Mumbai:
The Railways will begin to give five-digit numbers in place of the existing four-digit ones for outstation and main-line electric multiple units from December 20. Suburban trains will get the numbers subsequently.
The numbers of the existing express trains will largely remain unchanged. However, they will be prefixed with the digit '1'.
Passenger trains will be numbered as per the present four-digit train numbering scheme. However, a fifth digit will be prefixed. It will be '0' for special trains, '5' for conventional passenger trains, '6' for Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU), and '7' for Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains.
"The Indian Railways runs about 17,000 trains. It becomes difficult to cover all of them in three or four-digit numberings. Hence the change," Western Railway chief spokesperson Sharat Chandrayan said.
"As far as suburban trains are concerned, we will find the best possible way to ensure that it is easy for commuters to understand. We will then implement the system subsequently," he added.
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