If you are on a tour of India, especially from a foreign country, you should be choosing no other mode of transportation but train, to explore this wonderful vibrant country. Indian railways has also done their bit to make it easy for foreign tourists to travel across India.

There are some top notch services extended to foreigners by Indian Railway. Foreign tourists, who wish to experience India by train, can enjoy the special facilities earmarked for them. These are explained below in greater detail.

tourist train carrying foreigners in India


Special Quota: Several important trains have a special quota for foreign tourists. This can be availed on payment of US Dollars or Pound Sterling. Tourists without foreign currency, will be allotted the special quota on production of the exchange certificates issued by any nationalized bank. At the time of reservation, the passport number and the country of origin should be mentioned.

Assistance Cells: Major Reservation Centres, distributed across the country, have special Cells to help foreign tourists plan their itinerary, reserve their tickets and render any assistance required.

The International Tourist Bureau: situated on the first floor of New Delhi Railway Station provides personalized service and assistance to foreign tourists and NRIs regarding reservations, itinerary planning and other enquiries. This Bureau is manned by trained staff and tourist guides, fluent in foreign languages. For any assistance, please contact: The Manager, International Tourist Bureau, I Floor, New Delhi Railway Station, New Delhi – 110 001. Tel: 011-23405156, 23346804. Fax : 011-23343050.

Indrail Pass: This travel-as-you-please ticket has been created especially for foreign tourists and Indian nationals residing abroad. This ticket is available during specified time period from ½ day to 90 days. Indian railway Passes should be used within one year of issue. Validity period starts from the date of the first train journey and ends on the midnight of the last journey. During the period of validity, foreign tourists can travel from anywhere on the Indian Railways network without route or train restrictions and without payment of any additional charges.

The cost of these passes keeps varying with class of travel and validity period. At the time of writing this article, the price of passes are as per the chart given below.

chart of cost of indian railway pass for foreigners


In India, Indrail Passes are available for sale in Railway Reservation Offices at: Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Howrah, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Secunderabad, Thiruvunanthapuram Central, Vadodara, Varanasi and Vasco-daGama. Certain recognized Travel Agents are also authorized to sell these passes in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Indrail Passes are also sold through General Sales Agents in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Finland, Germany, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UAE and the UK.

Special tourist trains: There are several royal trains available in stock of Indian Railways which are especially designed to provide royal traveling experience to the guests, Trains like 'Palace on Wheels', 'Maharaja Express', ad heritage charters like 'DHR (Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway) Joy Ride' have special arrangements in them to serve their foreign guests.

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post