Vande Bharat train ridership and revenue have risen across Southern Railway with a current booking facility that allows vacant seats to be booked up to 15 minutes before departure.

Madurai Bengaluru Cantonment Vande Bharat Express at Bengaluru Cantonment station
Madurai–Bengaluru Cantonment Vande Bharat Express at Bengaluru Cantonment station. Illustrative photo. Photo: Sameer2905 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

The arrangement allows passengers to reserve tickets shortly before travel. Southern Railway’s Vande Bharat network connects major cities in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Vande Bharat train ridership and revenue

In FY26, 24 Vande Bharat services in the Southern Railway zone⁠ carried 77.38 lakh passengers and generated Rs 803.86 crore, compared with 54.12 lakh passengers and Rs 540.65 crore in FY25. During April-May 2026, the first two months of FY27, the semi-high-speed services transported 15.21 lakh passengers and earned Rs 162.96 crore.

SN Narain, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said several services have recorded occupancy above 100 per cent. These include the Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil and Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat routes.

Vande Bharat Express train on tracks around Mumbai
Vande Bharat Express on track around Mumbai. Illustrative photo. Photo: Harshul12345 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Current booking facility for last-minute travel

Southern Railway’s current booking facility lets passengers reserve remaining vacant seats up to 15 minutes before departure from both originating and en route stations. According to the railway official, this has made it easier for last-minute travellers to secure reservations despite high occupancy on several services.

The zone introduced the facility on July 17, 2025, for eight Vande Bharat trains⁠ originating in the zone. The covered services are:

• Train number 20631 Mangaluru Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20632 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Mangaluru Central Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20627 Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20628 Nagercoil-Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20642 Coimbatore-Bengaluru Cantt. Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20646 Mangaluru Central-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20671 Madurai-Bengaluru Cantt. Vande Bharat Express
• Train number 20677 Dr MGR Chennai Central-Vijayawada Vande Bharat Express

What changes for passengers?

For passengers, the current booking rule applies to vacant seats after the reservation chart has been prepared. IRCTC describes current booking as booking against vacant accommodation after charting, with only confirmed e-tickets issued under this option. The same guidelines state that boarding point changes and name, age or gender changes are not allowed for current booking PNRs. In Southern Railway’s Vande Bharat case, the passenger-facing change is the ability to reserve such vacant seats at en route stations up to 15 minutes before departure, subject to availability.

Southern Railway said a comparison of the first three months after implementation, from August to October 2025, showed a significant increase in current-booking passengers and revenue on almost all of the eight pilot Vande Bharat services.