Train travel in India
The best way to see India is at ground level on the Indian railway system, and not at 30,000 feet. In fact, no visit to India would be complete without the experience of travelling on Indian trains and negotiating busy Indian railway stations! Train travel is safe, cheap and (in AC classes) comfortable. Even long distances such as Bombay to Delhi or Delhi to Varanasi can be covered more time-effectively than flying, using overnight sleeper trains.
On this page...

Train routes

Train times

Fares

How to buy tickets - when in India

How to buy tickets - from outside India

Tips for train travel in India

What are Indian trains like? The 8 classes of seat & sleeper!

Buying and using an IndRail pass

Where to go & what to see in India

International trains, buses & ferries from India

Europe to India overland (via Turkey, Iran, Pakistan)

Recommended guidebooks

Finding hotels in India

Finding a flight to India
Train routes

With 63,000 km of rail routes and 6,800 stations, the railway network in India is the third biggest in the world after Russia and China, and the biggest in the world in terms of passenger kilometres. Indian Railways are also the world's biggest employer, with over 1.5 million staff.

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The trains in India go almost everywhere, and it's generally safe to assume that you can travel between any two Indian cities or major towns by train.
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For an Indian railways route map see www.indianrail.gov.in and look for maps.
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For a printed map see the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable.
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There's currently no railway to Kashmir, but a line to Srinagar is under construction, due to open in stages from 2007 onwards. The line heads through tough terrain, and will feature the highest railway bridge in the world.
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Khajuraho has no station, but can be reached by bus.
Top tips for finding train times & fares using www.indianrail.gov.in...

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Look for 'Trains Between Imp. Stations' at the top of their home page. This will give you train times & fares between all the most important places in India.
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Do you need to change trains? www.indianrail.gov.in will only show direct trains. If there isn't a direct train you'll need to guess at a likely interchange station and make separate enquiries for both sections of the journey. For example, for Varanasi to Jaisalmer, try asking for Varanasi to Delhi and then Delhi to Jaisalmer, or Varanasi to Jaipur then Jaipur to Jaisalmer. For journeys to Simla the interchange station is Kalka, for trips to Darjeeling it is New Jalpaiguri.
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If you have difficulty with a journey that involves a change, like Delhi to Simla or Madras to Ooty, try using the alternative unofficial online timetable at www.indiagroove.com (currently unavailable as at Jan 2009). It's new, and only in beta, but it can cope with changes of train.
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City names: Bombay appears as Mumbai, Madras as Chennai, Calcutta as Kolkata. Delhi is still Delhi, at least for now - forgive me if I stick to the familiar English language names..!
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Delhi: The main city centre station in Delhi is New Delhi, so look for 'New Delhi' as well as 'Delhi'. Delhi Junction station is in central old Delhi. H.Nizamudin and Sarai Rohilla stations are secondary Delhi stations, further from the city centre and best reached by taxi.
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Bombay: There are several stations in Bombay, but the most important (and impressive) is the magnificent colonial Victoria Terminus, now renamed 'CST'. So start by looking for trains from 'Mumbai CST'. If you don't see any suitable trains, try Bombay Central ('Mumbai BCT') then finally Dadar which is a little way out of the centre.
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Calcutta: The main station in Calcutta is across the river in Howrah, often just shown as 'Howrah'. Trains from Calcutta to New Jalpaiguri (the railhead for Darjeeling) use Calcutta Sealdah station, often just shown as 'Sealdah'.
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Agra: The main station for fast trains is Agra Cantonment ('AGRA CANTT'), which is an autorickshaw or taxi ride from the Taj Mahal, although Agra Fort is nearer the town centre.
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Goa: Goa isn't a town or city, it's a region. The main stations in Goa are Magdaon and Vasco da Gama, so use these when you check for train times.
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How many nights? If the system shows a train running overnight, make sure it isn't actually two or more nights. The journey from Bombay to Calcutta or from Delhi to Madras is about 36 hours, i.e. typically two nights. On the other hand, travelling on a fast train, Bombay to Delhi or Calcutta to Delhi takes just one night.
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The 8 different classes... There are 8 different classes on Indian Railways, but not all of them are available on every train. There is an illustrated guide to what each class is like further down this page. For overnight journeys, most visitors choose AC2 (2nd class 2-tier air-conditioned, shown as '2A') or if they can afford it, AC1 (1st class air-conditioned, shown as '1A'), although more adventurous backpackers might choose sleeper class ('SL'). AC3 is also fine. For daytime journeys, air-conditioned chair car ('CC') is a good choice where it's available.
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Rajdhani Express trains are excellent extra-fast air-conditioned long-distance trains linking Delhi with regional capitals such as Bombay, Calcutta, etc. These are the best trains to take: The Delhi to Bombay and Delhi to Calcutta Rajdhani Expresses leave in the early evening and arrive in the morning, so actually save time compared to flying. Meals are included in the fare, served at your seat. The Delhi-Bombay Rajdhani uses brand-new German-designed coaches - see this link for photos. Highly recommended, they beat flying, hands-down..!
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Shatabdi Express trains are excellent fast air-conditioned daytime trains running on routes such as Delhi - Agra and Delhi - Jaipur with air-con chair class and executive air-con chair class. Refreshments are included in the fare. Again, these are the best trains to take, highly recommended.