Railways to introduce five-digit train numbering

NEW DELHI: Passengers booking tickets in Mail and Express trains need to add prefix 1 before the existing four-digit numbers while checking the reservation position through the enquiry system.

Aiming at bringing uniformity and logical basis for numbering of trains, Indian Railways have decided to introduce five-digit numbering system for all passenger-carrying trains.

The new five-digit numbering system will be effective from December this year.

Currently, trains have varying numbers including three- digit, four-digit and alphabetical-numerical ones.

Five-digit train numbering has become necessary as the four-digit system has got exhausted, a senior Railway Ministry official said. However, the official clarified that the names of the trains are not being changed.

The five-digit scheme proposes to cover all passenger carrying trains including Duronto, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Garibrath and suburban holiday specials. However, it will not cover the freight trains.

"CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems) has been instructed to make necessary changes to modify the software accordingly," said the official.

After the software is ready, the new numbers will be reflected in the passenger reservation system and the train enquiry system.