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This means that even if a train is completely booked up, as a foreigner you may be able to get a seat, unless other foreigners booking through the same service have already filled the seat quota. This is valuable information to keep in mind, because an agent cannot book a seat for you on this quota, nor can this be booked from the regular booking window; you must go personally to a Foreign Tourist Rail Reservation Counter (sometimes called Foreign Tourist Bureaus) with your passport, and pay either in foreign currency (cash or credit card) or show a currency encashment certificate or ATM receipt. The ticket costs exactly the same as the regular ticket (except for credit card surcharges). Train stations at the following Indian cities have a Foreign Tourist Rail Reservation Counter: Agra-Cantonment, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Secunderabad, Vadodara, Varanasi, and Vasco-Da-Gama (Goa). There’s also a counter at the Delhi Tourism & Transport Development Corporation office at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Arrivals lounge. In Mumbai, this office is tucked away next to the Government Tourist Office, on the first floor of the Western Railway Building, opposite Churchgate Station.

Booking Online: Understanding the Indian Railway Website

Using the Indian Railway website can be an exercise in frustration; here are some tips on how to master it with ease. After you log on to indianrail.gov.in, click on “Train/Fare Accommodation” on the bottom menu (third choice from the left). Next fill in where you want to depart from (source station name) and your destination, but (and here’s the key), only type the first three letters of the name of the place (mum for Mumbai, ban for Bengaluru—because it’s name only recently changed from Bangaloree—and del for Delhi, and so on). Then fill in the class of service you’re interested in (safest to pick “All”). Enter your date of travel (or a fictitious date) and click “get it.” This will take you to another window where you narrow your choice of source and destination from a pull-down menu (all places beginning with mum and ban and del). For Bengaluru you may get several choices—and this is another tricky part—you have to pick one (usually the first “Bangalore” choice on the list). You will get a list of all the trains, with times, that run between the two cities. Now pick the train you want by clicking on the white circle to the left of the train’s name to highlight it green, then choose your class of service (on the right). At this stage you can change the date if you like, and then get availability or fares. The availability is sometimes not online between 10pm to 6am Indian time, so if you don’t get what you want, try again later. The availability chart basically tells you how many seats are still available in the class of service you’ve chosen.

The Romance of Rail: India’s Special Train Journeys

India’s most famous luxury train, Palace on Wheels, currently operates in Rajasthan, and has 14 opulently furnished en-suite saloons, a bar, and two restaurants ( 888/INDIA-99 [46342-99] in the U.S. and Canada, 011/2332-5939 or 011/2335-3155 in India; www.palaceonwheels.net or www.thepalaceonwheels.com). Over 7 days, the train travels from Delhi to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambhore), Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Bharatpur, and Agra; and finishes its trip back in Delhi. The “Week in Wonderland” trip costs $5,250 to $7,700 double, including all travel, accommodations, sightseeing, and meals, but not taxes. And, if you like the sound of that, you might want to take a look at the similar service (and routing) offered by the very chic Royal Rajasthan on Wheels ( 877/INDIA-99 [46342-99] in the U.S. and Canada; www.royalpalaceonwheels.com or www.heritageonwheels.com; $8,310–$12,670 double for 7 nights). Other luxury trains in India include: Maharasthra’s Deccan Odyssey (see chapter 5); Golden Chariot (see chapter 9) which makes traveling through Karnataka less tedious; Fairy Queen, the oldest operating steam locomotive