diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb b/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
index 71fe604e690cd9eb5748e318fc68aca9844d290e..82cdd6053b8dc5906f58bfa351c21207cf1e29e2 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
@@ -64,9 +64,13 @@
   require "rails/commands/#{command}"
 
 when 'new'
-  puts "Can't initialize a new Rails application within the directory of another, please change to a non-Rails directory first.\n"
-  puts "Type 'rails' for help."
-  exit(1)
+  if ARGV.first.in?(['-h', '--help'])
+    require 'rails/commands/application'
+  else
+    puts "Can't initialize a new Rails application within the directory of another, please change to a non-Rails directory first.\n"
+    puts "Type 'rails' for help."
+    exit(1)
+  end
 
 when '--version', '-v'
   ARGV.unshift '--version'
diff --git a/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb b/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
index 128854e4ad27b32a40a5e499b444e55ab5247472..40cb876b344d456a5689c2caca58c51493196ff5 100644
--- a/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
@@ -83,6 +83,16 @@ def test_application_new_exits_with_message_and_non_zero_code_when_generating_in
     assert_equal false, $?.success?
   end
 
+  def test_application_new_show_help_message_inside_existing_rails_directory
+    app_root = File.join(destination_root, 'myfirstapp')
+    run_generator [app_root]
+    output = Dir.chdir(app_root) do
+      `rails new --help`
+    end
+    assert_match /rails new APP_PATH \[options\]/, output
+    assert_equal true, $?.success?
+  end
+
   def test_application_name_is_detected_if_it_exists_and_app_folder_renamed
     app_root       = File.join(destination_root, "myapp")
     app_moved_root = File.join(destination_root, "myapp_moved")