The Indian Railways plans to manufacture approximately 17,000 general and non-air-conditioned coaches over the next five years to meet the increasing demand from lower-income passengers, as announced by Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during a session in the Lok Sabha on 30 July.
Minister Vaishnaw highlighted that the number of general class coaches has increased significantly in recent years. He stated, “These coaches, along with other non-AC variants, comprise approximately 70 percent of the Railways’ total fleet of 82,000 coaches. In terms of capacity, they provide nearly 78 percent of the 6.9 million seats available daily across the network.”
This emphasis on non-air-conditioned travel coincides with a surge in passenger numbers using unreserved coaches, which reached 651 crore in fiscal year 2025, an increase from 609 crore in the previous fiscal year. To accommodate this rising demand, the Railways has already launched the fully non-AC Amrit Bharat trains, with a production plan for 100 such trains currently in progress.
Additionally, the minister provided updates on other major railway initiatives:
A total of 144 Vande Bharat train services are now operational throughout the country. These semi-high-speed trains are experiencing high demand, with an overall occupancy rate of 105.03 percent thus far in the current fiscal year (2025-26).
Overall, the Indian Railways has operated an average of 13,940 passenger trains daily in 2024-25, reflecting an increase from the 13,169 daily trains operated in 2019-20, as reported by the Railways Ministry.
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