Diwali travel rush is already taking a toll on India's railway network, and passengers are complaining about high demand and less access on a number of routes. Indian Railways has also introduced more than 100 special trains for travellers to respond to the expected increase in the number of passengers on holiday travel during the festival season.
The latest list consists of 102 special train services for the Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja period. These trains will run in many parts of the country during October and November, providing seats and berths in these routes where the most frequent passengers are expected to make an appearance.
The move comes as passengers have already been struggling to get confirmed tickets for some Diwali trips. On some busy routes, regular train tickets have sold out within minutes of the reservation window opening, the sources said.
102 Special train services announced for festive rush
The new services connect major cities and towns across states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and other areas.
Some of the services announced are Kanpur Central-Asarva, Agra Cantt-Udhna, Asarva-Agra Cantt, VGL Jhansi-Bandra Terminus and Prayagraj-Udhna. Services are also being announced between Uttar Pradesh to destinations in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Passengers travelling between Uttar Pradesh and western India will have options with services like Subedarganj-Valsad, Prayagraj-Dadar, Subedarganj-Udhna and Subedarganj-Indore.
Long-distance services have also been planned on routes like Prayagraj-Veraval and Subedarganj-Panvel.
There are additional trains that are being introduced for passengers going to Bihar and West Bengal. These are Howrah-Raxaul, Sealdah-Patna, Sealdah-Sitamarhi, Sealdah-Gorakhpur, Kolkata-Madhubani and Asansol-Patna services.
The railway network is also adding services connecting eastern India with Assam and other parts of the Northeast.
Extra Coaches Added To Existing Trains
Special trains are not the only measure being used to increase capacity. Indian Railways has also added extra coaches to some existing regular services.
The additional coaches and special trains will help to increase the number of available berths at a time when millions of people travel to their hometowns for the festive season. Railways will hope the additional capacity will reduce waiting lists on some of the most heavily travelled routes.
But passengers shouldn’t be assuming that every special train will have confirmed seats on every date. Availability will depend on route, train, travel date and booking demand. Passengers are advised to check the exact train number and operating date before making travel plans.
The services for the festive period are SMVT Bengaluru, Mangaluru Central, Hyderabad, Madurai and Podanur to connect passengers between the southern cities and other parts of the country. For instance, train numbers 04131 and 04132 are scheduled between Kanpur Central and SMVT Bengaluru on some dates in October and November.
At a time of record-high demand for booking, IRCTC is upgrading its booking system.
The festive-season rush has also put IRCTC’s online booking system under the spotlight. Passengers have reported difficulties while booking tickets: high-load messages and “Regret” status on some routes have been reported.
IRCTC has said it has upgraded its Next Generation e-Ticketing system with new servers and software and architectural improvements. The system has been reported to have increased to nearly twice its previous capacity.
In July 2026, the railway ticketing platform also launched a beta version of a redesigned user interface. The redesigned interface allows passengers to see availability in Sleeper, AC 3 Tier and AC 2 Tier on the same screen. Anti-bot technology has also been introduced to improve the booking experience.
When Is Diwali 2026 And When Did Booking Open?
Diwali will be celebrated on November 8, 2026. Indian Railways has a 60-day Advance Reservation Period for most of its trips, excluding the date of travel.
This means that different travel dates around Diwali have different booking-opening dates. For instance, the reservations for November 5 opened on September 6, while the bookings for November 8 opened on September 9.
A number of routes have already had strong demand, with tickets disappearing as soon as they were booked within minutes of opening the booking window. So festival special trains give passengers more options, and this is especially true on routes connecting key cities such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and other high-demand destinations.
Passengers planning Diwali or Chhath travel should check the IRCTC website or app and the National Train Enquiry System for the latest availability, operating dates and route information. A special train being announced doesn’t guarantee a confirmed berth, so checking the exact service before booking is still important.
With the festive season on its way, the additional services will help to add to train carriage capacity in the network, and passengers have alternatives when regular trains are full.
