Passengers who specifically want a lower berth can choose the option “book only if lower berth is available” while booking tickets online.
Indian Railways has recently taken several steps to make train ticket booking easier and more convenient for passengers. Earlier this year, it launched the RailOne app, which lets users book both reserved and unreserved tickets. The app also works as a single platform for many railway services, helping passengers manage everything in one place.
The Railways has also reduced the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) which means that now, passengers can book reserved tickets up to 60 days in advance, instead of 120 days, not counting the day of travel. However, many passengers still face problems when trying to book lower berths online. Even after selecting the “lower berth preference” option, people often get side upper, middle, or upper berths because of limited availability. That’s why it’s important for passengers to understand the latest lower berth reservation rules of Indian Railways to know who gets priority and how seat allotment works.
Train lower berth allocation rules
In the computerised reservation system of Indian Railways, lower berths are automatically given to senior citizens, women above 45 years of age, and pregnant women, depending on availability at the time of booking.
If such passengers do not get a lower berth during booking, the ticket checking staff on the train are authorised to reassign any vacant lower berths to them later during the journey.
Passengers who specifically want a lower berth can choose the option “book only if lower berth is available” while booking tickets online. This means that if a lower berth isn’t available, the system will not confirm the ticket at all.
How many lower berths are reserved?
- In sleeper class, 6 lower berths are reserved per coach.
- In AC 3-tier coaches, 4 lower berths are reserved per coach.
- In AC 2-tier coaches, 4 lower berths are reserved per coach.
Train lower berth sleeping and seating rules
In reserved coaches, passengers can sleep on their berths between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM. During the rest of the day, the berths are meant to be used for sitting. For side lower berths booked under Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC), both the RAC passenger and the one on the side upper berth share the lower seat during the day.
However, from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM, only the lower berth passenger has the right to sleep on the berth, and the side upper berth passenger cannot claim it during those hours.
