Indian Railways will run twelve thousand special trains for the upcoming festival season
Indian Railways is making massive preparations to help travellers reach home comfortably during the upcoming festival season by announcing a massive fleet of festival specials. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has confirmed that 12,000 special trains will operate between October 1 and November 15, 2026, to manage the heavy rush during Dussehra, Diwali, and Chhath. Passengers can also avail themselves of a 20% discount on return tickets for journeys undertaken between October 13-26, provided the return travel is scheduled between November 17 and December 1. To help you plan your journey better, here are the key operational highlights and route details announced by Indian Railways.
Central Railway is stepping up operations by running 1,702 special trains, while Western Railway has scheduled 240 trips across eight special services. Northern Railway is introducing additional connectivity on 20 routes. This includes high-demand corridors such as the Mumbai Central-Katihar route with 77 trips and the Varanasi-New Delhi corridor via Train No. 04209/04210 featuring 50 trips. For these Varanasi-Delhi services, Train 04209 departs Varanasi at 10:15 PM, and Train 04210 departs Delhi at 6:50 PM. Additionally, the Ayodhya Cantt-Anand Vihar service will operate 36 trips between October 1 and November 30.
Additional Routes And Extended Services
More options are available for travellers heading towards northern and eastern states. The Chandigarh-Patna Special via Train No. 04512/04511 will run on Thursdays from Chandigarh and Fridays from Patna between October 1 and November 27. The Chandigarh-Varanasi Special via Train No. 04228/04227 will operate twice weekly from October 1 to November 30. Furthermore, extensions have been granted for popular routes including Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad (09087/09088), Mumbai Central-Indore (09079), and Barauni/Darbhanga-New Delhi (02563/02564 and 02569/02570), adding another 88 trips.
Other important routes receiving special service attention include Firozpur Cantt-Patna, Anand Vihar-Jogbani, Anand Vihar-Muzaffarpur, Delhi-Sitamarhi, New Delhi-Kanpur, and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Dadar. Regarding ticket reservation timelines, bookings for Diwali travel during November 6-8 took place between September 7 and September 9, while Chhath Puja travel bookings for November 12-15 opened between September 13 and September 16.
Important Advice For Passengers
Railway officials, including Yashanjit Singh, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager for the Ambala Division, have urged travellers to make full use of the 60-day Advance Reservation Period (ARP). Passengers are advised to pre-save their passenger profiles in the IRCTC Master List and ensure Aadhaar verification is complete. These simple steps will help speed up the ticket booking process and avoid last-minute hassles during peak festival rush.