Railway Board Receives Proposal for Clone Trains on Surat-Chhapra and Ahmedabad-Patna Routes for Holi 2026

With the upcoming Holi festival and wedding season approaching in 2026, passengers are facing long waiting lists on trains heading towards Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from Gujarat and Maharashtra. To address this heavy rush, a formal proposal has been sent to the Railway Board to run “clone trains” on high-demand routes. These special trains are intended to run on the same path and timing as popular regular trains that have already reached full occupancy for March.

List of Proposed Trains and Routes

The Western Railway and East Central Railway have identified specific routes where the passenger load is extremely high. The proposal includes resuming the Gandhidham-Bhagalpur Express which usually sees heavy crowds. Additionally, there is a strong demand to increase the frequency of the Ahmedabad-Patna service for the convenience of passengers traveling to Bihar.

Due to ongoing redevelopment work at Surat Railway Station, operational changes are also part of the plan. The popular Surat-Chhapra (09065/66) weekly service is likely to operate from Udhna Junction, which is approximately 7 km away from Surat. The Ahmedabad-Darbhanga service is also proposed for an extension to help North India-bound travelers.

Expected Dates and Fare Details

According to the latest updates, these services are planned to resume between late February and the first week of March 2026 to align with the Holi festival. Most of these trains will operate under the “Special Fare” category. This means passengers might have to pay slightly more than the normal base fare, similar to Humsafar or Tatkal pricing structures.