How many passengers are on a train

Steven, surely you can give a stab at this one.

Waiting at a railway crossing to pass I have counted in excess of 40 carriages on one train.

From a state to state train, how many passengers in total might be on a train?

Just a guess.

Many trains have 24 carriages, a likely rake would be: -

1 x First Class air con = 18
1 x 2-tier air con = 48
4 x 3-tier air con = 256 (64 per carriage)
14 x Sleeper Class = 988 (72 per carriage)
3 x unreserved 2nd class = 600 (not too much of an exageration)
1 x brake van.

You could also add RAC passengers to that train.

Some trains have 26 carriages.

Indian Railways has said something like 6 unreserved carriages will soon be added to each train, I doubt they'll get rid of profitable carriages, so these will likely just be added to the length of the trains, though I don't know the maximum length to cope with signals.

You may have counted a goods train. I have once counted a train which ferries petrol / oil ... it had 86 carriages !!

Steven's calculations seem spot on. But, I think trains usually have around 18 coachs.

And, ofcourse, you have to account for a few extra ticketless travellers like on this train.

I guess trains on an average have 18-20 carriages...

I visted Kotdwara last year, it had around 27 carriages when it started from delhi, and some were headed to Dehradun, some fro Haridwar and rest to Kotdwar..and I guess I was told that it was the longest train ferrying passengers in India ..

Wow ...looking at that picture I am wondering how many get killed when they fall off???

I'm wondering how many get killed because the driver can't see the signals

A dozen jokes come to mind when seeing the above photo, but I think the photo is a train during partition, and we know that the lucky passengers just lost everything they had before they boarded the train, the even luckier passengers managed to get off the train at the other end.

I think the number of carriages per train varies a lot depending on demand, and the average is probably close to 18.

Over the years I've been interested in the railways, I've sort of worked out that the last major upgrade of platforms was to accommodate 24 carriage trains, and the majority of important trains have at least 24 carriages, Indian Railways are now adding new platforms (and extending others) to allow then to take 26 carriage trains.

While the photo is but an extreme example, I think such over crowding continues to happen during special occasions. Also, the photo must be no earlier than say 1970's as most engines were powered by steam before then. Some pictures from the partition

http://images.google.com/images?q=in...=1&sa=N&tab=wi

I just showed this picture to my son who is coming with us...and we are going on a train to Hampi...

"wow that looks wicked, cant wait" I hope hes not dispointed??

Hes been telling his mates about what hes going to experience (nes never been outside Europe before) regarding the train journey I over heard him say that there will be chickens and goats and children chatting to him speaking better English than he does ect ect....
I have a feeling he is looking forward to the whole thing.

A sobering thought from Steven about partition.

But I can remember the introduction of diesel engines in UK, and I may be old, but I wasn't even born in 1947. Surely pre-independence India wouldn't have been ahead of UK?

yeah I dont think that picture was from the partition, the train looks a little modern to be from the 40's.

The picture is not B & W...I guess that is the most important factor and no one noticed..

There was coloured photos at the time of Partition.

I am probably completely wrong about the photo, I've just always assumed it was from Partition, maybe it was a train at festival time.

The engine, I had to laugh, how many members wrongly think I'm a train spotter? yet I didn't even notice the engine, reminds me of my first trip to India, the blue mountain railway, we got to Ooty and my friend asked how it felt to have been on a steam train, he was horrified when I replied "oh, was that a steam train", it never crossed my mind even though we stopped about 5 times to take on water.

Steven is a timetable spotter; not a train spotter!