Reflecting the growing pressure on India’s railway system, more than 3.27 crore passengers were unable to travel by train in the financial year 2024–25, even after booking their tickets. Their tickets remained unconfirmed at the time of final chart preparation, which means they didn’t get a reserved seat and couldn’t board the train.

This shocking number came to light through a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by activist Chandrashekhar Gaur from Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh. What’s more worrying is that this is not a one-time problem; it’s getting worse every year. In 2023–24, around 2.96 crore passengers couldn’t travel due to unconfirmed tickets. In 2022–23, the number was 2.72 crore and in 2021–22, it was 1.65 crore. The growing numbers clearly show that Indian Railways is struggling to meet the high demand for train travel, even though the system is being modernised and expanded.

What Railways is doing

To fix some of the problems in the ticket booking system, IRCTC has deactivated over 2.5 crore fake or suspicious user IDs to stop misuse and ensure fair booking.

Also, a new rule has been introduced: Passengers can now check the status of their waitlisted tickets 24 hours before the train's departure, instead of the old system where the final chart was made just 4 hours before departure.

The bigger problem

Even with these steps, the main issue remains, there just aren’t enough confirmed tickets available for the huge number of people who want to travel. Millions of passengers across the country still face uncertainty and disappointment when trying to book train journeys.