The train south
Sixteen hours, three classes, and which one to book if you would like to arrive able to walk.
6 min read · March 2026
· Part 3 of 5
The sleeper class is not the adventure people tell you it is, and 3AC is not the luxury the price suggests. The honest answer is 2AC on an overnight and sleeper on anything under six hours.
Booking it
IRCTC wants an Indian number for the OTP. There are two ways around that, and only one of them still works.
Book the ticket before the visa. The trains fill up faster than the consulate does.
What it actually costs
Sixteen hours, two meals, and a berth you can lie flat in came to less than a taxi across Delhi.
The implicit grid explanation finally made this click for me. I had been declaring rows for years without knowing why it sometimes worked anyway.
That is exactly the trap — it works right up until the content count changes. Glad it helped.
Would love a follow-up on subgrid. It is the one part I still avoid.