All you need to know about train travel in India with kids.

Train travel has always enchanted me as a child and every essay I wrote on a journey always entailed a picturesque description of the same.

But times have changed now and since our children who have been brought up in an overprotected environment, train travel with them may not be all that enjoying today.

There may be a few points which need attention particularly when you undertake a train travel with kids.

• ️Travel light

We are used to carrying heavy luggage and registering them in the airlines. Once they are taken our hands are free. But here we need to carry them till we board the train. If we hire a porter, we need to be sensitive enough specially if we have to climb over the over bridge to reach a specific platform.

And then you need to hold your child’s hand tight as it is a crowded, unknown place.

• ️Lock your Suitcases

The platform is a public place where your luggage can get stolen easily.

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• ️Boarding

One has to be the most careful here specially when having an accompanying kid. The space between the train and the platform is dangerous and the maddening crowds, pushing and pulling can cause freak accidents.

Always keep the kid away from the trains’ side of the platform and assist her to board the train.

️The open doors of the train are the most dangerous points.

Never allow kids to walk up to the door and ensure that the doors remain closed.

If one travels overnight and has to use the wash basin near the door the next morning, its wise to always stand with the kid whilst she is brushing/ washing. The train sometimes moves violently, its jerks being strong enough to throw a person out.

• ️Using the washrooms

This is the trickiest situation because you need to necessarily use the washroom whilst your child waits outside the bathroom or remains on her seat.

If the child is very young its ok to take her inside with you.

I remember my friend who used to chain her daughter to the seat whilst she visited the washroom.

If you leave the child on the seat make sure to tell someone sitting nearby to keep an eye; it’s advisable to ask a family rather than an individual to look after your most prized possession!

️Take care not to divulge too much of your personal information to the fellow passengers. Never let your child eat or drink anything given by strangers. Rude it may look but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

This last piece of guidance stems from our family friends’ tragic experience.

My friend had just delivered and they were coming back home with their older 5-year-old son and the newborn.

Since the train was scheduled to stop only for 5 minutes at their station, the husband started moving the luggage towards the door with his son while the wife remained seated with her newborn.

After a while, the son wasn’t to be seen.

It had so happened that the curious child had walked up to the vestibule which connects two coaches and had slipped underneath.

The train was stopped and the body found. I shudder while writing this  even though this happened 20 years ago.

In a nutshell I would say that unknown dangers need to be thought of and when we are travelling with kids we should be extra careful.

©️Dr Lalita Vaitheeswaran

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