India · Travel
How much you may carry free, how big a single piece may be, and what it costs if a ticket checker finds it unbooked.
Ages 5–11 get half the allowance, capped at 50 kg.
Sleeper (SL) · 45 kg
Payable, but it can stay with you
Over the free allowance but inside the marginal band — you may keep it with you if you book and pay for the excess.
Booked at the parcel office
₹45
The marginal band is charged at 1.5× the ordinary luggage rate, and the bag stays with you.
Found unbooked on the train
₹180
6× the ordinary luggage rate. The same bag, charged for not having been declared.
Both figures are estimates. The luggage rate is charged on a published distance-and-weight scale; this models it rather than reproducing the full tariff table, so treat the amounts as planning numbers and the multipliers as the rule.
| Class | Free | Marginal | Maximum | Size limit per piece |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC First (1A) | 70 kg | 15 kg | 150 kg | 100 × 60 × 25 cm |
| AC 2-Tier (2A) | 50 kg | 10 kg | 100 kg | 100 × 60 × 25 cm |
| First Class (FC) | 50 kg | 10 kg | 100 kg | 100 × 60 × 25 cm |
| AC 3-Tier (3A) | 40 kg | 10 kg | 40 kg(= free) | 55 × 45 × 22.5 cm |
| AC Chair Car (CC) | 40 kg | 10 kg | 40 kg(= free) | 55 × 45 × 22.5 cm |
| Sleeper (SL) | 40 kg | 10 kg | 80 kg | 100 × 60 × 25 cm |
| Second Sitting (2S) | 35 kg | 10 kg | 70 kg | 100 × 60 × 25 cm |
AC 3-Tier and AC Chair Car are the strict cases: the maximum equals the free allowance, so there is no in-compartment band above it, and the size limit per piece is less than half the volume allowed elsewhere.
Pick your class
The free allowance ranges from 35 kg in Second Sitting to 70 kg in AC First, and the ceilings differ even more.
Enter the total weight
Add up everything you are carrying, excluding handbags, tiffin carriers and mobility aids.
Add the journey distance
The luggage rate is charged by weight and distance together, so the excess costs more the further you go.
Check a bulky piece
Tick the size box and enter the dimensions — a large light box can fail on size while passing on weight.
Compare the two charges
Booking the excess costs a fraction of what it costs when a ticket checker finds it unbooked.
Almost every answer to “how much luggage can I take on a train?” gives a single figure, and that is why so many travellers are surprised at the platform. Indian Railways defines three separate weights per class. The free allowance is what travels with you at no charge. The marginal allowance is a narrow band above it that may still be carried in the compartment if you pay for it. The maximum permitted is the ceiling for anything accompanying you at all — beyond it, the excess must be booked into the brake van as luggage.
The case worth memorising is AC 3-Tier and AC Chair Car, where the maximum equals the free allowance. There is no band, no headroom and no discretion: 41 kg in 3A is already a booking job. These are also the two classes with the tighter size limit, 55 × 45 × 22.5 cm against 100 × 60 × 25 cm elsewhere, which is roughly a fifth of the volume.
The financial argument for declaring is straightforward. Booked luggage is charged at the ordinary rate; unbooked luggage found during the journey is charged at 6 times it. Nothing else about the bag changes. If you are near the limit, twenty minutes at the parcel office before departure is the cheapest twenty minutes of the trip. And if what you are carrying is on the prohibited list, none of this arithmetic applies — that is a matter for the Railways Act, not the luggage tariff.
Unbooked luggage is one of five things checked on board. The penalty calculator covers the rest — no ticket, no ID, wrong class, and travelling past your station.
Editorial Trust Panel
Author
Reviewed by
Last reviewed
August 14, 2026
Content update
Auto-updated on Jun 28, 2026
Scope: Free, marginal and maximum luggage weights and the per-piece size limits are the published Indian Railways class allowances. Charge multipliers (1.5× marginal, 6× undeclared) are the rule as published. Rupee amounts are modelled from a distance-and-weight luggage scale rather than reproduced from the full tariff table, and are presented as estimates.
Primary references
Luggage rules are among the least-read and most-enforced parts of an Indian train journey. The allowance is not one number but three, it differs by class, it is halved for children, and it is policed by a size limit that has nothing to do with weight.
This tool puts your actual bags against your actual class, and shows the gap between declaring the excess and being found with it — which is the difference between a modest charge and a six-fold one.
45 kg in Sleeper over 1,000 km: the free allowance is 40 kg, so 5 kg is excess. Inside the marginal band, so it may stay in the compartment on payment — about ₹45 declared. Found unbooked instead, the same 5 kg is charged at six times the rate: ₹180. The same 45 kg in AC 3-Tier has no marginal band at all and must be booked.
Excess weight = total weight − the class free allowance (halved and capped at 50 kg for ages 5–11). The band is decided by where the total falls: free allowance, marginal ceiling (free + marginal, capped at the class maximum), class maximum. Charge = excess weight × the luggage rate × distance, then × 1.5 inside the marginal band, or × 6 if found unbooked, with a floor. Size is judged per piece against the class limit, longest dimension against longest.
It depends on the class, and there are three separate numbers rather than one. Sleeper gives a 40 kg free allowance, a 10 kg marginal band above it, and an 80 kg ceiling. AC 3-Tier and Chair Car give 40 kg free with a 40 kg ceiling — no headroom at all. AC 2-Tier is 50 kg free and 100 kg maximum; AC First is 70 kg free and 150 kg maximum; Second Sitting is 35 kg free and 70 kg maximum. Anything over the free allowance has to be declared and paid for.
If you declare it and book it, you pay the ordinary luggage rate — 1.5× that rate if you want to keep it in the compartment within the marginal band. If a ticket checker finds unbooked excess during the journey, it is charged at 6 times the luggage rate. That gap is the whole point of booking it at the parcel office beforehand: the same bag can cost six times as much simply for not having been declared.
Yes, and it catches people out because it is independent of weight. A single piece carried inside the coach may not exceed 100 × 60 × 25 cm in most classes, and only 55 × 45 × 22.5 cm in AC 3-Tier and AC Chair Car. A large but light box fails this test and has to go in the brake van even though the weight is well within your allowance.
Children aged 5 to 11 get half the adult free allowance, capped at 50 kg. Children under 5 travel without any allowance of their own, so their belongings count against the accompanying adult’s limit.
Inflammable and explosive goods — petrol, kerosene, LPG cylinders, fireworks — along with acids, corrosives, compressed gases and offensive articles. These are dangerous goods under Section 164 of the Railways Act, not a luggage matter: carrying them can mean up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, plus liability for any damage caused. It applies whether or not you declared them.
Only in an AC First coupé or cabin, booked and charged as luggage, and generally only if you have taken the whole coupé — fellow passengers can object, and the dog is then moved. Otherwise dogs travel in the brake van dog box, booked in advance at the parcel office. Dogs are not permitted in AC 2-Tier, AC 3-Tier, Chair Car or Sleeper, and taking one there is treated as unbooked luggage.
Small personal effects kept with you — a handbag or briefcase, a tiffin carrier, a water bottle, an umbrella or walking stick, crutches or a wheelchair used by the passenger travelling with it, and bedding issued to you in AC classes. These are not weighed against your limit.