TV
The occupancy pattern of trains on Indian Railways is not uniform throughout the year, varying between lean and peak periods. During peak rush seasons, trains on popular routes experience full occupancy, whereas during lean periods and on less popular routes, utilization remains suboptimal.
To manage traffic demand, the Indian Railways continuously monitors train occupancy. Based on demand, measures such as increasing the load of existing trains, introducing special trains, launching new services, and enhancing the frequency of existing trains are undertaken, subject to operational feasibility.
To provide greater accommodation for passengers travelling in General and non-AC Sleeper Coaches, the existing policy for Mail/Express train composition ensures that in a 22-coach train, 12 coaches are designated for General and Sleeper class non-AC passengers, while 8 coaches are allocated for AC travel.
Additionally, Indian Railways operates unreserved non-AC passenger trains, MEMU, and EMU services to facilitate affordable travel. Currently, around 79,000 coaches are in use for train operations.
Indian Railways have also introduced modern State-of the Art fully Non-AC Amrit Bharat trains. These trains have advanced features like Semi-Permanent couplers for jerk free travel, horizontal sliding windows, foldable snack table and bottle holders, mobile holders etc. These trains comprise of 12 Sleeper Class Coaches and 8 General Class coaches.
With a view to augment the accommodation and for the benefit of passengers travelling in unreserved coaches, about 1,200 General Class coaches have been attached in the Mail/Express trains operating with LHB coaches during the current financial year 2024-25. Keeping in view increased demand of the passengers travelling by non-AC coaches, IR has planned to manufacture 17,000 General Class/Sleeper Class Coaches.
In addition to the various types of regular trains, Indian Railways also operates Special train services during festivals, holidays, etc. to cater to the extra needs of passengers, informed Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
