In 5 years since Covid, flip in Indian Railways revenue from AC, non-AC

This trend has almost reversed now.

In 2024-25, those travelling AC classes in the Railways are expected to contribute 54 per cent of total passenger revenues of Rs 80,000 crore. And those in non-AC classes (excluding sub-urban) are estimated to contribute just 41 per cent.

The non-AC classes include Second Class Mail/ Express, which run long distances and are also called General Class, Second Class Ordinary, which run inter-city or shorter distances, and the Sleeper Class, which offer a berth to passengers.

While the percentage of passengers travelling AC class is still in lower single digits, the absolute numbers have more than doubled to 38 crore in 2024-25 from 18 crore in the pre-Covid year, 2019-20. In 2019-20, AC passengers accounted for 2.2 per cent of the total 809 crore passengers; in 2024-25, they made up 5.2 per cent of the total 727 crore passengers. Clearly, the total passenger traffic in Railways in 2024-25 is yet to reach the pre-Covid levels — it is 10 per cent lower than in 2019-20.

But if you exclude the sub-urban passenger numbers, the traffic has more or less recovered. In 2019-20, the passenger traffic in Railways excluding sub-urban traffic was 349 crore; in 2024-25, it is expected to be 334 crore.

As reported in The Indian Express, amongst all classes AC and non-AC, the AC 3-tier is estimated to contribute Rs 30,088 crore or 38 per cent of the total passenger revenues of Rs 80,0000 crore in 2024-25. It is expected to carry 26 crore of the total 38 crore passengers estimated to be travelling AC classes during the year. In percentage terms, AC 3-Tier passengers account for 3.5 per cent of the total 727 crore passengers estimated to travel by the Indian Railways.

Within the non-AC class, those travelling without a berth i.e., in Second Class (Ordinary) and Second Class (Mail/ Express) add up to 256 crore passengers, accounting for 35 per cent of all passengers in 2024-25. In terms of passenger revenues, the two together will contribute Rs 17,558 crore or 22 per cent of total revenues during 2024-25.

In the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Second Class (Mail/ Express) plus Second Class (Ordinary) accounted for 293 crore passengers or 36 per cent of total passengers, and Rs 15,620 crore or 31 per cent of total revenues.

Pay more to have a seat

In these five years, an increase in ticket pricing of between 6 per cent and 25 per cent has been witnessed across classes.

The average fare per passenger of the Sleeper Class increased from Rs 368.28 in 2019-20 to Rs 407.48 in 2024-25. During the same period, the Second Class (Mail/Express) saw an average increase of 5.52 percent or Rs 6.42 in fare per passenger.

Apart from this, suburban passengers saw an average increase of just Rs 1.12 in the last five years. While sub-urban traffic has risen in the last five years, it has still not reached the pre-Covid level. While 460 crore passengers travelled in sub-urban trains in 2019-20, only about 409 crore passengers are estimated to use sub-urban trains in 2025-26. The dip in suburban travel could be due to a variety of reasons like changes in work patterns or a shift to other modes of transportation such as metro or road transport.

The Second Class (Ordinary) is the only class which saw a decrease in fare by average of Rs 4.43 per passenger. The passenger numbers in this class is expected to be 131.9 crore in 2025-26, still much lower than 185.12 crore in 2019-20.