Central Railway has already powered through the festive travel surge by operating 705 special trains for Diwali and Chhath Puja as of Tuesday, ferrying over 10.6 lakh passengers safely to their hometowns across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, with plans to run a total of 1,998 special services—part of a nationwide fleet of 12,011 extra trains scheduled between September 19 and November 30 to prevent last-minute ticket chaos.

Speaking to the media, Central Railway General Manager Vijay Kumar revealed that Pune leads with the highest number of originating special trains, followed closely by Mumbai, where over 600 festival specials have been notified, including more than 100 regular trains and 8 to 10 additional specials running daily from the city’s major terminals to accommodate the annual exodus of migrant workers, students, and families returning for the festivals.

To manage peak crowds, massive holding areas have been expanded at key stations—Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) currently accommodates 8,000 passengers with plans to scale up to 10,000 within hours, while Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Pune, and Dadar have also upgraded passenger waiting zones with shaded seating, water stations, medical help desks, and real-time digital display boards showing platform allocations to eliminate confusion.

Also Read: How a 12-Hour AWS Outage Crippled Apps and Diwali Online Sales Worldwide

Security has been significantly bolstered with additional Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel deployed on 24-hour duty at CSMT, LTT, Dadar, and Kalyan for the next four days, while crowd control measures include pre-assigned platforms with no last-minute changes and a strict policy against scheduling two high-volume trains on the same island platform to ensure smooth passenger flow and prevent stampede risks.

With three special trains already departed from CSMT and LTT to Danapur, Muzaffarpur, and Gorakhpur by Tuesday afternoon—on top of 22 daily Bihar-bound services—and 77 more specials slated for the next four days including 24 from the Mumbai division, Central Railway projects that the full 1,998-train operation will carry over 30 lakh passengers, delivering reliable, affordable, and timely travel during one of India’s busiest rail seasons and reinforcing the network’s critical role in uniting families during Diwali and Chhath celebrations.

Also Read: Diwali Fireworks in India Worsen Lahore’s Air Quality, Emergency Response Launched