How to book the Darjeeling toy train

Here is a summary of the main services, with indicative 2026 fares per person. Railway fares change, and joyride prices include the museum stop. Use IRCTC for the exact fare on your date.

You book on the IRCTC website or the IRCTC Rail Connect app, the same system used for all Indian Railways trains. You need a free IRCTC account, verified by mobile number and email, and a payment method. International visitors can register with a foreign mobile number and email, though verification sometimes takes longer; a hotel or agent can book for you if it fails.

The station codes are what trip people up:

• Darjeeling is DJ, Ghum is GHUM, Kurseong is KGN and New Jalpaiguri is NJP.
• For the joyride, enter DJ as both the starting and the destination station. The joyride services then appear with their departure times.
• Steam and diesel joyrides are listed as separate trains; check the name and fare before you pay.
• For the through train or the Kurseong service, search NJP to DJ or KGN to DJ as normal.
• Choose the date carefully: joyrides run at several times each day, and your ticket is valid only for that departure.
• Download the e-ticket and keep it on your phone with the ID you used to book; staff check both before boarding.

Indian Railways opens most bookings a fixed number of days before the journey; as we understand it, the advance reservation period has been 60 days for most trains since late 2024. Joyride seats for Puja weeks in October, the May–June school holidays and Christmas can sell out within days of opening, especially steam. Outside those peaks, booking a week or two ahead is usually enough, and in January, February, July and August you can often book the day before.

If IRCTC shows the train as full or waitlisted, try a different departure time or diesel instead of steam, check again a few days later as cancellations free seats, or ask at the reservation counter at Darjeeling station, which opens early in the morning. Your hotel may also know which departures have space. Rules on booking windows and quotas change, so check current status before you travel.

Reach Darjeeling station 20–30 minutes before departure. It is on Hill Cart Road below the main town, about 15 minutes' walk down from Chowrasta or a short taxi ride. Steam engines are prepared in the yard beside the platform, and watching them being coaled and watered before your trip is part of the fun.

Coaches are small and seats are narrow. For the best view at Batasia Loop on the way to Ghum, ask for a seat on the side facing the valley; the staff can usually tell you which side. Bring a jacket even in summer, since coaches are not heated and Ghum, at 2,258 m, is often foggy and cold. Keep children's hands and heads inside the windows: the train passes close to walls and shop fronts.

At Batasia the train stops for about 10 minutes, long enough to walk into the garden, see the Gorkha War Memorial and take photos with Kangchenjunga behind on a clear day. At Ghum you get roughly 30 minutes for the museum in the old station building. Back in Darjeeling, the whole round trip has taken about two hours.

Photography is welcome from inside the coaches and at the stops. Ask before photographing the crew, who are proud of their engines and often happy to pose by the cab. Do not step onto the track for a better angle, at Batasia or anywhere else; the train runs on open road in places and the engines are heavier and faster to close in than they look. In the steam season, smuts from the chimney can mark light clothes, so wear something dark.

Toy-train services are cancelled more often than mainline trains, because of landslides, track repairs, engine faults, bad weather and, now and then, strikes. If Indian Railways cancels the train, the normal rule is a full refund, credited to your account; on IRCTC e-tickets this is usually automatic, though it can take some days. If you cancel yourself, standard railway cancellation charges apply, depending on how close to departure you cancel.

Delays are common too, especially on the long through train and with steam engines, which may stop to take water or clear wet rails. Do not plan a tight connection after a toy-train ride. For the NJP–Darjeeling train, carry food and water, since there is no catering on board and stops are short. Check current status before you travel and again on the morning of your trip.

A sold-out train does not mean you miss the railway. The track runs along the road for much of its length, and you can see a great deal for free or for the price of a small entry fee.

• Batasia Loop, entry ₹20–50, indicative 2026: wait for a joyride to spiral round the garden.
• Ghum station and the DHR museum, which you can visit by road for a small fee.
• Kurseong bazaar, where trains pass inches from shop counters on Hill Cart Road.
• Darjeeling station yard in the early morning, when steam engines are prepared.
• The loops and reverses near Tindharia and Gayabari, seen from the Hill Cart Road on the way down to Siliguri.