Jhansi Transportation

Jhansi lies on the main New Delhi-Bhopal railway line and so is very easy to get to from either Delhi or Agra. I came by train from Gwalior on the Shatabdi express (train No.2002) and took another train out of Jhansi to Lucknow after visiting Orchha and Khajuraho. A train was waiting at the platform but it was not mine. It was full of people cramped up in Sleeper Class, one of the lowest classes on the Indian railways. It looked filthy from the outside and certainly not my cup of tea. My train arrived and I walked along the platform to find my carriage number. All the carriage numbers are shown in the middle of the train. S1, S2 etc are for Sleeper Class, A1 is for Air Con 2 tier class which was my class. I got on board after finding my carriage and found my bed berth - the upper birth of 2 on one side and 2 on the opposite side making a compartment of 4. The compartments are open with just a curtain for privacy. There are more upper and lower berths running down length-ways on the other side of the carriage. The upper berths are suspended by chains from the ceiling which are wrapped in padding and they also stop you from falling off. This was my first time in AC2 as all the other trains I had taken up until now had been Shatabdi trains - posher trains that just have seats in them. It was surprisingly very clean and we pulled out of Jhansi just 10 minutes late. This class is mostly made up of middle class Indian's who are well dressed and middle management businessmen in nice shirts and trousers, although all Indian males dress sense needs a lot to be desired! After about 10 minutes of leaving Jhansi, an attendant came along and dished out a sheet, pillow and blanket to make up as a bed even though it was 2pm.