Trainman: Disrupting the Undisrupted with AI-Powered Waitlist Predictions and Trip Assurance

January 4, 2026 12 min read

Vineet Chirania - Co-founder of Trainman

"Train travel in India was a massive, undisrupted space. Everyone faced the same million-dollar question: Should I book this waitlisted ticket? Will it get confirmed?" This fundamental dilemma is what Vineet Chirania, co-founder of Trainman, set out to solve using machine learning. From a night-time side project to an "all-in-one" platform with over 1 crore (10 million) downloads, Trainman has become the silent guardian of the Indian rail passenger, even capturing the attention—and acquisition interest—of global giants like the Adani Group.

Founded by IIT Roorkee graduates Vineet Chirania and **Karan Kumar**, Trainman bridges the gap between the chaotic reality of Indian Railways and the need for predictable, digital-first travel. By combining deep domain knowledge of railway patterns with high-end tech like offline cell-tower tracking and their bold "Trip Assurance" (flight upgrade) feature, Trainman has proven that in Bharat, a good product doesn't need a marketing budget—it just needs to solve a real problem during dinner-table conversations.

The Waitlist Paradox: In Indian Railways, demand consistently outstrips supply. Trainman solved this by building an AI engine that analyzes class, route, and historical trends to provide a "percentage chance" of confirmation, turning a gamble into a calculated decision.

The Genesis: A Rail Fan's Vision

Vineet Chirania’s journey began in a Tier 3 city in Bihar. After graduating from IIT Roorkee and a brief stint at JP Morgan, he realized he hated the corporate grind. He pivoted to startups in the travel domain, but his heart remained with the railways. "I'm a 'rail fan,'" Chirania admits. "I travel by train a lot and saw that hotels and flights were already being disrupted by apps like MakeMyTrip, but the train segment was untouched."

Starting as a side project during weekends and night outs, Trainman's first iteration was a simple website that predicted waitlist confirmation chances. "On day one, we got 100 visits. I never expected that," Vineet recalls. This organic interest gave him the confidence to leave his full-time job and scale the platform into a profitable venture that has been cash-flow positive since its inception.

The Trainman Technology Evolution

Waitlist Prediction (2014): A machine learning framework using PNR data to show confirmation probability in green (book) or red (don't book).
Offline Train Tracking: A proprietary system that uses crowdsourced cell-tower locations to track trains accurately even when GPS and Internet are unavailable.
All-in-One Booking: Integrating direct IRCTC ticket booking, coach positions, and platform numbers into a single seamless app.
Trip Assurance: A bold service that provides a free flight upgrade if a predicted train ticket fails to confirm.

"Offline" Tracking: Solving for the 2G Traveler

One of Trainman's most impressive engineering feats is its tracking system. In the vast stretches of rural India, internet connectivity often drops between stations. Vineet’s team built a solution that bypasses the need for GPS or 4G. By mapping the location of millions of cell towers along railway tracks, the app can identify a passenger's position based on the tower their phone is currently connected to.

"You don't need precision up to one meter; 50 meters is good enough," says Chirania. "Even with GPS and Internet switched off, the app can tell you exactly where you are—'one kilometer before Delhi station.' This focus on scale and reality is what excites good engineers to join us."

Trainman Impact by the Numbers

1.2 Crore+: App downloads across India.
1 Million+: Daily visits to the platform.
5: Initial number of engineers who built the system that caught IRCTC’s attention.
100% Organic: Growth driven purely by word-of-mouth and Facebook group sharing.
Profitable: Maintaining a positive PAT from day one until the pandemic hit.

Trip Assurance: The Ultimate Confidence Builder

While many apps now offer waitlist predictions, Trainman remains the most confident. Their "Trip Assurance" feature is essentially a guarantee: if the app predicts a confirmation and it doesn't happen, Trainman will upgrade the passenger to a flight for free. This feature has turned Trainman from a simple utility app into a trusted travel partner.

"We are so confident in our technology that we are bold enough to make this statement," Vineet notes. This level of product-led growth is what allowed Trainman to scale from 100 users to 10 million without a massive marketing or sales team. In fact, Vineet admits that marketing is his weakness—making the product's success even more remarkable.

"Deciding what NOT to do is as important as deciding what to do. As a small startup team, we made a conscious call to stay only in trains until the problem was fully solved. That focus is why we won."
— Vineet Chirania, Co-founder, Trainman

Leadership and the "Jack of All Trades"

As the CEO of a rapidly scaling tech company, Vineet’s role has completely flipped. He started as a coder writing lines of machine learning logic; today, he manages compliance, team building, culture, and fundraising. He defines a CEO as the "Chief Everything Officer," emphasizing that an entrepreneur must do whatever is in the best interest of the company, even if it means stepping away from their primary passion.

Vineet’s Wisdom for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Novelty and Growth: A startup must have an element of novelty and the potential to scale using finite resources for a large number of people.
Read the Bible of Startups: Books like 'Zero to One' and 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things' are essential reading to understand the journey of those who have been there.
Network is Net Worth: Use your friends and family round first. Trainman raised a significant chunk of capital from 25 close friends who believed in the founders.
Freedom and Responsibility (F&R): Give your team the freedom to work, but instill the responsibility to deliver at scale. Informal culture builds leadership.

The Future: Beyond the Tracks

While Trainman has mastered the railway segment, the vision is to encompass the entire travel journey. Following its acquisition by Adani Digital Labs, the platform is poised to integrate even more deeply with India's transportation infrastructure. Vineet remains a lifelong student, spending his time on podcasts and courses rather than Netflix, ensuring that Trainman stays at the cutting edge of what is possible for the Indian traveler.

"Anyone can do entrepreneurship," Vineet concludes. "It takes discipline and a discovery of a real problem. Once you find that, just take the plunge."

The IRCTC Recognition: Trainman’s prediction accuracy was so high that IRCTC—the world's largest railway organization—invited the team to explain how they built it with just five engineers. This validation solidified Trainman's reputation as the technical authority in the Indian rail space.

Key Takeaways

For Tech Founders: Scalability excites engineers. If you build a product where every line of code must handle millions of hits, you will attract the best talent in the country.

For Railway Passengers: Don't leave your travel to chance. Use apps like Trainman to make data-driven decisions on booking and tracking.

For Young Graduates: If you discovered a real problem, don't wait for the perfect time. The best way to learn is to build a side project while you have a full-time job and then jump when you see the traction.

About the Guest

Vineet Chirania is the Co-founder and CEO of Trainman. An IIT Roorkee graduate in Computer Science, he hail from a Tier 3 city in Bihar and has transformed his passion for railways into one of India’s most essential travel apps. Under his leadership, Trainman has scaled to millions of users and was recently acquired by Adani Digital Labs, marking a major milestone in the Indian travel-tech ecosystem.