One of the finest ways to travel through India is through the Indian Rail, as one can get close to the Indian-ness of travel. In fact a visit to India will be imcomplete without a train travel experience.
Train travel in India is a safe, cheap and comfortable (only in AC classes) for even long distances as in India there is a huge network of long distance trains operating day and night. A traveler can visit almost any part of India through this vast network. For visitors coming to India for the first time, train travel can be a thrilling and exciting experience. India train network being the second largest train network in the world provides a certain reason to travel through it. The experience, when the train passes through cities, suburbs and lush green fields in villages with the local kids waving in excitement to the train passengers, is an experience worth having.
To travel comfortably one should keep in mind certain things, some of them are given below:
Ticket booking:
Always buy a train ticket before boarding the train as train tickets cannot be bought after you have boarded the train.
Coaches and Comfort
There are many coaches that an intercity train offers starting from first class to the waiting category (tatkaal class). Always prefer first class and second class AC seats for extreme comfort levels. A second class though not providing food and bedding services but will surely be comfortable in terms of travel, but one must cater to his needs of food and bedding before boarding. Students generally prefer this class to travel.
Toilets
Toilets in trains is a state of art in itself, being usually clean it is an experience in its own manner. A brilliant experience is when one uses a toilet when the train is chugging at its full pace as being balanced on the seat is a challenge. The style of toilets is generally Indian and also because of the fact that one would never be keen to sit on anything in the toilets. Keep your valuables outside at a safer place of with your co traveler before using toilets as anything slipping out will test your luck to get back.
Personal Safety
This is regarding the personal safety of the traveler as the traveler should not try to demonstrate any of the acrobatic movements that most people seem to be doing with perfection. Some of such activities include swinging out of the train when it is about to reach the platform and jumping from the train while it is still in motion or standing in the doorway half outside without holding any of the iron bars along the doors.
Baggage
Do not forget to lock your baggage’s with little padlocks which are even available at the station or at any general store outside the station. The baggage’s must be tied with small round metal hooks located below the seats and should never be left unattended. After getting down if a traveler wants to freshen up or explore the city and leave the baggage then there are safe cloak rooms available at every station at affordable rates
Food
Most of the top trains like Shatabdi or Rajdhani, provides food onboard but for the rest it is said that the food quality is not upto the mark. One can have packaged food or products but do not forget to check the expiry date of the same. It is always advisable that carry your food with you and have it onboard or buy it from a good place outside the station and have it after getting boarded on train.
With the above suggestions a traveler can have full fun and frolic during course of the journey and is for sure to get memories worth remembering for the rest of his life.
Author is an associate editor of Indian Railways. The website offers exclusive information of Luxury Trains. We also provide information about online reservation Railways Tickets.
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