Exploring India by train: what to know before your journey

The rail network is the backbone of India, a tangle of lines which unites the whole nation in one glorious tapestry. Not only does it give you a chance to see another side of this fascinating country, it’s one of the best ways to travel between destinations; trains in India are inexpensive, safe and comfortable and can convey you past unforgettable scenery or whisk you between UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The sheer size of the India train network, with its mix of routes, train types, multiple coach classes and sometimes complex booking processes, can make planning an India train holiday feel overwhelming, so we’ve created this guide with all you need to know before you set off on one of our Indian rail holidays. Here’s why they’re such a tempting idea.

One of the world’s largest railway networks, trains in India cover the entire country, with 135,207 km of railway track in India, and a route length of 69,000km – the same as going around the equator 1.5 times. An astonishing 23 million people travel by train in India every day.

Train travel in India has been around for over 170 years, since the first passenger train travelled 34km from Mumbai in 1853, and now carries more than 6.9 billion passengers each year, linking 7,325 stations.

The network’s oldest station – Howrah Junction, just across the Hooghly river from Kolkata – is its busiest today, with more than a million passengers travelling through its 23 platforms each day.

You can also find the world’s longest railway platform within the India train network; the Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Hubballi Junction in Karnataka is an impressive 1,507 metres long.

Indian Railways even owns four UNESCO-listed World Heritage Sites, including the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Kalka Shimla Railway, plus five royal trains, such as the lavish The Maharajas’ Express.

Can’t get enough of rail travel in India? The longest train route connects Dibrugarh in Assam to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu aboard the Vivek Express, covering 4,189 kilometres and 56 stops in 82 hours and 30 minutes. Or for a rather shorter taste of train travel in India, the shortest train ride will take you just nine minutes, travelling only 3km from Nagpur to Ajni.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, you need a lot of people to run all the trains in India; around 1,400,000 employees, making India Railways the largest employer in India and the eighth largest employer in the world.

Railways travel in India can help you to explore some of the country’s most famous sights but there’s far more to India train travel than getting from A to B. On some journeys, you’ll get a glimpse of spectacular landscapes, from the foothills of the Himalayas to the mountains of India’s south, voyaging past epic scenery and snapshots of everyday life.

India’s railways are also a fantastic way to experience Indian culture, whether that’s a taste of chai and spicy snacks bought as you stop in a station, or a chance to strike up conversation with fellow passengers who you’d never otherwise have met. And rail travel is often one of the most convenient and hassle-free ways to get around, without worrying about traffic-snarled city streets or navigating to more off-the-beaten track locations.

Covering bigger distances with ease, it also means you can fit as much as possible into your stay. In Rajasthan alone, the ‘land of kings’ is the largest state in India and home to some of its most iconic sights, from forts to palaces, the lakes of Udaipur, the Thar Desert’s dunes and the tigers of the Ranthambore National Park. On our Great Rail Journey of India tour, you can discover Delhi, the pink city of Jaipur, Ranthambore and the Taj Mahal at Agra before heading to Amritsar and into the mountains at Shimla, with six memorable rail journeys helping you tick off Northern India’s highlights.

Running through the foothills of the Himalayas in India’s north as well as Tamil Nadu in the far south is a series of narrow-gauge railways, known as India’s toy trains.

The name comes from the first mountain railway, with its small engines and narrow tracks, which Darjeeling residents affectionately called a ‘toy train’. The nickname stuck and went on to be used for future similar narrow-gauge trains; the toy train India tally stands at five at present.

This is slow travel at its finest; although they’re part of the India train network, rather than purely a tourist attraction, they journey slowly through some spectacular scenery, so this is far more of an experience than simply a way to reach a destination. With less space on board, you can also expect fewer facilities – no food, for example – but the views will more than make up for that.

The oldest of all India’s toy trains, the Darjeeling Mountain Railway has been operating since 1881, and was given UNESCO World Heritage statue in 1999. Travelling for 55 miles, it links Darjeeling in West Bengal and New Jalpaiguri, taking seven hours to complete.

Along the way, you’ll follow three loops including the 360-degree famous Batasia Loop, and six zigzag reverses as well as climbing to India’s highest railway station, Ghum, at 7,218ft up. With some amazing views out onto green mountain valleys, fields of tea bushes and mountain panoramas, you’ll be glued to the window. The best time to travel is from October to March, when you’ll get clearer skies and pleasant temperatures.

