I had a 2nd class reserved seat on the train and the ride was ok. I’m glad I wasn’t on a 2nd class unreserved train where it is a free for all and maybe you can’t get a seat and it was a 4 hour ride.
I arrived in the city of Pune and ran across the same problem with a lot of hotels being full for being very expensive. An auto-rickshaw driver took me to an area near the Osho resort where Indian people rent out rooms to guests. I also read about this in my book, but most of the places are looking for someone more long term, at least 10 days. They say because they have to register the guest with the police. Finally, I found a house that would take me, who wouldn’t register me with the police, but I had to pay a bit more because of my short stay, about $8/night.
There are a lot of foreigners in this area, most wearing red robes because of the Osho Meditation Resort nearby. I tried to get a tour of the place at least, but that was sold out. It is very popular. The cybercafes nearby are closed because they don’t have a license from the police, I noticed.