Pet Travel by Train: Online Seat Booking for Pets Coming Soon

If you’re someone who travels frequently with their pet, the Indian Railways has some good news for you. In a bid to ease the process and make bookings more convenient, they announced the provisions for online bookings for pet travel in train first class coaches will be coming soon. As of now, pet owners must meet with the station master or railway official offline to confirm their travel booking.

The Joint Director of Passenger Marketing, Railway Board, has sent a letter to the General Manager and Senior Authorities, asking for the facility to be listed on the IRCTC website as soon as possible.

In a meeting held on April 21, it was concluded that the online booking for pet dogs & cats will be available in the Parcel Management System, with a web link of the same being displayed on the IRCTC website. Verification of whether at least one 2 berth coupe/4 berth cabin of first class has been assigned under the singular PNR will be made prior to confirming the booking.

According to Railways Authorities, passengers will soon be able to submit the specifics of their pet’s dimensions into the PMS system, which will then calculate the freight automatically. Once the payment is confirmed, an e-receipt will be mailed & confirmation message sent to the passenger’s phone.

This will be a welcome addition to the train travel process, because as of now, the booking for pets needed to be done physically at the station counter one hour before departure, which can be a bit of a hassle.

Railway officials also said that “No refund of freight charges for booking of dog/cat shall be admissible even in the case of train cancellation/late running.”

Passengers are sure to welcome this addition to the booking process, as it will make the process streamlined and make the service less cumbersome to use.