The train runs on time with various passengers including officers, government officials, and opium and indigo merchants who work in the East.

Phileas’s traveling companion, Sir Francis Comarty, is a soldier of distinction now living in India. He notes Phileas’s mechanical behaviorisms as odd and considers the journey, as the protagonist describes it, as lacking sense and value.

The narrator describes the terrain as the train progresses, and Sir Francis discusses delays typical of such journeys in the past. The train would often have to wait for palanquins to pass. Respect for the religious customs of the locals also restricted travel, and Sir Francis notes that Passepartout’s recent blunder, which involved disrupting a ceremony, could have caused serious trouble. Phileas agrees with Sir Francis but notes that, had Passepartout been caught, the valet alone would have been punished and sent home—Phileas’s journey, even in that worst-case scenario, would surely have continued undisturbed.

Passepartout wakes from his nap, unaware of the men’s chat about him, and considers the marvels of the train. The valet’s true nature as a restless vagabond begins to emerge once again, and he becomes invested in the journey.

The train halts, and Phileas learns that there is no more railway.