Apple on the Goa Express -- 27 Hours, First AC, and the Husky Next Door

I want to tell you about the moment I knew this was going to be fine.

We were 40 minutes out of Pune. Apple had been sitting beside me on the lower berth, mildly interested in everything. Then the train picked up speed. The Deccan Plateau opened up outside the window. Green, enormous, moving. And Apple pressed his nose against the glass and stayed there.

Apple believes the world outside a window belongs to him specifically. On the Goa Express 12780, the window was lower and wider than a car window and the world was moving faster and there was a lot more of it. He was completely happy.

That was when I knew 27 hours was going to be fine.

Why we were on a train

We had driven to Pune for work. Apple came because Apple always comes. The drive back to Delhi is 1,500 kilometres. Akash suggested the train. I said yes partly because I was tired of the highway and partly because we had been getting the same question for months: can I take my dog on a train? We had never actually done it. We decided to find out.

We booked the Goa Express 12780. Vasco Da Gama to Hazrat Nizamuddin daily. We would board at Pune and get off in Delhi. 27 hours in First AC.

Getting to the platform

We reached Pune station three hours before departure. This is exactly the right amount when you have a 35-kg Golden Retriever and a stack of documents and a process you have never done before.

First stop: Chief Reservation Supervisor's office. I showed the PNR and requested formal coupe allocation. The supervisor noted it. Without this, another passenger can be assigned to the remaining berth. With it, the coupe is yours.

Second stop: luggage counter. Apple's vaccination certificate, the vet fitness-to-travel certificate, the IRCTC dog booking confirmation. Everything checked, platform pass issued. Apple wore his muzzle without complaint from the moment we got out of the auto.

Third stop: the platform, the coach, the coupe. Berths 23 and 24. Apple walked in, stepped onto the lower berth, turned around twice, and lay down.

The Husky

Somewhere around the second station stop, the door to the adjacent coupe opened and a family came in with a white Siberian Husky. Young dog, maybe 18 months. Blue eyes. Very interested in the world.

The Husky became immediately aware of Apple through the shared wall. For about 15 minutes there was mutual alertness on both sides of the partition. Then something settled. The Husky lay down. Apple went back to the window.

By the middle of the night both dogs had their heads at the bottom of their respective compartment doors. Aware. Unbothered. The Husky's family and I compared notes at the longer station stops -- which platforms had more walking space, which stops were long enough for a proper walk. There is something specifically pleasant about sharing 27 hours on a train with another family who made the same logistically complicated choice you did.

What Apple thought of the whole thing

He watched the window for most of the first day. Through the Deccan Plateau, through the state borders, through the long green stretch of Madhya Pradesh where the monsoon had started and the fields were very bright. He slept on his mat from around 9 PM. He ate his evening meal on the berth without difficulty.

By morning he had moved from the lower berth to my lap. He was watching the Rajasthan landscape change into the outskirts of Delhi with the same focused attention he brings to lake spots from the Rubicon window. Not anxious. Just watching.

Arriving at Hazrat Nizamuddin

We pulled in on time. Apple had been on a train for 27 hours. He walked off the platform looking exactly the way he always looks when we arrive somewhere new: alert, interested, ready for whatever comes next. Not tired. Not relieved. Just ready.

The Goa Express had an enormous window with fast-moving countryside. It was interesting.

What we verified

Goa Express 12780 allows dogs in First AC coupe or cabin when you book the full space under one PNR. The process at Pune station is straightforward with enough time. The journey is comfortable for a large calm dog. We have verified this ourselves, with Apple, on 20 May 2026.

Goa Express 12780 dog travel -- full booking guide

Ekta, Apple, Captain, Kimchi and Akash