The Indian Railways has introduced the ‘Ideal Train Profile’ to maximise the capacity utilisation and revenue generation in reserved mail express trains by regularly analysing the demand pattern of every single train.

• The Ideal Train Profile -- a seat capacity optimisation decision support -- is done due to the fact that the number of ticket-class combinations on a single train journey date can exceed ?5,000. 
• According to a Railway Ministry official, the pattern of demand for accommodation is not always on an end-to-end basis, but rather varies in all trains depending on various factors such as its origin-destination pairs, timings, class of accommodation, availability of alternate trains or means of transportation. 
• This paradox is best resolved by allocating accommodation quotas based on the business need of serving the demands for different origin-destination pairs.