I got to travel in Shatabdi Executive Class coach on Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi train thanks to the upgrade by IRCTC. I had originally booked a seat in Chair Class coach for travel to Chandigarh. But I received an SMS just two hours before the scheduled departure, stating that I have been upgraded to the Executive Class. It was a morning train and the total journey time was 3 hours and 25 minutes.
Table of Contents
Fare
The fare of Shatabdi Executive Class coach ticket is almost TWICE the fare of Chair Class coach ticket. The fare of Chair Class of Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi from Delhi to Chandigarh is Rs 595. And the fare of Executive Class is Rs 1205.
Seats
Each Shatabdi train has 2 Executive Class coaches. While Chair Car coaches have seating arrangement in 3×2 seats per row, the Executive Class coaches follow the 2×2 seating arrangement.
There is a clear difference in the quality of seats between both the classes. The seats in Executive Class recline more and are provided with headrest. One less seat in each row definitely gives an extra bit of space to each passenger.
Amenities
The food menu is similar to Chair Class. A tea/coffee along with biscuits and a cold beverage was served first-up as is the case in Chair Class. Then, breakfast meal along with a couple of bread with jam, ketchup, and butter was served. I had taken a non-veg meal which included an omelette of two eggs and few french fries. The veg meal included vegetable cutlets, paranthas with curd and pickle. A banana and cereal milk was also provided with the meal. Apart from the banana and cereal milk, you would be served the exact same items in Chair Class.
The toilets were as filthy as you get on any coach of an Indian train.
Verdict
I had never travelled on Shatabdi Executive Class before, so I was excited for obvious reasons. As there is a Business Class in airlines which is more comfortable and provides more amenities than Economy Class, similarly Executive Class in Shatabdi was supposed to provide a superior experience than Chair Class to its passengers. And I expected the same as well.
ALSO READ: SHATABDI CHAIR CLASS REVIEW
But apart from the seats, there is no difference in amenities between both the classes. The seats are definitely better in Executive Class but Chair Class seats are not bad either. The Chair Class seats do recline enough and there is ample leg space for a comfortable journey.
The Executive Class was supposed to cater to the needs of businessman and rich by providing a bit of luxurious travel, but there is no luxury in the Executive Class. The seats alone cannot be good enough reason to justify the DOUBLE fare. Keeping in mind the current facilities and fare, I would not consider it worth travelling. If apart from seats, there were a better meal and cleaner toilet than Chair Class, then it would have been definitely been worth travelling.
How To Get Upgraded on the Train
On a side note, if you are wondering how does one can get upgraded to higher class coach, let me explain to you.
IRCTC allows people to book the train ticket on a waitlist when all the seats of the particular class get booked. That way if somebody cancels their confirmed ticket, the first in the waitlist queue gets their ticket confirmed. This helps the IRCTC in keeping the train as full as possible.
You must be thinking, how does it help in the upgradation. Just hang on, I am coming to that.
This waitlisting mechanism also helps an individual holding a confirmed ticket of a lower class to get upgraded to a higher class if there is a waitlist in a lower class and a vacant seat in a higher class.
Still not clear enough? Let’s try to understand what would have happened in my case.
I had a confirmed ticket of a Chair Class coach. The Chair Class must have got full and running a waitlist. There must have been an unsold/cancelled Executive Class Coach ticket. As all the tickets of the Executive Class had not booked, there was no waitlist for that class. To keep the train as full as possible and to maximize the profit, IRCTC upgraded me to the Executive Class and gave my Chair Class seat to a waitlisted passenger.
An individual does not have a say in upgradation and which passenger to upgrade is solely determined by the algorithm of the IRCTC booking software.
But make sure to tick the checkbox “Consider for auto upgradation” while booking the ticket online to get considered for upgradation.
What do you think about the Executive Class of Shatabdi? Share your thoughts below!!
it’s also up to the passengers to make sure the toilets in a train are left clean when they finish. it’s common courtesy everywhere except perhaps here because the indian upper classes have been brought up to believe that cleaning their own mess up is somehow demeaning and should be best left to others. until this shameful mindset is changed toilets in our trains will remain, pardon the pun, shitty.
Well said!
“I had taken a non-veg meal which included an omelette of two eggs and few french fries”.
Just realized that the way a lot of us non-vegetarians think that vegetarians eat grass, vegetarians think omelette is non-vegetarian somehow.
On the bright side, this same express serves chicken curry with chapattis if you take the night train so it’s not as bad.