One of the best-known toy trains in India, the Kalka-Shimla Railway runs for 60 miles through the foothills of the Himalayas, trundling along at around 22km per hour on this five-hour route to what was once the summer capital of British India.

Kalka-Shimla Railway

Opened in 1903, there’s rarely a dull moment on the route, which passes through 107 tunnels, crosses 850 bridges and curves around 919 bends – the spiral loop near Solan takes you around the hill rather than a straight line up, while the longest tunnel at Barog is almost 1,143m long. For the best views, sit on the right hand side travelling from Kalka to Shimla.

While it runs year-round, March to June is one of the loveliest times to travel, with green valleys and pleasant temperatures, although during winter, you can see snow-dusted landscapes.

At the opposite end of the country, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway takes on Asia’s steepest gradient along the route to the ‘queen of the hill stations’ at Ooty (officially Udhagamandalam).

Chugging for just under 29 miles from the Mettupalayam valley, this toy train has another complicated route to navigate on its five-hour journey; not just the steep hill, but also 16 tunnels, 250 bridges and 208 curves along the way, with a top speed of just 10.4km per hour.

Ooty toy train

In fact, the idea for the railway came about more than 50 years before the challenges of the landscape were overcome and it was finally built, first proposed in 1854 but only finished in 1908. Passing fields of tea, eucalyptus forests, misty hills and towns which seem almost frozen in time, you’ll feel almost as if you’d travelled back to the days of the British Raj. Another UNESCO-listed site, March to May is one of the best times to appreciate the route, escaping some of the heat but before the monsoon months hit.

The Matheran Hill Railway, which travels from Neral, near Mumbai, through the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, is the only way you can reach the hill station of Matheran.

Set around 800m above sea level in the mountains, the toy train route was finished in 1907 with a plan to allow British officials easy access to the hills in the heat of summer. Covering just 21km, the weaving journey takes around two and a half hours, with just three stops on the route, but you pass through some beautiful forests along the way. Although it’s far less famous than the Himalayan routes or the toy train to Ooty, it’s very popular with locals as well. The best time to travel is between October and March.

One of the longest toy train routes in India, the Kangra Valley Railway takes eight hours to cover 164km from Pathankot in Punjab to Joginder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh, stopping 33 times along the way. One of the highlights is being able to look out to the Dhauladhar mountain range and the tea plantations in the hills.

It’s also the newest of the five Indian toy trail routes, constructed in 1929, and passing over around 950 bridges – look out for temples and stone bridges over little waterways as you travel alone. Spring and autumn are the best months to travel, avoiding the worst heat of summer and potential delays from the snow in winter, although if you’re looking for peaks dusted in white, you’ll need to travel during the colder months.

One of the first things you’ll discover about train travel in India is just how varied it can be. As well as mail trains, there are both Express and standard passenger trains, and multiple different classes, so your experience will also depend whether you’re booked into a more luxurious 1AC air-conditioned, private compartment on one of the most modern trains or are braving the colourful chaos of unreserved second class on a passenger train which stops repeatedly at local stations.

It’s not only foreign travellers who tend to opt for 1AC, 2AC and 3AC seats though, so you’ll often find locals on their own journeys who’ll be as interested in your experiences of their country as you are in exploring it.

The journeys will be equally varied. Travelling from Delhi to Jaipur, you’ll move from modern bustle to the elegance of Jaipur’s intricate buildings, passing through the countryside and past small villages on the way.

Further on, as you head towards Sawai Madhopur for Ranthambore National Park, the landscape becomes lusher, backed by the hills in the Vindhyas and Aravali ranges. Or as you head further north towards the Himalayas, you’ll discover some of India’s famous ‘toy trains’. While they’re smaller than the average train, the spectacular scenery is larger than life, with soaring peaks dusted in snow during winter and plunging valleys thick with pine trees.

You’re not limited to the north if you’re looking for dramatic scenery either; in Tamil Nadu, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (better known as the Ooty Toy Train) journeys through the hills and jungles to the tea plantations and the cool hills, a trip which feels like you’re being transported back in time as you venture ever upwards.

Discover India by rail for yourself on our Great Indian Rail Journey tour, or try one of our other rail journeys