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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3331
ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026
MEASURES TO ADDRESS INCREASING WAITING LIST AND NON-AVAILABILITY OF
CONFIRMED RAILWAY TICKETS
3331 SHRI BABUBHAI JESANGBHAI DESAI:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) whether Government has taken cognizance of the increasing population and consequent surge in
passenger demand, resulting in a large number of train tickets remaining on waiting list and
Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) and instances of automatic cancellation of online tickets;
(b) whether Government proposes to attach additional coaches to existing trains or introduce new trains
to meet the growing demand and ensure confirmed tickets to maximum passengers; and
(c) the details of any comprehensive plan formulated to expand rail capacity and improve seat
availability across major routes?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (c) On Indian Railways, demand pattern varies over lean and peak periods. During peak rush
periods, the occupancy of the trains especially on popular routes remains full whereas during lean
period and on less popular routes, there is sub-optimal utilization.
With a view to providing affordable, good quality services to all sections of the society, Indian
Railways has developed different types of trains, some of which are as under: -
Vande Bharat services:
Indian Railways, with a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, have introduced
indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat trains (Chair Car/Sleeper) with modern
coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities.
Vande Bharat (Chair Car) Train service:
These new Vande Bharat Chair Car Trains have following features:
● Jerk Free Semi-Permanent couplers.
● Fitted with KAVACH
● Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways.
● Emergency Alarm Push buttons and Talk Back Units on all Coaches.
§● Improved fire safety – Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets
and lavatories.
● Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH.
● Driver-Guard communication with voice recording facility & Crash hardened memory.
● Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp based disinfection
system for deactivating 99% harmful bacteria from conditioned air to improve the hygiene
standards inside the passenger area.
● Better Ride Comfort.
● CCTVs in all Coaches.
● For Divyangjan passengers, special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end.
● Coach Condition Monitoring System (CCMS) display with remote monitoring.
As on 15.03.2026, the following 162 Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are being operated on the
Indian Railways network:
S.No. Train No. and Name
1 22435/22436 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express
2 22439/22440 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express
3 20901/20902 Gandhinagar Capital - Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express
4 22447/22448 Amb Andura - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express
5 20607/20608 Mysuru - MGR Chennai Central Vande Bharat Express
6 20825/20826 Nagpur - Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express
7 22301/22302 New Jalpaiguri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
8 20833/20834 Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express
9 22223/22224 Sainagar Shirdi - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express
§10 22225/22226 Solapur - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express
11 20171/20172 Nizamuddin - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express
12 20701/20702 Tirupati - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express
13 20643/20644 Coimbatore - Chennai Vande Bharat Express
14 20977/20978 Chandigarh - Ajmer Vande Bharat Express
15 20633/20634 Thiruvananthapuram- Kasargod Vande Bharat Express
16 22895/22896 Puri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
17 22457/22458 Dehradun - Anand Vihar Vande Bharat Express
18 22227/22228 Guwahati - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express
19 20911/20912 Nagpur - Indore Vande Bharat Express
20 22229/22230 Madgaon - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express
21 22349/22350 Ranchi - Patna Vande Bharat Express
22 20661/20662 Dharwar - Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express
23 20173/20174 Rewa - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express
24 22549/22550 Gorakhpur - Prayagraj Vande Bharat Express
25 12461/12462 Sabarmati - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express
26 22925/22926 Okha - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express
27 20665/20666 Tirunelveli - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express
§28 20677/20678 Narsapur - Chennai Vande Bharat Express
29 20703/20704 Yesvantpur -Kacheguda Vande Bharat Express
30 20631/20632 Thiruvananthapuram- Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express
31 26963/26964 Udaipur - Asarva Vande Bharat Express
32 22347/22348 Patna - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
33 20835/20836 Puri - Rourkela Vande Bharat Express
34 20897/20898 Ranchi - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
35 22415/22416 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express
36 20641/20642 Coimbatore - Bengaluru Cantt Vande Bharat Express
37 20645/20646 Mangaluru - Madgaon Vande Bharat Express
38 20705/20706 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Nanded Vande Bharat Express
39 22477/22478 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express
40 22425/22426 Anand Vihar - Ayodhya Cantt. Vande Bharat Express
41 22487/22488 Amritsar - Delhi Vande Bharat Express
