Big relief to those going to Bihar-Bengal on Diwali-Chhath: Railways increased the speed of festival special trains, the journey will be completed in less time on 6 major routes.

Indian Railways has geared up to meet the huge rush of passengers traveling to North and Eastern India, especially Bihar and West Bengal, during the Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath festivals. To provide relief from the problem of seats being filled and long waiting lists as soon as ticket booking starts in regular trains, Railways has not only announced the operation of more than 100 special trains, but has also rationalized the operating time and speed of trains on 6 major busy routes.

Every year during the festive season, the biggest problem of special trains has been their excessive delay and low priority. This time the Railway Board has given clear instructions that special trains going from Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to Bihar and Bengal will be run with clear track and fast average speed, which will save many hours of precious time of the passengers.

Railways has decided to revise time-table and speed up schedule of special trains on 6 most demanded routes connecting various districts of Bihar and West Bengal:

Railways’ dual strategy is working behind increasing the speed of trains:

• Reduction in non-essential stoppages: Instead of unnecessary stopping of special trains at many small halts, limited technical & commercial halts have been given only at major junctions.

• Modern LHB Coaches: Most of the special trains have been replaced by traditional ICF coaches with modern Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. LHB rakes are safe as well as capable of running at speeds of 110 to 130 kmph, which will directly reduce travel time by 2 to 4 hours.

• Bypass at major junctions: Green corridors are being provided by giving priority to special trains on highly busy railway sections like Kanpur, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (Mughalsarai) and Danapur.

The greatest pressure on festivals is felt by workers, students and employed people returning from Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat to Bihar-Bengal. Daily and weekly trips of Patliputra, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Saharsa and Jogbani special trains running from Anand Vihar, New Delhi and Old Delhi railway stations will provide great convenience to the passengers of Purvanchal and Mithilanchal.

Along with this, superfast special services started from Firozpur, Ludhiana, Ambala and Chandigarh directly to Patna and Gaya in Punjab will prove to be a boon for the migrant workers who return to their native villages for Chhath Puja.

According to the railway administration, reservation of all these special trains is being made available on the official website of IRCTC, Rail Connect app and railway reservation counters.

• Special Fare Rules: These trains are operating under special numbers (0-series), whose fares may be marginally higher than normal mail/express trains (by 10% to 30% as per rules).

• Additional Coaches and Clone Trains: Railways has also clarified that if the waiting list on any route crosses 200, then arrangements will be made to run clone special trains on the same timetable and add additional general and sleeper coaches to the existing trains.

Passengers planning to travel home during the festivals have been advised to reserve their seats well in time by confirming the revised timings and stoppages of trains on Railways’ National Train Inquiry System (NTES) to avoid last-minute rush.