Read the writeup today, sutting in Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdhi (Executive Chaircar) coach. And in 2021, seems like nothing has changed 😁!
I had taken AC chaircar while travelling to Amritsar and return is in this executive chaircar! Like all the above observations, except for the seat, I ain’t seeing any improvement. Yet to begin the journey but it would be really nice to see a clean coach.
It is so disappointing that nothing has been improved yet. Indian train with clean coach and toilet has started to feel like a dream which never gets realized 🙂
As you wrote apart from the seats, there is no difference in amenities between both the Chair and Executive Classes. But the fare is double. So I don’t see worth to go for it unless there were a better meal and cleaner toilet than Chair Class. Keeping the toilets clean should be the first priority!!
This brings back memories of my sleeper train experiences in India. It wasn’t in the executive class but it’s nice to know that, no matter what class you’re in, toilets on Indian trains all employ the same cleaners!!
Yeah, that is so strange. One thing I was really hoping for the better toilets in executive class. I can’t understand how authority fails to understand that clean toilet is as important as seat quality for the comfortable journey.
You cant expect the cleaners to keep it clean 100% of the time. I always believe the quality we see outside (wherever we go and complain about tidiness or unusable facilities).
its the public!!!
Most of us maybe responsible but it takes only a small fraction of irresponsible, selfish, uncouth people to spoil for everyone else. The cleaner cant clean the toilet after every use. People dont do basic things like using the flush after use. Throw used paper in proper place. DOnt spit everywhere. Throw used tea/coffe cups where they are standing because they are lazy to walk 10 steps to a trash bin. I see public places filled with such lousy lazy people who dont care a dam.
Unless attitude of such people changes, no amount of cleaners or investments in general will offer a better quality. That ONE section of stupid people have to change. WHen that will happen in India, god only knows! so no point blaming govt or Railways. yes they can do better in certain areas but they are trying, people are not! people are not trying to improve how they behave.
I agree that it is also the responsibility of travellers to keep the toilets clean after the use. But I have witnessed many times the problem flush not working or tap not working to clean hands. And I am not a frequent train traveller. You can’t fault passengers for this. It is a responsibility of railway authorities to ensure that toilets are functioning properly.
Heck one time even I had seen shit not flushed in Shatabdi before the train had even started its journey. Is it not the responsibility of cleaners to clean the toilets before the journey starting point?
I never been to India and this is helpful to people who travel often and doesn’t know the information or tricks to get upgraded. I love how you mentioned everything so everyone who read this can have the knowledge on how to book it. Thanks for sharing.
How fortunate you were to be upgraded, if only to experience it and help inform future decisions as whether to upgrade or not.
Excitement turned into disappointment within the matter of a few hours. At least, I didn’t pay anything extra for the upgrade.
Always good to get reviews on train service upgrades. We have found the executive upgrades to be hit or miss in quality. I like to have a little more room. And love when the executive class has a “quiet” policy. Sorry to hear that the toilets got no special attention even in executive class. Certainly not the upgrade you would expect for double the cost. Thanks for the eye opener.
I also liked more room in the executive class. But the thing really pinched me was the double fare with no difference in toilet cleanliness.
Very interesting, at least you were able to experience the higher class of seating at no extra cost but from the sounds of it it isn’t worth paying double the ticket fare.
Oooh nice! It’s pretty cool that you were upgraded so got to try the posher chairs for no extra cost!
I always wonder about people that book the top classes for train travel. I think I’d prefer to travel twice as much squished into the narrower chair, rather than spend double for a 3 hour trip!
chair class (2nd class) seats are not too narrow. They have ample leg room and recline quite well too. you can comfortably spend 6-7 hours in chair class.
Good tip for the auto upgrade, although I don’t think I’d pay twice the price for what you get…. It’s not quite the same as business class on a plane!
It is not even 10% as same as business class on a plane.
Interesting to read that after the excitement of being upgraded, in the end there wasn’t much difference!
I love trains and travel by trail whenever I can. It’s good to know that spending the extra money for an upgrade on the Shatabdi train. You’d definitely think there would be better amenities in the executive section.
I have traveled so many times in Satabdi Express . These informations are really helpful for other travellers , thanks for sharing.
Very interesting that in the end, it’s not worth it. All the trains/airlines/etc are moving to these luxury classes where it’s like now you get some extra legroom for 3x the price. No thank you! I loved your comment about the toilets. What is it about train toilets that they can never be clean??
I can’t understand how difficult is to keep the toilets clean in the train. If aeroplanes can have clean toilets, then why not trains