42 22962/22961 Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express
43 20707/20708 Visakhapatnam - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express
44 20663/20664 Chennai - Mysuru Vande Bharat Express
45 22233/22234 Patna - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express
§46 22470/22469 Khajuraho - Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express
47 22231/22232 Bengaluru - Kalburagi Vande Bharat Express
48 20841/20842 Visakhapatnam - Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat Express
49 22345/22346 Gomti Nagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express
50 20887/20888 Varanasi - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express
51 22545/22546 Dehradun - Lucknow Jn Vande Bharat Express
52 22490/22489 Varanasi - Meerut City Vande Bharat Express
53 20627/20628 Nagercoil - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express
54 20671/20672 Bengaluru Cantt - Madurai Vande Bharat Express
55 22500/22499 Deoghar - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express
56 22309/22310 Jamalpur - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
57 20871/20872 Rourkela - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
58 20893/20894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express
59 20892/20891 Tatanagar - Brahmapur Vande Bharat Express
60 22303/22304 Gaya - Howrah Vande Bharat Express
61 20669/20670 Pune - Hubballi Vande Bharat Express
62 20673/20674 Pune - Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express
63 20101/20102 Secunderabad - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express
§64 20829/20830 Visakhapatnam - Durg Vande Bharat Express
65 21893/21894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express
66 21895/21896 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express
67 20176/20175 Banaras - Agra Cantt. Vande Bharat Express
68 26901/26902 Veraval - Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express
69 26401/26402 Srinagar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express
70 26403/26404 Srinagar -Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express
71 26502/26501 Pataliputra - Gorakhpur Vande Bharat Express
72 26751/26752 KSR Bengaluru - Belagavi Vande Bharat Express
73 26406/26405 Amritsar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express
74 26101/26102 Pune - Ajni Vande Bharat Express
75 26302/26301 Jogbani - Danapur Vande Bharat Express
76 26481/26482 Delhi Cantt - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express
77 26471/26472 Delhi Cantt - Bikaner Vande Bharat Express
78 26462/26461 Delhi - Firozpur Cantt. Vande Bharat Express
79 26651/26652 Ernakulam - KSR Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express
80 26506/26505 Khajuraho - Banaras Vande Bharat Express
81 26504/26503 Saharanpur -Gomtinagar Vande Bharat Express
§Vande Bharat Sleeper Train service:
With a view to providing comfortable journey with lesser transit time to long distance travellers, the
Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat Express has been indigenously designed and developed.
Broad Technological advancements and safety features provided in these Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains
are as below:
• Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers.
• Fitted with KAVACH.
• Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH.
• Crashworthy Design of Car body complying with EN standards.
• Fire barrier doors at the end of each coach for compliance of Fire Safety standards.
• Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories.
• Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency.
• Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp based disinfection
system for deactivating 99% harmful bacteria from conditioned air to improve the hygiene
standards inside the passenger area.
• Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways.
• CCTVs in all coaches.
• Emergency talk-back unit for communication between Passenger and Train Manager/Loco
Pilot in case of emergency.
• For Divyangjan passengers, special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end.
• Centralized Coach Monitoring System for better condition monitoring of passenger
amenities such as Air conditioning, Saloon Lighting etc.
• Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing on to upper berths.
As on 15.03.2026, the following 02 Vande Bharat Sleeper Express are being operated on the Indian
Railways network:
S.No. Train No. and Name
1 27575/27576 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express
Amrit Bharat service:
To provide affordable means of transportation to the low and middle income families, Indian
Railways have introduced Amrit Bharat services that are fully non-AC modern trains. The present
composition of Amrit Bharat consists of 11 General Class coaches, 8 Sleeper Class coaches, 01
Pantry car and 02 Luggage cum Divyangjan coaches.
§These trains have the following enhanced features and amenities:
i. Better aesthetics of seat and berths with enhanced look & feel on the lines of Vande Bharat
Sleeper.
ii. Jerk Free Semi-Automatic Couplers.
iii. Improved Crashworthiness in coaches by provision of crash tube.
iv. Provision of CCTV system in all coaches and Luggage room.
v. Improved designs of toilets.
vi. Improved design of Ladder for ease of climbing on to the berth.
vii. Improved LED Light fitting & Charging Sockets.
viii. Provision of EP assisted braking system.
ix. Aerosol based fire suppression system in toilets and electrical cubicles.
x. USB Type-A and Type-C mobile charging sockets.
xi. Emergency Talk Back system for two-way communication between Passenger and
Guard/Train Manager.
xii. Non-Air Conditioned (AC) pantry with enhanced heating capacity.
xiii. Fully sealed gangways with quick release mechanism for easy attachment and detachment.
