Automated berth allocation moves live

Indian Railways says it has put automated berth allocation into live use, shifting some seat and coach decisions from manual handling to software. (pib.gov.in) The railways’ reservation system already assigns berths and converts Reservation Against Cancellation and waitlist tickets during chart preparation, while the Centre for Railway Information Systems runs the core software behind those bookings. (pib.gov.in) (cris.org.in) In June 2025, the Railway Ministry said it would move to earlier chart preparation and a rebuilt Passenger Reservation System that can handle more than 1.5 lakh bookings a minute and more than 40 lakh enquiries a minute. (pib.gov.in) That matters because berth allocation in India is not just picking a bunk. The system has to fit families together, honor quotas, give lower berths to eligible older passengers where possible, and convert waitlist and Reservation Against Cancellation tickets as cancellations come in. (pib.gov.in) The railways also tightened the pipeline feeding that system. In 2025, the Railway Board capped waitlisted tickets at 25% of identified berth capacity in each class, a change railway officials said was meant to reduce overcrowding and overbooking pressure. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (newindianexpress.com) Indian Railways has been automating parts of berth handling for years. A 2017 ministry note said lower berths were already being assigned automatically to men aged 60 and above and women aged 45 and above, subject to availability at booking. (pib.gov.in) What appears to be newer is the push to extend automation from individual berth choice to network-level decisions, including earlier charting, live waitlist updates, and software-led handling of coach capacity instead of station-by-station manual intervention. That reading is consistent with the ministry’s 2025 overhaul plan, though the public material reviewed does not spell out the full production rules for the new allocation engine. (pib.gov.in) Railway software releases also show the operational side of the problem. Updates to the train staff hand-held terminal in 2024 referred to bugs involving waitlist allocation, composite berths, and berth marking, underscoring how many edge cases the system has to resolve on moving trains. (hht.indianrail.gov.in) For passengers, the practical change is simpler: more of the uncertainty around waitlists, berth numbers, and last-minute coach adjustments is being pushed into code that runs before departure, not into manual decisions after boarding. (pib.gov.in)