Indian Railways: Check IRCTC rules on booking train tickets for kids below 5 years

Source: https://zeenews.india.com/railways/indian-railways-irctc-updates-ticket-booking-rules-now-pay-full-amount-for-kids-below-5-years-2498093.html

Publisher: Zee News

Indian Railways : When travelling with kids on trains with Indian Railways, passengers have various concerns about ticket bookings. Indian Railways doesn’t charge an 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 don’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, the full adult fare has to be paid by booking a ticket. 

Indian Railways recently added baby berths in AC’s third bogie of Lucknow Mail, which received a lot of appreciation from Netizens. The railways have now implemented the system of giving seats to children below five years of age while booking tickets on IRCTC and Railway Reservation booths at the stations. Till now only tickets for children in the age group of 5 to 11 years were allowed.

Indian Railways ticket booking rules for kids 

As the rule applies, if you are taking a full berth for a kid between 5-11 years of age, only then full fare has been 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.

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 the berth is taken
Age 5-11 years: Full charge if you select the whole berth, half price if you select a child seat without a berth
Age 12 years onwards: Full charge for everyone

Passengers who are looking to book a ticket, have to book a train berth with an infant seat to avail full discount on the train ticket. While Indian Railways and IRCTC have not made any formal announcement on the matter, the new ticket rules have been applied on the IRCTC’s website already.