The Ministry of Railways is going to start the facility of baby berth in trains for women traveling with small children. However, for this, the female passenger will have to pay a higher fare. The arrangement of baby berths has been started on an experimental basis in the AC 3-tier of Lucknow Mail Train. Based on the feedback received from the passengers, this service will be expanded.
Railway Ministry officials said that women traveling with young children have to face a lot of trouble traveling on one berth. Because of this, Railways has started the facility of a baby berth attached to lower berth number 12 and 60 in AC-3 coach of Lucknow mail train from April 27. Whose length is 770 mm, width is 255 mm and thickness is 76.2 mm. The baby berth can be folded under the main berth when it is not in use or during the daytime. Due to this other passengers in the compartment will not face any problems.
The official said that if the experiment is successful, along with increasing the number of baby births in the coach, this service will be expanded to other trains. Female passengers will be able to book baby berths online. With the expansion of the scheme, the railway’s online booking service will be linked to the Railway Information System Center. Sources say that the female passenger will have to pay 50 percent of the fare, although no final decision has been taken on this yet.
The railways charge the full fare for a child of five to 12 years. Earlier it was 50 percent of the fare.There may be some changes in the design of the baby berth after the pilot run.Since the baby’s berth is not covered from all sides, there is a risk of the baby slipping and falling on the moving train. Its design will need to be changed so that the child does not slip down while sleeping.
The option of placing the baby berth under the main berth using a slide will have to be considered instead of folding.