All You Need to Know to Travel with Your Dog in Indian Railways

It is so amazing and nice to know that Indian railways have the facility that you can take your dog along when you decide to travel by train. Such options are always such a relief to canine parents who want to take their fur babies when they travel. Although it is a bit daunting at times in terms of ticket availability, cleanliness, etc. For me, it is the best option because I never want to leave Jenny behind in a kennel as much as possible. So far in 5 years of companionship, I left her in the kennel only once and regretted. We have already documented our road trip when we took her with us from Pune to Uttarakhand via Delhi in a car. It was memorable and Jenny adopted the whole journey so well that I was confident that we can really take her on all our adventures now. We have taken her to Goa, Udaipur, Hampi, Konkan and some other places so far.

Let me break it down into two parts:

Last year after Diwali, we had sudden plans to go attend my dad’s retirement party in my hometown and we were thinking of the road trip again. It is always fun but tiring and time-consuming, so we thought of attempting the train travel with her. We did some research, read some blogs and watched some videos to see what does it take. The information is scattered all over. It is usually just a list without any mention of real-time issues especially if you haven’t done it before.

1. If you want to book tickets in 1st Class, book the 2 birth coupe if you are two people along with the dog. You can take your dog along with you in the coupe. If the tickets are booked from the counter, then an application needs to be submitted to the station master to request for a coupe. If the ticket is booked online then IRCTC online booking also has the option to select coupe.
2. If you have tickets for any other class, you need to keep your dog in the brake van for the entire duration.

In both the situations, you need to contact the parcel office at least one day prior to the commencement of your train journey with a confirm PNR number. Show up at the station 3 hours before the journey to complete the formalities. You need to fill in the form, show vaccine history of your dog along with a certificate from the vet that your dog is fit to travel. They would weigh the dog and will make a receipt based on weight.

Problems in taking your dog in 1st AC:

• It is important to have the consent of your co-passenger in 1st AC. If they are not comfortable or the dog is creating any nuisance, the dog needs to be taken to the brake van. To tackle this, even if you are only 1 person with the dog, book 2 tickets in coupe.
• Your dog is your responsibility. All his water, food, comfort needs to be taken care of by you. The railway will bear no responsibility in case of death or illness.

Problems in taking your dog in Brake van and some tips to solve them:

• Your dog is your responsibility. All his water, food, comfort needs to be taken care of by you. The railway will bear no responsibility in case of death or illness.

Tip: Keep treats, food and water for them all the time. Make sure you give motion sickness tablet if they are not used to travel. Choose a train which is an overnight journey, especially during summer-time.

• There will be less time to meet your dog in between. You need to make sure that you choose a train which has a reasonable number of stops.

Tip: There should be some 10 mins stop so that you can feed your pooch and take him for a short walk to finish his business.

• The dog box in the brake van is usually dirty. So be mentally prepared for that.

Tip: Try to choose a train which starts from your boarding station so that if need be you can ask some cleaning staff to clean. spread anti-tick powder on the surface of the box thoroughly and on your pooch too.

• Although it depends on the temperament of your dog, they would feel anxious and confused when you put them in the box, which is natural. So do visit them as much as possible so that they know that you are around.

Tip: Take your dog a few days before the journey to the platform through the parcel office route. They will recognize the smell when they visit on the day of travel. Try to convince the guard in the brake van if he allows you to sit there for some time to calm your dog.

• If the train is not commencing from your station, and is coming from some other station; there is a chance that there is a dog already in the dog box. There is no way to find that out unless the train reaches your station.

Tip: Always prefer a train which starts at your departure station.

• There is no defined rule on when to submit a form for your dog. This is based on my experience in Pune, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Tip: Don’t assume, go to the station a few days prior to your journey day and ask when should you come to fill the form.

Our experience: It was overall ok, I am glad that I could take her with me in train safely. The guard was nice and very understanding. Although you have to be patient and follow all the rules and regulations. I am sure it would be so much easy to take a dog in a 1st AC. I will try to get the ticket to such train with proper planning for next time.

Jenny’s experience: Naturally, she was very scared and confused initially. She also cried a bit, we kept on visiting her on every station even if just for a couple of minutes. Slowly she understood that we are around. In the return journey, she was all calm and understanding that it is just a journey and we all will be together soon. 🙂

I have tried to cover all issues, rules, aspects and personal experience here. Feel free to ask in the comment section if you have any questions. Happy travels with your pooch. 🙂