Coach Designations and Class Codes

Coach Designations and Class Codes

Coach Designation and class codes used by Indian Railway are following

Class Code	Coach Designation	Coach Description	Berth/Seat Arrangements
1A	AC first class	Indian's luxurious and expensive class of Indian Railways. Compartment has a door which passengers can lock from inside and there are no side upper or side lower berths in 1A coaches. Also each Compartment having 2 berths (1 lower and 1 upper) are called coupe and compartments with 4 berths (2 lower + 2 upper) are called cabin . This train will have special attender and begging including under the fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in full AC first class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC first class coach	2-berth 4-berth
2A	AC two tier	This AC coach having sleeping berths across eight bays. A coach can carry 48 (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach).	2-berth 4-berth
3A	AC three tier	64 sleeping berths. Berths are similar to 2A, but with three tiers across the width and two lengthwise for eight bays of eight.	2-berth 6-berth
3E	AC three tier (economy)	Garib Rath Express Air-conditioned coaches with sleeping berths. This type of coaches also present on Duronto Express as well.
EA	Anubhuthi	Coaches were introduced in January 2018. Air-conditioned top-end class of Shatabdi Express, each seat with own in-fligt type tv entertainment set.
EC	Executive chair car	AC Coach with with spacious seats and legroom. four seats in a row, it is used for intercity day travel and is available on the Tejas and Shatabdi Express.	4-Seats in one row
CC	AC Chair Car	An air-conditioned coach with five seats in a row, used for intercity day travel	5-Seats in a row
SL	Sleeper class	This a Non AC Sleeper coaches. Each coach with 9 bays. They are sleeping coaches with 6 (3+3) berths across the width and 2 (1+1) lengthwise in every bay, without air-conditioning.	3+3 1+1
2S	Second seater	This is also Non-AC coach. similar to CC, sitting area available	5-Seats in a row
Saloon	saloon coaches	These coaches operate on charter basis i.e. booking is required. Indian Rail runs operate saloon coaches to give hotel ambience on trains	Master bedroom, one normal bedroom, one kitchen and window trailing
Vistadome	Vistadome glass roof coaches	Air-conditioned coaches with sleeping berths on the Garib Rath Express.
UR/GEN	Unreserved/General	This is the General Compartment. Usually this compartment is totally packed all the time due to its low cost and un-reserved seats available.

Coach Designations / Class Codes : More Info

Class Codes : The various classes of accommodation are referred to using abbreviations in many places. A list is given below. Note that these codes are used solely with reference to accommodation and reservations or ticketing. They are not the codes used to refer to the coaches based on their structural features  

• 1A : First class air-conditioned (Executive class in Shatabdi Exp. is treated as equivalent to this for fare purposes). Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day.
• 2A : Air-conditioned 2-tier sleeper. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day.
• FC : First class. Berths for sleeping at night, and seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• 3A : Air-conditioned 3-tier sleeper. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• 3H : High-capacity air-conditioned 3-tier sleeper. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• CC : Air-conditioned chair-car. Only sitting accommodation (individual chairs). Occasionally (especially on SR and SWR) these are referred to as Second Class AC Chair Cars, to distinguish them from the Executive Chair Car.
• CH : High-capacity version of the air-conditioned chair-car class. Only sitting accommodation (individual chairs).
• EC : Executive Class, or First Class Air-conditioned chair-car. Only sitting accommodation (individual chairs).
• SL : Sleeper class. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• SH : High-capacity (81 berths) sleeper class. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• 2S : Second class Sitting. Only sitting accommodation with bench style seats.
• ACC : (OLD – no longer in use) First class Air-conditioned sleeper, with coupes of 2 and 4 berths each.

Some trains have different fare schedules, e.g., the Garib Rath category of trains have a lower fare for accommodations that are very similar to the AC-3T coaches normally found in other trains.

Coach designations:

Coaches in a train are marked externally according to the class of accommodation. These designations were changed in April 2007. These are also the designations used in the seating charts pasted to the outside of the coaches and available on the ticketing information web sites of IR.

Old Coach Designations

• S-1, S-2, etc., are usually the sleeper coaches on overnight trains, but can also indicate sitting-only coaches in day trains on SER, ECoR, NR, ER, some SR.
• SC-1, SC-2, etc., are second-class sitting-only coaches (WR, CR, etc.).
• A-1, A-2, etc., are the AC 2-tier coaches.
• H-1, H-2, etc., are the AC first class coaches.
• HA-1, HA-2, etc., are the composite 1AC/2AC coaches.
• AS-1, AS-2, etc., are the AC 3-tier coaches (except Garib Rath).
• FC (sometimes just F) is used for first-class
• G is used for the Garib Rath AC 3-tier coaches.
• GC-1, etc. is used for coachs of Garib Rath chair cars
• FS-1 is the rare first-class / sleeper composite seen on the Brahmaputra Mail
• CC (less common) and C are used for chair car coaches. AC Chair car coaches are most often marked C-1, C-2, etc.
• EC is used for executive chair car coaches.
• (OLD) SS-1, SS-2, etc., were used for second-class sitting coaches.
• (OLD?) SL-1, SL-2, etc., were used for sleeper coaches.
• GS and sometimes (rarely) GEN are used for unreserved second-class accommodation.
• UR-1, UR-2, etc., are also used for unreserved second-class accommodation.
• ES-1, ES-2, …, are sometimes occasionally seen for what seem to be ordinary sleeper coaches — probably stands for ‘Extra’ sleeper coaches provided to accommodate rush travel periods.
• SL : Sleeper class. Berths for sleeping at night, seats by day. The number of seats is greater than the number of berths.
• EX-1 : Also sometimes used for extra coaches attached to trains to clear rush traffic.

Related : Indian Rail Online Fast Ticket Booking Services

New Coach Designations (2007)

• Sleeper coaches’ designations are unchanged: S-1, S-2, etc.
• 1st AC coaches’ designations are unchanged: H-1, H-2, etc.
• AC 2-tier coaches’ designations are unchanged: A-1, A-2, etc.
• First class coaches’ designations unchanged: FC or F.
• AC Chair Car coaches’ designations unchanged: C-1, C-2, etc.
• B-1, B-2, etc. : AC 3-tier (formerly AS-1, etc.)
• D-1, etc. : Second-class sitting (formerly S-1, or SC-1, etc.)
• E-1, etc. : Executive class (formerly EC-1, etc.).
• J-1, etc. : Garib Rath chair car (formerly GC-1, etc.)
• Garib Rath AC 3-tier coaches’ designation is unchanged (G-1, etc.).
• Composite coaches combine letters for the constituent classes, e.g., HA for 1st AC cum 2nd AC, AB for AC 2-tier cum AC 3-tier
• L-1, L-2, etc., are sometimes used for high-capacity 3AC coaches. This is intended to be an internal code for ticketing and passenger information, but is sometimes used for seat charts.
• M-1, M-2, etc., are sometimes used for high-capacity chair-car coaches. This is intended to be an internal code for ticketing and passenger information, but is sometimes used for seat charts.
• N-1, N-2, etc., are sometimes used for high-capacity (81 berths) sleeper coaches. This is intended to be an internal code for ticketing and passenger information, but is sometimes used for seat charts.

Some other codes exist, e.g., ‘PC’ for the pantry car although these do not play a role in reservations and ticketing.

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