Former Railway GM calls for data-driven reforms as waitlists surge and structural bottlenecks strain the system.
By S. JHA
Mumbai, April 19, 2026 — India’s vast rail network may be celebrated for its scale, but a growing capacity crisis is quietly leaving millions behind. In a detailed LinkedIn post, L. C. Chaturvedi described what he termed an “invisible railway crisis,” estimating that up to 20 lakh passengers are unable to secure confirmed berths on peak travel days.
“On peak days, 15–25 lakh passengers are denied confirmed berths — despite wanting to travel. And that’s just the visible number,” Chaturvedi wrote, highlighting the widening gap between demand and capacity in Indian Railways.
According to his analysis, more than 3 crore passengers annually failed to secure confirmed tickets in FY 2024–25, translating to nearly 8–9 lakh passengers per day on average. The situation worsens during festive seasons, when demand surges sharply. During the Chhath Puja peak in November 2024, over 120 lakh non-suburban passengers were transported, yet long waitlists persisted across key routes linking Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Chaturvedi pointed to a deeper, less visible issue: suppressed demand. “Millions don’t even try booking — they know they won’t get a berth,” he noted, estimating this hidden demand to be 1.5 to 2 times the visible waitlist.
At the core of the problem, he argued, is structural stress rather than operational failure. Key trunk routes are operating at 100–115% capacity, constrained by limited train paths, finite rolling stock and, at times, politically skewed allocation of special trains.
Despite these challenges, Chaturvedi outlined a set of immediate, implementable solutions. These include running maximum-length 24-coach trains on high-density routes, cloning high-demand trains with similar schedules, and deploying AI-driven quota rebalancing to release unused berths closer to departure.
He also advocated smarter use of the Advance Reservation Period (ARP), demand-led deployment of special trains, and formalising unreserved travel through prepaid passes to improve both passenger experience and revenue visibility.
However, he stressed that these are only interim fixes. “All short-term solutions are demand management. The real solution is capacity creation,” he wrote, underscoring the importance of the Dedicated Freight Corridor. By shifting freight traffic off passenger routes, the corridor could unlock 40–60 additional train paths daily, significantly boosting capacity.
“The system is not short of demand. It is short of aligned capacity and data-driven allocation,” Chaturvedi concluded, warning that without a shift toward algorithm-led planning, the crisis will persist at scale.
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