As on 15.03.2026, the following 60 Amrit Bharat Express services are being operated on the
Indian Railways network:
S.No. Train No. and Name
1 11015/11016 Lokmanya Tilak (T) - Saharsa Amrit Bharat Express
2 13697/13698 Gaya - Delhi Amrit Bharat Express
3 15293/15294 Muzaffarpur - Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express
4 15557/15558 Darbhanga - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express
5 15561/15562 Darbhanga - Gomtinagar Amrit Bharat Express
6 15567/15568 BapudhamMotihari - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express
7 22361/22362 Rajendranagar (T) - New Delhi Amrit Bharat Express
8 13433/13434 SMVT Bengaluru - Malda Town Amrit Bharat Express
9 13435/13436 Malda Town - Gomtinagar Amrit Bharat Express
§10 15133/15134 Chhapra - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express
11 14047/14048 Sitamarhi - Delhi Amrit Bharat Express
12 14627/14628 Saharsa - Chheharta Amrit Bharat Express
13 19623/19624 Madar - Darbhanga Amrit Bharat Express
14 16601/16602 Erode - Jogbani Amrit Bharat Express
15 19021/19022 Udhna - Brahmapur Amrit Bharat Express
16 15671/15672 Kamakhya - Rohtak Amrit Bharat Express
17 20609/20610 New Jalpaiguri - Tiruchchirappalli Amrit Bharat Express
18 16597/16598 SMVT Bengaluru - Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express
19 11031/11032 Panvel - Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express
20 16107/16108 Tambaram - Santragachi Amrit Bharat Express
21 13065/13066 Howrah - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express
22 22587/22588 Sealdah - Banaras Amrit Bharat Express
23 20603/20604 New Jalpaiguri - Nagercoil Amrit Bharat Express
24 15949/15950 Dibrugarh - Gomti Nagar Amrit Bharat Express
25 16121/16122 Tambaram - Thiruvananthapuram Central Amrit Bharat Express
26 16329/16330 Nagercoil - Mangaluru Amrit Bharat Express
27 17041/17042 Charlapalli - Thiruvananthapuram North Amrit Bharat Express
28 16619/16620 Podanur-Dhanbad Amrit Bharat Express
29 16357/16358 Nagercoil-Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express
30 15673/15674 Charlapalli - Kamakhya Amrit Bharat Express
§Namo Bharat Rapid Rail service
Indian Railways have introduced Namo Bharat Rapid Rail services. These services are aimed to
enhance the travel experience to the suburban and regional commuters for short distance travel. The
prominent features of Namo Bharat Rapid Rail are as follows:
1. Centrally controlled Double Leaf Automatic Sliding Doors.
2. CCTVs for safety and passenger surveillance.
3. Modular interior with Cushioned Seats and Sealed Flexible Gangway.
4. Emergency Talk System.
5. Continuous LED lighting with Energy Efficient Lighting system.
6. FRP Modular Toilets with vacuum evacuation.
7. Fully Air-Conditioned trains with Driver cab AC.
As on 15.03.2026, the following 4 Namo Bharat Rapid Rail services are in operation:
S.No. Train Number and Name
1 94801/94802 Ahmedabad-Bhuj Namo Bharat Rapid Rail
2 94803/94804 Jaynagar-Patna Namo Bharat Rapid Rail
SPECIAL TRAINS
IR also operates Special train services during festivals, holidays, etc. to cater to the extra needs of
passengers and supplement the accommodation available by regular services.
Accordingly, the number of Special trains operated across the Indian Railways network, to facilitate the
passengers during Summer/winter vacations, festivals are as below:
Year No. of trips
2023-24 ~40,500
2024-25 ~85,400
2025-26(upto Feb, 2026) ~74,800
Non-AC Coach (General & Sleeper Coaches)
With a view to meet the demand of passengers travelling in unreserved coaches, Railways have
significantly increased the facilities for passengers demanding general class travel. During the last
financial year 2024-25 alone, 1250 general coaches have been utilised in various long-distance trains.
§In the current financial year (upto February, 2026), 860 Coaches have been utilised for permanent
augmentation.
To cater to the travel demand of the low and middle income families, Indian Railways have taken up
manufacturing of 17,000 non-AC coaches (general/sleeper) over the next 5 years.
On IR, the percentage of non-AC coaches, is about 70% as indicated below:
Distribution of coaches:
Non-AC coaches (general and sleeper) ~62,000 ~70%
AC coaches ~27,000 ~30%
Total coaches ~89,000 100%
Due to higher availability of general coaches, the number of passengers traveling in general/ unreserved
coaches has shown an increasing trend as shown below:
Passengers in general/unreserved coaches:
Year No. of Passengers
2020-21 99 Cr (Covid year)
2021-22 275 Cr (Covid year)
2022-23 553 Cr
2023-24 609 Cr
2024-25 651 Cr
The number of seats available for non-AC passengers has also increased. The current composition is as
follows:
Distribution of seats:
Non-AC seats ~ 54 lakhs ~ 78%
AC seats ~ 15 lakhs ~ 22%
Total ~ 69 lakhs 100%
Moreover, to provide greater accommodation for the passengers using General and non-AC Sleeper
Coaches, the extant policy regarding composition of Mail/Express trains provides for 12 (Twelve)
General class& Sleeper class non- AC coaches and 08 (eight) AC-Coaches, in a train of 22 coaches,
§thereby providing greater accommodation for the passengers using General and non-AC Sleeper
Coaches.
Further, to cater to the needs of passengers desirous of availing unreserved accommodation, Indian
Railways (IR) operate unreserved non-AC passenger trains/MEMU/EMU etc. for affordable travel,
which are in addition to the unreserved accommodation (coaches) available in Mail/Express services.
Implementation of such measures to facilitate rail travel for diverse segments of passengers is a
continuous and ongoing process.
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