NEW DELHI: Over the past five financial years, passenger volume in Indian Railways’ non-AC sleeper coaches has remained substantial, with the number witnessing a rise in some years and a slight decline in others.
Between 2021-22 and 2025-26 (up to the latest available months), more than 141 crore passengers travelled in non-AC sleeper coaches.
A broad passenger profile shows that non-AC coaches are predominantly used by people from lower- and middle-income groups, for whom rail travel remains an economical means of transport throughout the year. The number of such passengers increases during the festive season.
According to official data from the Ministry of Railways, 29.30 crore passengers travelled in non-AC sleeper coaches during the 2021-22 financial year. The number rose sharply to 38.30 crore in 2022-23. But passenger numbers declined slightly to 37.08 crore in 2023-24 and 36.81 crore in 2024-25 before increasing to 37.16 crore in 2025-26, according to the figures provided. In total, from 2021-22 to 2025-26, a total of 141.56 crore passengers travelled in non-AC sleeper coaches, generating over `74,072 crore of earnings from their tickets of non-AC sleeper reserved coaches.
The official data also puts the total Passenger Kilometres (PKM), including non-AC sleeper class, at approximately 11.88 lakh million PKM in 2025-26. In fact, the PKM is a key measure of passenger transport volume, representing the movement of one passenger over a distance of one kilometre.
With substantial passenger demand continuing for non-AC services, Indian Railways has been replacing conventional Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches with modern, lightweight Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches equipped with advanced technology.
Accordingly, railway production units have been manufacturing only LHB coaches since April 2018. “Since 2014, about 50,000 LHB coaches have been manufactured, and the manufacturing cost of a non-AC sleeper class LHB coach is about Rs 2 crore. Its standard codal life is 35 years, and the carrying capacity is 80 passengers,” said a railway source.
Recently, the Rajya Sabha was informed that the Indian Railways has 62,000 non-AC coaches, along with 27,000 AC coaches, taking the total number of passenger coaches to 89,000. Similarly, the railway network has 54 lakh non-AC seats and 15 lakh AC seats, amounting to a total of 69 lakh seats used daily.
The expenditure of maintaining railway coaches depend on several factors, including coach design and technology, age, and utilisation patterns.