The passenger trains will be first numbered as per the present four digit train numbering scheme. To this four digit number, a fifth digit will be prefixed as digit ‘0’ for Special trains, digit ‘5’, ‘6’ and ‘7’ for conventional passenger trains, Main line Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) and Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains respectively. Suburban services in Kolkata will begin with digit ‘3’, in Mumbai with digit ‘9’ and in other parts with digit ‘4’.

It is now proposed to capture all passenger trains running over Indian Railways for various software applications by giving them a unique number. Thus, there is a need to shift to 5-digit train numbering scheme from a 4-digit train numbering scheme as Indian Railways presently runs over 11,000 passenger carrying trains on an average per day, while 4-digit scheme can have train numbers only up to 9,999. This information was given recently by KH Muniyappa, Minister of State for Railways, Government of India in a written reply in Lok Sabha.