Trains in Indian railways are denoted by Up and Down numbers. However, do you ever wonder how the Up and Down direction of trains are decided in Indian Railways? You must know that the Up and Down numberings of trains depends on the operating zones and not on the direction in which the train travels.
Down refers to a train departing from zonal/ divisional headquarters i.e., the home railway, while Up refers to a train travelling to its zonal/divisional headquarters. The numberings of intermediate trains that don’t originate from the headquarters are based on the direction of away/towards the headquarters, as per Indian Rail Info. For example, 2903 DN Frontier Down Mail travels away from its HQ Mumbai, while train number 2904 UP travels back towards its HQ Mumbai.
In general, the Down trains are numbered by odd numbers while even numbers are used to denote Up trains. The numbers of the Up and Down trains vary by just one number. In Shatabdi, the odd number indicates the Down run while the even number indicates the Up run such as New Delhi – Bhopal Shatabdi is numbered 2001 DN (departs from Delhi) and 2002 UP (travelling towards Delhi).
However, it is not applicable to all zones. In the Howrah zone, the Kalka Mail Up is numbered 1 and Down is numbered 2, while the Howrah – Bombay Mail Up is numbered 2 and Down is numbered 1. The Ring Railway in New Delhi opted for another method according to which the clockwise direction is marked up in the timetables.
This method was first adopted by Great Indian Peninsula Railway for the Bombay and Madras railway. The East Indian Railway named the trains towards its base, Calcutta as Down trains and this convention was also adopted by the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. The North-Western Railway named trains travelling to the west as Up.
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