Central Railway runs 22 night suburban trains for Mumbai Ganpati Visarjan
Central Railway has officially announced the operation of 22 special night suburban trains to facilitate travel during the Ganpati Visarjan festivities in Mumbai. These special services will run on the nights of September 23-24, September 24-25, and September 25-26, 2026, serving both the Main and Harbour lines. Commuters travelling late at night during the festival can now plan their journeys easily with these additional late-night services designed to clear heavy crowds.
According to the schedule, 18 of these special services will operate on the Main line between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and the stations of Kalyan and Thane. The remaining four services will run on the Harbour line between CSMT and Panvel. These trains are scheduled to stop at all intermediate stations along their respective routes, ensuring seamless connectivity for devotees returning home after immersion processions.
Details of Ganpati Special Train Services
Dr. Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer for Central Railway, noted that Indian Railways is running a total of 390 special trains specifically for the 2026 Ganpati Festival, with Central Railway accounting for 262 of those services. In coordination with these efforts, Western Railway has also announced 12 additional suburban train services to operate on the night of September 25-26 between Churchgate and Virar.
Specific train timings have been confirmed for the Down Main line on September 23, 24, and 25, including a CSMT-Kalyan special departing at 1:40 am, a CSMT-Thane special departing at 2:30 am, and a second CSMT-Kalyan special at 3:25 am. For the Harbour line, services on the night of September 25-26 include CSMT-Panvel specials departing at 1:30 am and 2:45 am, as well as Panvel-CSMT specials departing at 1:00 am and 1:45 am.
Station Crowd Management and Western Railway Arrangements
Additionally, Western Railway is implementing temporary operational changes at Charni Road station to manage festival crowds effectively. This includes additional halts for fast up trains between 5:00 pm and 8:30 pm, while up slow trains will skip the station between 5:00 pm and 11:30 pm. Supplementary booking counters will also be established at Charni Road to handle increased passenger volume and reduce ticket-buying queues during peak celebration hours.