Hi noggin

100% you must book in advance unless you want unreserved class (trust me you don't). Sleeper class is fine but you still need to reserve seats even if you are not travelling overnight. I know I have mentioned it before but have a look at http://www.indiamike.com and go on to the forum for train travel. There are several very helpful forums on how to use the various indian railways sites. In addition there are loads of brilliant threads giving the most detailed advice imaginable for indian train travel. The best website to book tickets is the irctc one which I am a member of. Have a look at indiamike then irctc site... if you don't want to join but you know dates I will book tickets for you (this can be done either 60 or 90 days in advance can't remember which, but indiamike site will confirm). They can be cancelled easily for nominal cost if necessary. There is a member on that site called stevenber and what he doesn't know about indian train travel isn't worth knowing. Have a look and pm me if you want me to book tickets for you... I would probably need to arrange to call you to do it quickly and efficiently but I don't mind doing so. The Varanasi to Agra route is popular and the earlier you book the better especially if you want an a/c class. Not sure if you are already in India but if sonother brilliant source of info once you get the hang of how to use it is 'Trains at a Glance' which is a timetable of all indian trains and can be obtained from most train stations and some news stands. Don't panic if trains are overbooked (they always are) there is a tourist quota on some trains (look for info on indiamike about TATKAL) that can be booked no sooner than 5 days from when you will take the journey.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Sian

Just to add to the above re the indiamike site if you are not familiar with it, go on to http://www.indiamike.com and click on forums, page down until you see 'india travel - getting ther and around' and then select the forum 'indian railways' and then get yourself a cuppa and settle in for several hours browsing!

Omg...is it me or is it sooo confusing? Can't read anymore so now got to leave it for several days as on nights .

Is there an easy way of booking tickets????

We have booked tickets from UK and in Goa.
From UK find an Indian Travel Agent and get them to book.
You will need to pick tickets up in the airport when you arrive.
In Goa go to any of the travel shacks in resorts, they will book and charge a small commission.

Sam,

Not in Goa at the start, I'm flying to Mumbai then up to Delhi. Want to get the train from Agra/Delhi to Varanassi and then (if runs that way) from Varanassi to Tivrim. Can I still do this from UK?? I'll be happy bunny if I can!!!

Hi Celcat,Give Southall Travel a ring,they might be able to help or know someone.Good Luck Jantie

hi for train tickets anywhere in india try http://www.cleartrip.com take a look and see
its so easy
sharon

Celcat,
We booked the tickets we wanted over the internet with an Indian travel agent.
If you are going into Mumbai first then use one in Mumbai and get them to deliver to the hotel.
We also found that Indian travel Agents can book hotels in India much cheaper than you can direct with the hotel.

Another vote here for Cleartrip. I've booked Goa (Thivim) to Bhopal and then Bhopal to Chennai... and recently thought I'd best do the return leg to Goa and booked that from Kerala. I think it works out at around RS100-200 extra to do it via an agent like Cleartrip but anyone who has ever stood in a booking queue will know these are roops well spent

I've just had to re-schedule my Kerala-Goa leg for a few days later and the cancellation was simple at a cost of about RS100 on the refund.

If you do book from here, all the booking systems close from about midnight til 6am India time so I usually do this about 1am here when they have warmed up the system

A link I use to check trains: http://erail.in/

And Indiamike is an absolute godsend, so much info on there it's unreal. Helped me plan my south India itinerary and I'll be back on there soon to plan the north

your so right Bapu india mike is a great site take a look here noggin
http://www.indiamike.com/india/indian-railways-f10/