indian railway train numbers?

Answer 1

For most long-distance passenger trains, the following system is now followed. A train number has 4 digits.

[3/00] The first digit indicates the region or zonal railway, as indicated below:

* 0 is for Konkan Railway
* 1 is for CR, WCR and NCR(?)
* 2 is for superfasts, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains regardless of zones
* 3 is shared by ER and ECR
* 4 is for NR, NCR and NWR
* 5 is shared by NER and NFR
* 6 is for SR and SWR
* 7 is shared by SCR and SWR
* 8 is for SER and ECoR
* 9 is for WR, NWR and WCR

Need more info on the numbering sharing by the new zones!!

If the first digit is not '2', then the second digit indicates the division of the home shed or station that "owns" the rakes used for the train (the primary maintenance depot). This is usually in the same division as that of one of the end-points of the train's run, but sometimes it isn't. Usually, '0' for the second digit indicates the headquarters of the zone.

[3/00] A listing of the 2-digit prefixes and the corresponding home stations is given below. The "other" notation indicates the prefix is used for other home sheds in the zone that don't have their own prefixes. Prefixes not listed are not known to be in use.

Central and West-Central Railways

CR seems to have numbers that are a little less systematic than the other zones

* 10 is for Mumbai CST, also some Pune trains
* 11 is for Jhansi (??)
* 12 is for Bhopal (WCR)(
* 13 is for some fast passengers from Mumbai CST
* 14 is for Solapur and Jabalpur(WCR) divisions. (Also is, or was, for Nagpur and Bhusawal division trains (Manmad/Bhusawal)?)
* 15 : ?? one Dadar-bound train (Mumbai CST division), one Katni-bound train (Jabalpur division ??)
* 16 : ?? some Bhopal-bound trains

It is hard to make sense of CR's numbering. [8/03] The Mumbai CST - Solapur Siddheshwar Exp. has numbers 1423/1424, most likely because it shares the rake with some other train based at Nagpur. 1401/1402 and 1403/1404 run between Manmad and LTT / CSTM, while 1439/1440 runs Dadar-Nagpur, 1463/1464 runs Jabalpur - Rajkot, 1447/1448 is Jabalpur - Howrah, 1423/1424 is CSTM - Solapur, 1451/1452 is Nagpur - Gaya.

Eastern and East Central Railway

* 30 is for Howrah
* 31 is for Sealdah
* 32 is for Danapur
* 33 is for Dhanbad
* 34 is for Malda
* 35 is for Asansol

Northern, North Central and North Western Railway

* 40 is for New Delhi
* 41 is for Allahabad (NCR)
* 42 is for Lucknow
* 43 is for Moradabad
* 44 : other
* 45 is for Ambala
* 46 is for Firozpur
* 47 is for Bikaner(NWR)
* 48 is for Jodhpur(NWR)

North-Eastern and North-east Frontier Railways

* 50 is for Lucknow (BG, NER)
* 51 is for Varanasi (BG, NER)
* 52 is for Sonepur / Samastipur (BG, NER)
* 53 is for Izzatnagar / Lucknow (MG, NER)
* 54 is for Varanasi (MG, NER)
* 55 is for Samastipur (MG, NER)
* 56 is for Lumding (BG, NFR)
* 57 is for Katihar (BG/MG) / Alipurduar (BG) (NFR)
* 58 is for Lumding / Alipurduar (MG, NFR)
* 59 is for Tinsukia (NFR)

Southern and South-Western Railways

* 60 is for Chennai
* 61 is for Chennai Egmore
* 62 is for Mysore (SWR)
* 63 is for Thiruvananthapuram
* 64 is not in use
* 65 is for Bangalore (SWR)
* 66 is for Palghat
* 67 is for Madurai
* 68 is for Trichy

South-Central and South-Western Railways

* 70 is for Secunderabad
* 71 : other
* 72 is for Vijayawada
* 73 is for Hubli (SWR, BG)
* 74 is for Guntakal (BG)
* 75 is for Hyderabad
* 76 is for Kacheguda
* 77 is for Guntakal (MG) (no longer used because of gauge conversion)
* 78 is for Hubli (SWR, MG) (no longer used because of gauge conversion [9/03])

South-Eastern, South-East Central and East-Coast Railways

* 80 is for Kharagpur
* 81 is for Chakradharpur
* 82 is for Bilaspur
* 83 is for Sambalpur and others
* 84 is for Khurda Road
* 85 is for Waltair
* 86 is for Adra

Western, North-Western and West-Central Railways

* 90 is for Mumbai
* 91 is for Vadodara
* 92 is for Bhavnagar (BG)
* 93 is for Ratlam
* 94 is for Kota (WCR)
* 95 : other
* 96 is for Ajmer (NWR)
* 97 is for Jaipur (NWR)
* 98 is for Bhavnagar (MG)
* 99 is for Rajkot

If the first digit is '2', it indicates a train designated as "superfast", Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, or Jan Shatabdi Express; in this case, the second digit indicates the zonal railway, as shown below:

