leave it open as you might get to a place and decide you want to stay a day or two longer than you thought (or shorter). Guest houses you're staying in will also, for a small fee, book tickets on trains and buses for you and do the legwork ie checking on waiting lists and trying to get you on the trains on whatever class is available. Lots of routes also have what they call tourist quotas so a train may appear to be full but as a tourist you could still get a seat. If you have a very tight itinerary then it's probably best to book up in advance, as Jabe says, but otherwise I'd say only book the necessary ones - part of what often makes the real experiences of your trip are the things that happen outside of what you've planned, if that makes sense. I remember having difficulty getting a train out of Varanasi to Agra and it meant I stayed a few extra days in Varanasi - they ended up being great days that I would have missed out on if I'd have got on my original train.
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