What is scale L?
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
Scale L is Indian Railways' luggage rate: its Scale P parcel rate plus 80%. A dog on a train is charged at Scale L on a fixed weight, whatever it weighs: 30 kg in the brake-van dog box, 60 kg if it rides with you in a First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. Distance does the rest.
Also called Scale L luggage rate, luggage scale rate, railway luggage tariff, dog train ticket charge.
Key facts
- Scale L, the luggage rate, is the Scale P parcel rate plus 80%. Indian Railways Parcel Management System
- A dog is charged at Scale L on a fixed weight: 30 kg in the dog box, 60 kg in a compartment. Indian Railways
- Indian Railways' August 2026 booking guide charges a cat travelling with you like a dog: the same rate on a fixed 60 kg. Indian Railways parcel website (CRIS)
- The guide's example, one dog from New Delhi to Howrah in a First AC Rajdhani coupe on 25 August 2026, came to Rs 819 including GST. Indian Railways parcel website (CRIS)
- A dog found unbooked or in a barred coach is moved to the brake van and charged six times the luggage rate. Indian Railways
How is a dog's train fare worked out?
Scale L, applied to a fixed weight, over the distance you travel. Indian Railways publishes the method and minimums, not a simple rupee table.
As published
- What Scale L isScale P + 80%The luggage rate is the parcel rate plus 80%. Indian Railways Parcel Management System
- Dog in the brake-van dog boxScale L on 30 kgMinimum Rs 10 in Indian Railways' luggage rules; Rs 30 on South Eastern Railway's page. Indian Railways
- Dog or cat with you in a coupe or cabinScale L on 60 kg Indian Railways
- Example: one dog, New Delhi to Howrah, First AC, 12302 Rajdhani, 25 August 2026Rs 819 incl. GSTAn example in the booking guide, not a tariff. Indian Railways parcel website (CRIS)
- Dog unbooked or in a barred coachSix times the luggage rateMinimum Rs 50 in the luggage rules; Rs 30 in Southern Railway's 2022 notice. Indian Railways
Check the charge at the luggage office or on the booking screen for your own journey.
Why is the weight fixed rather than measured?
Indian Railways charges a dog by a set notional weight instead of putting it on a scale. In the dog box that weight is 30 kg; in a First AC or First Class compartment it is 60 kg, so a small Shih Tzu riding with you costs the same as a large German Shepherd. The fixed weight simply sets which band of the Scale L table applies, and the distance does the rest.
Because the coupe charge uses double the weight, a dog riding with you costs more than one in the dog box over the same distance. You also need the whole 2-berth coupe or 4-berth cabin on your PNR, which the online booking checks against the chart.
What do people get wrong about Scale L?
You may have read
A small dog is charged less than a big one.
Myth
What the sources say
No. The weight is fixed: 30 kg in the dog box and 60 kg in a compartment, whatever the dog weighs. Indian Railways
You may have read
Scale L is a special pet tariff.
Myth
What the sources say
It is Indian Railways' general luggage rate, the parcel rate plus 80%, applied to dogs on a fixed weight. Indian Railways Parcel Management System
You may have read
The Rs 819 example is the fare for any Rajdhani journey.
Myth
What the sources say
It is one example in the booking guide for one route and date; older screenshots in the same guides show other amounts. Indian Railways parcel website (CRIS)
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Questions owners ask
How much does it cost to take a dog on an Indian train?
- The charge is the Scale L luggage rate on a fixed weight: 30 kg in the dog box and 60 kg in a First AC or First Class compartment. Indian Railways' August 2026 booking guide shows one dog from New Delhi to Howrah in a First AC Rajdhani coupe at Rs 819 including GST, as an example.
What is the difference between Scale P and Scale L?
- Scale P is Indian Railways' parcel rate; Scale L, the luggage rate, is Scale P plus 80%. A dog travelling as luggage, in the dog box or with you in a coupe, is charged at Scale L on a fixed weight.
Is a cat charged the same as a dog on the train?
- In Indian Railways' August 2026 booking guide, a cat booked online to travel with you is charged like a dog: the same rate on a fixed 60 kg. Petym found no official rule for a grown cat in the brake-van dog box.
Keep reading
Related terms
More in travel and paperwork
- Advance NOCThe Advance NOC (No Objection Certificate) is the clearance a passenger must hold before a pet dog or cat can board a flight to India. You apply on CBIC's ATITHI 2.0 portal at least 7 days before travel, and AQCS issues it within 1 working day of checking your documents. Airlines will not board the pet without it.
- AQCSAQCS, Animal Quarantine and Certification Services, is the Government of India service under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying that examines pets and issues the health certificate a pet needs to leave India, and clears pets arriving. It has six stations: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Its fees are paid online through Bharatkosh.
- Dog boxA dog box is the compartment in a train's brake van, where a dog travels as luggage when its owner does not hold a whole First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. It is booked at the station's luggage office at least 3 hours before departure and charged at the Scale L rate on a fixed 30 kg.
- Export health certificateThe export health certificate, formally the Certificate of Health for Export (Pet Animals), is the document AQCS issues after examining a pet in person, without which a pet cannot leave India. AQCS calls it "the NOC". It costs Rs 500, paid online through Bharatkosh, is normally issued the same day and is valid for 10 days.
- Fit-to-fly certificateA fit-to-fly certificate is a registered vet's signed and stamped statement that a pet has been examined and is healthy enough to fly. Every Indian airline that carries pets asks for one, with the rabies vaccination record. How recent it must be differs: within 7 days on Air India, 15 days on Akasa Air, 48 hours on SpiceJet.
- Health certificateA pet health certificate is a vet's signed and stamped statement that your pet has been examined and is healthy, usually free of infectious disease and fit to travel. In India, Indian Railways, airlines and AQCS ask for one. The catch is timing: each wants a certificate issued within its own window, from 24 hours to 10 days.
- IATA pet crateAn IATA pet crate is a travel kennel built to the International Air Transport Association's Live Animals Regulations, Container Requirement 1, for pets flying in the hold. It must let the pet stand, turn and lie naturally, and be rigid, ventilated on all four sides, bolted together, with a water bowl filled from outside and the right labels.
- Pet passportIndia does not issue a pet passport; the EU pet passport is issued only by authorised vets to owners living in the EU. When people in India say pet passport, they usually mean the travel papers: microchip and vaccination records, a vet's health certificate, the AQCS export certificate, and the destination's own certificate or permit.
- Transfer of residenceTransfer of residence is the customs category for a passenger moving to India after living abroad for two years or more. Under it, the passenger may bring up to two pet dogs or cats as baggage, with an Advance NOC from the ATITHI 2.0 portal. Anyone abroad for less than two years needs a different route, usually a DGFT licence.
Keep exploring
Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- Indian Railways Parcel Management System: Parcel rules: business rules for booking of parcels (opens in a new tab)
- Indian Railways: Rules for luggage, including rules and rates for the conveyance of dogs (undated) (opens in a new tab)
- Indian Railways parcel website (CRIS): Online ticket booking of dogs and cats: terms and user guide (August 2026 revision) (opens in a new tab)
- South Eastern Railway: How to carry pet dogs (opens in a new tab)
- Southern Railway: Rules for carrying pet dogs in trains and procedure for booking (press release 426/2022-23, 2 November 2022) (opens in a new tab)
- IRCTC: Online ticket booking of dogs and cats: general terms and conditions, and user guide (opens in a new tab)