Indian Railways New Rule: train tickets for kids below 5 years

There have been some recent media reports claiming that the Indian Railways has changed the rule regarding booking tickets for children traveling in trains. When travelling with kids on trains with Indian Railways, passengers have various concerns about ticket bookings. Indian Railways New Rule: train tickets for kids below 5 years.

Indian Railways doesn’t charge amount for kids below 5 years of age if tickets are not booked. However, by adding infant seats in the trains, Indian Railways and IRCTC have changed the booking norms. A quick check on the IRCTC website reveals that full fare has to be paid by passengers for kids between 1-5 years of age.

In order to get free travel for the kids under reservation, one has to select Berth with infant seat (for applicable trains) or Infant without berth option. As per circular number 12 of 2020 issued on 06.03.2020 by the Indian Railways, kids below 5 years of age doesn’t need a reservation for travelling and can travel on a train without a ticket for free of cost.

However, if a berth is required, full adult fare has to be paid by booking a ticket. Indian Railways recently added baby berths in AC third bogie of Lucknow Mail, that received a lot of appreciation from Netizens. The railways has now implemented the system of giving seats to children below five years of age, while booking tickets on IRCTC and Railway Rersevation booths at the stations.

Till now only tickets for children in the age group of 5 to 11 years were allowed. As the rule applies, if you are taking a full berth for the kid between 5-11 years of age, only than full fare has be paid to the Railways. If you don’t take a full berth, you have to pay only half the ticket price. However, when it comes to children below 5 years, the Passenger Reservation System has not put any option of not taking a child berth after filling the names of children between the age of one to four years.

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Age 0-4 years: Free of cost for kids if you select Infant berth/ Infant with no berth depending on the train. Else pay the full charge if berth is taken. Age 5-11 years: Full charge if you select the whole berth, half price if you select a child seat without berth. Age 12 years onwards: Full charge for everyone.