NEW DELHI: Indian Railways is adding festival special trains across its zones to carry the passengers who travel home for Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja, with services linking Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Patna and Varanasi with destinations across the country between October and November, Goodreturns reported on October 4.
The total for the season has not yet been confirmed at the national level, the report said. For comparison, Indian Railways operated 7,724 special trains between October 1 and November 30 in 2024, against 4,429 the year before.
North Central Railway has notified 1,053 special train trips for the season, International News and Views reported on September 21. These are trips, not separate trains: the plan uses 43 pairs of trains running at different frequencies, from once a week to daily, mostly between October 1 and November 30, a 61-day period. The services touch 13 railway zones and pass through hubs including New Delhi, Anand Vihar Terminal, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Prayagraj, Kanpur Central, Agra Cantonment, Jhansi, Gwalior, Pune and Khajuraho.
Among them, the New Delhi-Howrah Festival Special (04052) runs every Friday from October 2 to November 27, nine trips in that direction. Trains between Kanpur and New Delhi (02455/02456) run four days a week, 35 trips each way, and another service links Kanpur with Anand Vihar Terminal three days a week. Trains 01911/01912 run between Agra Cantonment and Kolkata, and 04185/04186 between Jhansi and Asansol twice a week for much of the season. Prayagraj and nearby Subedarganj get special connections to Udhna, Sabarmati, Dadar, Indore, Veraval, Sikar, the Jodhpur region, Hazrat Nizamuddin and southern India.
Central Railway will run 418 special services from Mumbai, Pune and Hadapsar, HelloRail reported on September 26. "These services will operate on special charges between October and November 2026," said Swapnil Nila, the zone's chief public relations officer. The zone expects the peak of outbound travel between November 5 and 7 and return traffic between November 16 and 22. Reservations for these trains opened on September 27 and 28 on the IRCTC website.
Eastern Railway is running 299 special services between October 1 and November 30, HelloRail reported on September 27. They include a daily Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar Terminal special (04061) from October 11 to November 26, 47 trips, with one second AC, two third AC, nine sleeper and six general coaches; a weekly Bhagalpur-Gandhinagar Capital special (09452) on Mondays from October 5 to November 30, nine trips, for migrant workers in Surat, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar; and a Kolkata-New Jalpaiguri special (03129) on weekends from October 17 to November 29, 14 trips. A Howrah-Patna special (02023) runs on Sundays from October 4 to November 29, and specials from Malda Town, Asansol and Sealdah connect to Digha, Patna, Gorakhpur, Sitamarhi and Bengaluru.
The zone has also announced extra police at key stations, help desks and streamlined ticketing, the report said.
Goodreturns listed further specials including Sealdah-Gorakhpur, Sealdah-Patna and Howrah-Raxaul services; a Varanasi-Delhi special (04209/04210) with 50 trips from October 2; an Ayodhya Cantt-Anand Vihar Terminal special (04213/04214) with 36 trips from October 1 to November 30; a Delhi-Gaya special from October 11 to 26; and long-distance services from Bengaluru to Kanpur, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and New Tinsukia. Southern Railway is running specials on its Ernakulam-Patna, Podanur-Barauni and Thiruvananthapuram-Santragachi routes.
The festive calendar this year runs from Sharad Navratri on October 11 through Durga Puja, Dussehra on October 20 and Diwali on November 8, with Chhath Puja after Diwali. Train timings and dates differ between the reports for some services, and Goodreturns advised passengers to check schedules on the National Train Enquiry System and the IRCTC website before booking.