* 20 is for Shatabdis and Jan Shatabdis on all zonal railways
* 21 is for superfasts on CR and WCR (formerly only CR)
* 22 is for superfasts from various zones - NR, NCR, NWR (formerly only NR). (Also some SR?) [5/05]
* 23 is for superfast on ER and ECR
* 24 is for superfast on NR, NCR and NWR (formerly only NR)
* 25 is for superfast on NER and NFR
* 26 is for superfast on SR and SWR (formerly only SR)
* 27 is for superfast on SCR and SWR (formerly only SCR)
* 28 is for superfast on SER, SECR and ECoR (formerly only SER)
* 29 is for superfast on WR, WCR and NWR (formerly only WR)

Until recently, no trains had 22xx numbers. Starting in July 2005, some superfast trains have been allotted numbers in this series, e.g., 2229/2230 Lucknow - New Delhi Mail. This has probably been done because some of the other superfast number ranges, especially 24xx and 26xx, are getting filled up.

As mentioned above, the division that owns the rakes may not be one of the end-points of the train. E.g., the Tirupati-Mumbai Exp. has numbers 6353/6354 because the rakes come from Trivandrum, and are shared with the Nagercoil-Tirupati Exp. (6351/6352). The Shaheed Exp. between Delhi and Darbhanga is numberd 4649, but 46 is the Firozpur division and neither terminus for the train is in that division.

A train between Jammu Tawi and Amritsar, both in the Ferozpur division of NR (45) has numbers 9113/9114, indicating the Vadodara division of WR! In all these cases the rakes are shared with other trains that do go through the referenced division. There are some other such anomalies.

In some rare cases, the division prefixes of the two trains of an up/down pair are different. E.g. Tirupati-Trichy Exp. which was 6799/6800 (67 - Madurai, 68 - Trichy). In this particular case the reason is that the old numbers for the train were 199/200, and IR has generally tried to retain the last two digits in converting the old numbers to 4-digit numbers. But there are some other rare cases where the up and down trains have different division prefixes, and this could indicate the two divisions sharing in rake maintenance, or could just be anomalies in the numbering system.

Sometimes two trains with the same name and same endpoints may have different numbers because they take different routes on different days of the week. E.g. 2303 Poorva Exp. : Howrah - Asansol - Patna - Mughal Serai - Allahabad - New Delhi (Mon - Tue - Fri - Sat); and 2381 Poorva Exp. : Howrah - Asansol - Gaya - Mughal Serai - Varanasi - Allahabad - New Delhi (Wed - Thu - Sun). [8/01].

Some non-mail, non-express, non-superfast trains also use this numbering scheme (e.g., some of the trains with the designation "fast passenger"). Commuter locals, some passenger services, etc. do not follow this scheme. These local trains and passenger services tend to use two or three-digit numbers, which may not be unique across zones. Central Railway tends to use 4-digit numbers for all its local passenger services.

Some trains that split or merge at various points, or which have sectional carriages ("slip coaches" as they are sometimes termed) might have additional suffixes ('A', 'B', etc.) in addition to the 4-digit numbers to distinguish among the different portions of the train. E.g., the 6635 down Netravati Exp. bifurcated at Shoranur (earlier at Palghat); 6635A was one half of it that went to Mangalore, while 6635B was the other half that went to Cochin.

The 4-digit system with a unique number (the 'universal number') for each train regardless of the zones that it operates in is a new one, adopted around 1989. Earlier, trains were numbered from '1' all the way up to 3-digit numbers within each zone. Numbers were thus not unique across zones, and a given train sometimes changed numbers on the same route as it crossed zonal or other boundaries. E.g., 1/2 could refer to the Howrah - Kalka Mail on NR, or the Golconda Exp. on SCR, or the Madras - Mangalore Mail on SR. The 5/6 Punjab Mail between Bombay (Victoria Terminus) and New Delhi became 37/38 for the New Delhi - Ferozpur section to avoid confusion with the 5/6 Howrah - Amritsar Mail which also ran on NR tracks. The 3/4 Frontier Mail became 31/32 from New Delhi, to avoid confusion with the 3/4 HWH-BB Mail (via ALD). List of old train numbers and their new 4-digit versions. In many cases, the final digits of the new number correspond to the old number of the same train service. More examples of the kind of confusion that had to be dealt with before the adoption of 4-digit numbers: Until quite late, Howrah still had to deal with two sets each of 3 Up / 4 Down (SER: HWH-MAS Mail and ER: HWH-BBVT Mail via ALD), 5 Up / 6 Down (SER: HWH-Rourkela Exp and ER: HWH-ASR Mail), 7 Up / 8 Down (SER: HWH-Puri Exp and ER: Toofan Exp), 9 Up / 10 Down (SER: Sri Jagannath Exp and ER: Doon Exp), and 11 Up / 12 Down (SER: Ispat Express and ER: HWH-Delhi Exp.). In 1988 or 1989, 15 Up / 16 Down could -- for a brief period -- refer to both the SER Howrah-Ranchi-Hatia Exp. and the ER Howrah-Bolpur Shantiniketan Exp. The Kalka Mail was numbered 1 Up / 2 Down and the Howrah - Bombay Mail as 2 Up / 1 Down to avoid confusion.

