The Ministry of Railways has announced the operation of over 7,000 festive special trains ahead of Diwali and Chhath Puja, which are expected to serve more than 2 lakh passengers daily. This announcement was made during a recent cabinet briefing, following prior declarations from several railway divisions regarding their planned services for the festive season.
To meet the heightened demand, particularly in key regions such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Indian Railways is adding over 1 crore seats, including clone trains. In preparation for the surge in travellers, facilities and services have been enhanced at major stations, including Old Delhi, New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Visakhapatnam.
What are clone trains?
In addition to the festive special trains, Indian Railways will operate clone versions of its most popular trains to accommodate high passenger demand during Diwali and Chhath Puja. These clone trains will depart approximately 15 minutes after the original train, sharing the same train number, halts, and duration. Reserved class seating arrangements will remain unchanged, while unreserved passengers will be organised in lines. Clone trains will only run if there is a substantial waiting list for the original train.
Passengers on the waiting list will be informed of their berths in the clone train shortly after the original train's reservation charts are finalised, which occurs four hours before departure.
Operating clone trains poses a challenge for Indian Railways, as it requires additional rakes, especially from major cities where such resources are available. The Passenger Reservation System (PRS) will need to be upgraded to facilitate this initiative. Currently, bookings are disabled once the waiting list reaches 400 for sleeper class, 300 for 3AC or chair car, 30 for first class, and 100 for second class.
Launched in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the clone scheme resembles the Vikalp scheme, which provides waitlisted passengers with alternative berths on different trains. However, unlike the Vikalp scheme, which may assign passengers to stations different from their original boarding and destination, the clone train scheme offers a more direct alternative by maintaining the same route and stops.
Clone versions of express trains such as the Patna Rajdhani, Vaishali Express, and Gorakhpur Express have already been announced during this festive season.
While the exact number of clone trains to be operational during this period has not been disclosed, as of July 26, 2021, 22 clone trains were in service, according to a written reply by Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha.
Which zones are adding how many more trains and trips?
Ashwani Vaishnaw informed at a press conference earlier this month that an additional 12,500 coaches will be added to trains this year, a significant increase from the approximate 4300 special trains operated last year during the same period.
Northern Railway has announced a significant increase in services, planning a total of 3,144 special train trips from October 1 to November 30, 2024. Over 85% of these festival special trains will cater to passengers travelling eastward to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Assam.
To ensure smooth travel, 195 additional trips are scheduled from October 26 to November 7, 2024, compared to just 138 trips during the same period in 2023. During this 13-day span, Northern Railway will operate an average of 65 extra trains daily from the Delhi area, up from 59 last year, providing 1.2 lakh additional berths for passengers.
Additionally, 49 extra coaches will be added to important trains during the festive period, resulting in a total of 1,70,434 extra berths available this year, compared to 1,48,750 last year. Approximately 54,000 additional unreserved seats will also be available in special trains.
To manage the expected crowd, Northern Railway is implementing crowd control measures, including forming queues at terminus stations with the supervision of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and commercial staff. Temporary waiting areas, or 'pandals', are being set up at New Delhi and Anand Vihar stations to keep the crowd organised during pre-departure periods.
Unreserved special trains will be operated in real time to address any additional rush as needed. Stations will make timely announcements about the operation of special trains and extra coaches.
In 2023, Northern Railway operated 1,082 trips of special festival trains.
The South-Western Railway (SWR) is contributing by running 24 special trains with 52 trips, including temporary halts for three trains and coach expansions for 34 others to accommodate the rise in passenger numbers during Dussehra. For Diwali, SWR will introduce six special trains with eight trips from various parts of Karnataka.
Other railway zones are also responding to demand, with a total of 22 special trains scheduled to provide 264 trips. Central Railways will operate 278 special trains for the festivities. Meanwhile, Eastern Railway will run 40 special trains in different directions across the country to help reduce congestion and ensure smooth travel during this peak season. These special trains by the Eastern Zone will generate approximately 400,000 berths through 390 trips in October and November 2024.
How to book these festive special trains?
Tickets for these special trains can be booked online through the IRCTC app or at railway counters, which also provide information on train routes. For online booking, visit the official IRCTC website or use the app.
However, many of these trains already have long waiting lists, highlighting the insufficiency of the special services. For instance, the Vande Bharat Festive Special (02252) from New Delhi to Patna currently has waiting lists of up to 180 passengers in nearly all classes.
