India · Travel
Enter your coach class and berth number to see exactly where you'll be — lower, middle, upper, or side — with the bay laid out visually.
Sleeper (SL)
ICF sleeper coaches have 72 berths; newer LHB builds go up to 78–81 with the same repeating bay pattern.
Pick the coach class
Sleeper, AC 3-Tier, AC 2-Tier, or AC First — each has a different repeating pattern.
Enter the berth number
The number printed on your ticket (e.g. S4, berth 23 — enter 23).
Read the position
The finder shows the berth type, the bay it sits in, and a diagram with your berth highlighted.
Indian Railways coaches are built from repeating bays, and the berth numbers simply walk through each bay in a fixed order. In Sleeper and AC 3-Tier a bay holds eight berths: lower, middle, upper on one side; lower, middle, upper facing them; then the side lower and side upper across the aisle. That is why the pattern of “berth number mod 8” tells you everything — 1 is a lower, 2 a middle, 7 a side lower, 8 a side upper, 9 a lower again, and berth 23 lands on a side lower in bay 3.
AC 2-Tier drops the middle berth, so its bays repeat every six: lower, upper, lower, upper, then side lower and side upper. AC First has no open bays at all — it is lettered cabins and coupés where odd numbers are lower berths and even are upper. The pattern holds across both ICF (conventional) and LHB (modern) coach builds; the builds differ only in how many bays long the coach is, which is why LHB Sleeper runs to 78–81 berths against ICF’s 72.
Knowing the position before boarding is mostly about choosing trade-offs. Lower berths double as everyone’s daytime seat; upper berths are private but need a climb; middles exist only at night; side lowers get shared with RAC passengers in Sleeper; side uppers have the least headroom. If the allotment matters — say, travelling with elderly parents — book early enough to use the lower-berth preference, and check our advance booking calculator for exactly when the window opens.
Editorial Trust Panel
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Last reviewed
July 17, 2026
Content update
Auto-updated on Jun 28, 2026
Scope: Berth patterns follow the standard Indian Railways ICF/LHB coach layouts for SL, 3A, 2A, and 1A. AC 3-Tier Economy (3E) and special coach builds vary by production batch and are not covered.
Primary references
The ticket tells you the coach and berth number but not what the berth is— and whether you end up climbing to an upper, folding down a middle, or sharing a side lower with RAC passengers is decided entirely by that number. This finder maps any berth number in Sleeper, AC 3-Tier, AC 2-Tier, and AC First to its type and position, and draws the bay so you can see your neighbours’ berths too.
Berth 23 in a Sleeper coach: 23 mod 8 leaves 7, which is the side-lower slot — so you are on the aisle side in bay 3 (berths 17–24), on the berth RAC passengers share during the day. Berth 22 in the same coach is a main-bay upper: private around the clock, but a climb.
Berth type = position of ((berth − 1) mod cycle length) in the class pattern. SL/3A cycle (length 8): LB, MB, UB, LB, MB, UB, SL, SU. 2A cycle (length 6): LB, UB, LB, UB, SL, SU. 1A alternates LB, UB. Bay number = ⌈berth ÷ cycle length⌉. The pattern is identical for ICF and LHB builds; only total berth count differs.
Berth types repeat in a fixed pattern within each class. In Sleeper and AC 3-Tier the pattern is 8 berths per bay: 1 lower, 2 middle, 3 upper, 4 lower, 5 middle, 6 upper, then 7 side lower and 8 side upper — and it repeats (so berth 23 is a side lower). AC 2-Tier repeats every 6 (lower, upper, lower, upper, side lower, side upper), and AC First alternates lower/upper.
Berth numbers that leave a remainder of 7 (side lower) or 0 (side upper) when divided by 8: side lowers are 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 47, 55, 63, 71 and side uppers are 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72.
The repeating bay pattern is the same; what changes is coach length. ICF Sleeper has 72 berths while LHB builds go up to around 78–81; ICF AC 3-Tier has 64 while LHB has 72. A berth number valid for your coach follows the same type pattern either way.
Lower berths — no climbing, closest to the floor and luggage. Indian Railways also runs a lower-berth quota for senior citizens and reserves priority allotment; choosing "lower berth preferred" at booking uses it. Middle berths are the hardest: they fold away for daytime seating and require an awkward climb.
Side lower berths are where RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) passengers are seated — two RAC ticket holders can share one side lower. If you hold a confirmed side lower and an RAC passenger is allotted to it, you keep it at night but share seating during the day.
Some AC 3-Tier Economy (3E) coach builds added a side middle berth, but layouts vary by production batch, so this finder does not cover 3E. In SL, 3A, 2A, and 1A there is no side middle.