There’s little I can say that hasn’t been well documented on this Seat 61 site, but I do have a few of my usual “do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do” tips.
Regarding the ugly, frustrating, non-user-tested Indian Railways official site, please do sign up before you leave your country as you will have to input your non-Indian number (they allow any number without a +91 country code) to get a confirmation text back with a code. That text will cost you 100 rs in tourist tax from the railways site, but at least you won’t have to pay roaming fees.
While it’s true that you can buy train tickets through ClearTrip for a small fee, you will have to have a user account with the Indian Railways site, so get it over with in your home country.
I opted to go to the booking station in Mumbai near Fort so I could talk to a human about options, which is something that’s not available using the IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) site. Don’t go to that office. Instead, go to CST like the Seat 61 site above recommends. There’s a window for foreigners only, and they are used to dealing with English speakers. I was issued the wrong ticket initially at the Fort train station, but I was able to get a refund (with a 200 rs cancellation fee) later at CST.
If you do need to cancel your ticket, don’t expect to see the refund immediately on your credit card transactions. It took about five days for me to get mine.
Do pack snacks, even if you have paid for a meal. My food was edible but not great, about the same as that served on an airplane. All those charming stories about how families will share their food with you never materialized for me, although I did give away the sickly sweet soda they served me to the guy sitting across from me, and he was pretty happy about it.
A great app I have on my phone is called Goibibo, although I can’t use it to book tickets because I don’t have an aadhar card (the new Indian ID card that uses fingerprints to identify its citizens) number, which is now required for many things, including getting a SIM card from some, but not all, cell service companies. However, this app is pretty cool to use if you just want to research train, plane, car rentals, or lodging services as it displays travel times and availability.
Stations should have a pre-paid taxi counter. Ignore the touts outside the station who are going to swarm you with offers of a taxi or rickshaw ride and proceed directly to the pre-paid station. If there is no pre-paid option, be sure you negotiate a price for the trip before you get into the vehicle, and don’t pay them until you are out of it and standing on the sidewalk with your bags. This procedure is standard in India, so don’t feel weird about hopping out before you pay.
Finally, if you are obviously a tourist or foreigner, the train servers/attendees may ask you for a tip. I was aggressively hustled on my way off the train by one of the servers who just kept saying, “tip, tip” as I struggled to get my backpack off the overhead rack. I didn’t tip him, and my train friend told me I had done the right thing when I met her on the platform. She pointed out another of the attendants who was wearing a big button on his shirt that stated, “Don’t Tip.” The guy who was hustling me must have lost his.