Indian Railways Operates 12500 Festive Special Trains for Upcoming Holidays
Indian Railways is significantly expanding its network of festive special trains to accommodate a massive surge in passenger traffic during the upcoming holiday season covering Ganesh Utsav Navratri Dussehra Diwali and Chhath Puja. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed that 12500 special trains have been approved for the festive period with 5975 services already notified. Officials estimate that these comprehensive arrangements will benefit more than 1 crore passengers while general coaches are being added to approximately 108 trains to ease congestion. The special operations officially commenced on September 11 2026 and are scheduled to run continuously until December 7 2026. Major zones including Northern Central Eastern Western North Central and Konkan Railway are closely coordinating these nationwide services to ensure smooth travel. Key routes include Delhi connecting to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along with extensive connectivity across North Bengal Assam Jharkhand and West Bengal. Notably Northern Railway is operating the New Delhi-Danapur service using train numbers 04090/04089 while Eastern Railway is deploying dedicated Puja Specials such as the Howrah-Lumding route 03005/03006 and Kolkata-Madhubani lines.