[11/03] There is some speculation as to whether 5-digit train numbers will be introduced, especially with the new zones coming into being. No official announcement has been made yet. However, the IRCTC and other official web sites have occasionally shown some trains with 5-digit numbers, such as the Kakinada-Bangalore Sheshadri Exp. being shown as '07009' instead of '7009', although searching for the 5-digit number's route or scheduled information does not yield results.

Usually the 'down' train of a pair of trains between two destinations has the lower number (the odd number) and the 'up' train has the higher number (the even number) but this is far from uniform. (See up/down note below.) E.g., Charminar Exp. from Hyderabad to Madras is numbered 2760 even though this is the one that is going in the 'down' direction.

The documents section has a compilation of old IR train numbers with their new equivalents.

Holiday Specials

Usually, holiday specials have 3-digit numbers, where the first digit indicates the zonal railway that operates the train. (Note: This is true only for holiday specials; normal passenger trains that have 3-digit numbers do not follow this rule.) Fast trains among these, and trains that are given priority for various reasons, have a 3-digit number starting with '2'.

Konkan Railway

Konkan Railway trains often add a "KR" prefix to the long-distance train numbers, which may be shorter than 4 digits, and do not always use the leading "0" digit in the 4-digit versions. For example, KR 3 / KR 4 service is also given the numbers 1113/1114 (no leading 0's). Similarly, KR5 / KR6 is the Diwa-Savantwadi train, and KR7/KR8 is the Savantwadi-Madgaon train. Variations exist: 0111/0112 Konkan Kanya Exp. is also referred to as the KR1/KR2, or sometimes KR0111 / KR0112. So to some extent the KR trains do not follow the numbering system used by IR trains.

Local trains and DMU services on KR use a system where the termini of a service are indicated by an alphabetic prefix. E.g., Karwar is "KA", Kudal is "K", Ratnagiri is "RN", and Madgaon is "M"; so the Karwar-Kudal DMU service was numbered KAK1 / KAK2, the Kudal-Ratnagiri DMU service was KRN1 / KRN2, and the Karwar-Madgaon service KAM1 / KAM2.

Others

Passenger services within a zone sometimes have just two or three digits, not conforming to the pattern above, and sometimes prefixed with codes indicating the station the serve (e.g. 'LK21' passenger service from Lucknow; 'DK-1' is the Delhi-Khurja EMU; 'AD-3' is one of the Aligarh-Delhi MEMUs; etc. SR runs EMU services between Tambaram and Egmore numbered S-2, S-7, etc.). These one-, two- or three-digit numbers are not unique across IR, i.e., they may be repeated in other zones. Occasionally, they may even be repeated within a zone, with an ad hoc prefix or other disambiguating indication. Some zones have their own conventions. E.g., from about 2005, SCR has indicated DEMU trains with a 'D' prefix (e.g., 'D142' Nidadavolu-Bhimavaram Passenger), and MEMU trains with an 'M' prefix (e.g., 'M167' Warangal-Hyderabad Passenger). In addition, SCR railcar services have an 'RC' prefix (e.g., 'RC-6' Kinvat Adilabad railcar).

Before 1989, trains had numbers that were allotted by their respective zonal railways, and which were not necessarily unique across the zones. E.g., 31 Down on WR was the Kutch Exp. and 31 Down on CR was the Hyderabad Exp.; both reached Mumbai -- situations like this caused considerable confusion. To disambiguate these, reservation clerks and others often used extra annotations, for instance '31/WR' for 31 Down on WR, or '31/F/WR' (31 Down on WR, Forward journey booking), or '31/R/WR' (31 Down on WR, Return journey quota).

Reservation System

Today, the reservation system is networked to allow most stations with online reservation facilities to offer bookings for almost any train from anywhere to anywhere. Earlier different sections of a train's route, which corresponded to different quotas for reservations, were given different numbers, with ad hoc alphabetic suffixes such as 'A', 'F', 'R', etc., in the reservation systems of each section. E.g., '6635F' for the forward quota for 6635, '6635R' for the return journey quota, '6635A' for the part of the train that went to MAQ after splitting at PGT; '6635B' for the part of the train that went to CHTS, etc. Each booking operator only saw the numbers for which his station had a quota for issuing tickets.

Refer to the freight section on how goods and parcel services are numbered.

Answer 2

South Central Railway Train Numbers

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Why don't you visit www.indianrail.gov.in you will find information on all the trains connecting all the cities. What more you can even get the routes, stops, coach availability and best current status of seat reservation.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

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Answer 7

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Answer 8

sorry,no idea.