How to Navigate Indian Railway Stations with a Baby or Toddler

Indian railway stations are not designed for babies. So you have to design your own system.

Akash and I had been putting off this trip for months. Kolkata to Mumbai by train — long, loud, and with two kids in tow. Meera was three and Shloka was eighteen months.So we did what felt equal parts brave and slightly mad — we booked a train.

And honestly? We wanted the kids to have that experience. The one we grew up with. The chai at the window, the passing fields, the whole thing. But first, we had to actually get on the train. At Howrah Station. At 7 PM. On a weekday.

Howrah at 7 PM was the closest thing to organised chaos I'd ever walked into. Crowds, announcement loops, porters, food sellers, that one uncle who walked straight at you with zero intention of moving.

Now imagine doing all of that with an 18-month-old on your hip, a stroller in your other hand, a diaper bag sliding off your shoulder, and a husband who had somehow already disappeared toward the exit with the suitcases.

We'd been there. Many times. And here's what we figured out — the railway station wasn't our enemy. It just punished you hard if you walked in unprepared.

This is the system that worked for us across our multiple train travels.

Rule 1: Arrive 45 minutes early. Not 20.

Most parents treat it like a flight — show up, walk in, board. That doesn't work here.

Here's where the time actually goes:

• 10 minutes to find the right platform

• 10 minutes to walk there (some stations have long, slow ramps — with a baby, everything takes longer)

• 10 minutes for the thing you didn't plan (porter negotiation, diaper emergency, ticket check)

• 10 minutes to settle into your seat without feeling like you just ran a 5K

• 5 minutes buffer, because there's always something

That's 45. Always 45. The earlier you arrived, the calmer the whole thing felt — for you and for your baby.

Rule 2: The women's waiting room is your secret weapon

Most parents had no idea this existed. Almost every major Indian railway station had one — and it was usually clean, quiet, had a fan or AC, and was actually monitored.

If you had even 20 minutes to spare, this was where you should have been. You could feed, change a diaper, calm a fussy baby, and just breathe — without 200 people watching you on the open platform.

How to find it: Ask any station staff, or look for signs in Hindi (Mahila Pratiksha Lounge) or English (Ladies Waiting Room). If you had a longer wait, the retiring rooms upstairs were even better — there was a small fee, but worth every rupee.

Rule 3: Leave the stroller in the car. Wear your baby.

This was the single most important thing in this entire post.

Strollers did not work in Indian railway stations. I'll say it again for the parents in the back — they did not work.

• The crowd was too thick to push through

• Ramps were steep, escalators were broken half the time

• The platform gap alone was a hazard for stroller wheels

• There was no version of folding a stroller and holding a baby and managing a suitcase that ended well

What actually worked: a hip seat baby carrier. Both hands free. Baby sitting high on your waist — secure, calm, and well above the dust and the chaos.

I wore Shloka in our Butt Baby hip seat through Howrah, Mumbai Central, Chennai Central, and Old Delhi. Every single boarding was smoother. The lumbar belt especially was a lifesaver for me — it shifted her weight onto my hips instead of my back, which made a huge difference on a longer walk to the platform.