Wagon numbering system in India

Indian Railways operates India's railway system and comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. Indian Railways operates more than 4000 cargo and goods trains daily.[1] It hauls variety of cargo to cater to various requirements and have specialized rolling stock corresponding to the cargo hauled. Indian Railways uses a specific wagon numbering system, adopted in 2003.[2]

Classification

Wagons are allocated 11 digit codes for identification.[2][3] The first two digits indicate the wagon type, the next two digits indicate wagon ownership, the fifth and sixth digits indicate the year of manufacture, the seventh through tenth digits indicate unique wagon number and the last digit is a check digit.

Wagon type

These two digits indicate the type of wagon.[4][2] There are 243 types of rolling stock used for cargo operations.[5] These include covered wagons, boxcars, flat wagons, flatbeds, open wagons, hoppers, containers, automobile carriers, defense vehicle carriers and tankers.[6][7]

BCNHL class covered wagon
BCACBM class car carrying wagon
BTPNM class tank wagon
BLC class well wagons
Wagon type classification[8]
Classification Prefix
Track gauge
  • B – Broad gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
  • M – Metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)
  • N – Narrow gauge 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
Wagon type
  • B – Bogie wagon
  • BV – Brake van
  • V – Brake/parcel van
  • O – Open wagon
  • C – Covered wagon
  • F – Flat car
  • FK – Flat car for container transport
  • FU – Well wagon
  • LA – Low flat car with standard buffer height
  • LB – Low flat car with low buffer height
  • LAB – Low flat car, one end with low buffer, the other with high buffer
  • R – Rail-carrying wagon
  • T – Tanker
  • U – Well wagon
  • W – Well wagon
  • K – Open wagon: ballast/material/refuse transport
  • C – Centre discharge
  • S – Side discharge
  • R – Rapid (forced) discharge, bottom discharge
  • X – Both centre and side discharge
  • X – High sided
  • Y – Low (medium) side walls
  • L – Low sided
  • H – Heavy load
Coupling
  • C – Center buffer
  • R – Screw
  • T – Transition
  • N – Air-braked
  • M – Military
Wagon type code
Open Wagon[2]
Code 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 24
Type BOXN[9] BOXNHA BOXNHS BOXNCR BOXNLW BOXNB BOXNF BOXNG BOY BOST[10] BOXNAL BOSTHS BOXNHL BOXNS
Covered Wagon[2]
Code 30 31 32
Type BCNA[11] BCNAHS BCCNR[12]
Tank Wagon[2]
Code 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
Type BTPN[13] BTPNHS BTPGLN[14] BTALN BTCS[15] BTPH BTAP[16] BTFLN[17]
Flat Wagon[2]
Code 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
Type BLCSA BLCSB BRNA[18] BRNAHS BFNS[19] BOMN[20] BRSTH BFAT BLCA[21] BLCB[22] BLLA[23] BLLB[23] BRS BFU BRHNEHS BCL BCLA
Hopper Wagon[2]
Code 70 71 72 73 74 75
Type BOBYN[24] BOBYNHS BOBRN[25] BOBRNHS BOBRAL BOBSN
Well Wagon[2]
Code 80 81 82 83
Type BWTB MBWT DBKM MBWZ
Brake Van[2]
Code 85 86 87
Type BVZC BVZI[26] BVCM

Wagon ownership

These third and fourth digits indicate the wagon ownership. This might correspond to specific railway zone or other entities.[2]


Year of manufacture

These fifth and sixth digits indicate the last two digits of the year of manufacture. For example, a wagon manufactured in 2016 will have a code of 16.[2]

Individual Wagon number

Seventh to tenth digits indicate a unique four-digit individual wagon number. This is a running serial number from 0001 to 9999 with numbers from 0001 to 0999 indicating wagons used by departments of Indian Railways and numbers 1000 to 9999 are for other traffic.[2]

Check digit

The last digit is a check digit, which is calculated using a six-step algorithm as indicated below.[2][27] Let the first ten digits be represented by C1 to C10 with C1 being the first digit, C2 the second digit and so on.
Step 1 : Starting from the left, add all the characters in the even position. S1 = C2 + C4 + C6 + C8 + C10
Step 2 : Multiply the sum by 3 to get S1 x 3
Step 3 : Starting from the left, add all the Characters in the odd position. S2 = C1 + C3 + C5 + C7 + C9
Step 4 : Add the sum of step 2 to the sum of step 3 to get S4 = S1 x 3 + S2
Step 5 : Round this total up to the next multiple of 10.
Step 6 : The check digit is the number required to the added to round up to the next multiple of 10. If the total is already a multiple of 10, the check digit will be zero.

For example, if the first ten digits are given by 3110169521
Step 1 : S1 = C2 + C4 + C6 + C8 + C10 = 1 + 0 + 6 + 5 + 1 = 13
Step 2 : S1 × 3 = 39
Step 3 : S2 = C1+ C3 + C5 + C7 + C9 = 3 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 2 = 16
Step 4 : S4= S1 × 3 + S2 = 39 + 16 = 55
Step 5 : Next 10th multiple of 55 = 60
Step 6 : Check digit = 60 - 55 = 5
Hence the eleventh digit is assigned as 5 for this particular wagon.

References

  1. ^ "About Indian Railways". Indian Railways. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Circular by Ministry of Railways" (PDF). 4 July 2003 – via Railway Board.
  3. ^ "Wagon Numbering System". Trainguard. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Types and definition of wagons". Integral Coach Factory. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Cargo wagons". Indian Railways. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  6. ^ Types of freight cars (PDF) (Report). Indian Railways. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Cargo and other rolling stock". IRFCA. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Wagon numbering". IRFCA. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Bogie Open Type -BOXN primarily for transporting iron ore". Brathwaite India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Bogie Open Type -BOST primarily for transporting iron ore". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Bogie Covered Type -BCNA primarily for transporting food grains or cement". Brathwaite India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Single-deck automobile carrier wagon". Traintrackers. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Petrol/Fuel Tank Wagon". Brathwaite India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  14. ^ "LPG Tank Wagon". Brathwaite India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Caustic Soda Tank Wagon". Brathwaite India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Bogie Alumina Tank Wagon(BTAP)". Touaxtexmco. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  17. ^ "New generation Bogie Frameless Tank (BTFLN) wagons". Touaxtexmco. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  18. ^ "BRNA Flat wagons for transporting rails etc". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  19. ^ "BFNS Flat Wagon used for carrying coil". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Bogie Open Military Wagon" (PDF). BEML India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  21. ^ "BLC-A Container Flat Wagon". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  22. ^ "BLC-B Container Flat Wagon". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  23. ^ a b "Bogie Low Platform Longer Container Flat Wagon" (PDF). Touaxtexmco. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  24. ^ "BOBYN Hopper Wagon primarily for carrying and discharging ballast". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  25. ^ "BOBRN Hopper Wagon primarily for transporting coal". Titagarh wagons. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  26. ^ "Indian goods brake van with eight wheels (BVZI)". Jessop. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  27. ^ "Example for the calculation of finding the check digit". Indian Railways. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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