Indian Railways Deploys 89 Special Trains during Indigo flight Mess
The first week of December has turned into an unexpected travel crunch. Winter holidays, packed trains, and now a wave of flight cancellations have all collided, pushing thousands of passengers toward the railways. Officials across several zones said the situation changed almost overnight, and the only way to keep things moving was to roll out a large batch of special trains, 89 of them, making a little over 100 trips over the next three days. Indian Railways save the passengers from the train travel snags.
A senior railway official put it simply at Mumbai CST: “People don’t care how they reach, they just want to reach. Flights got messy, so they all came to us.”
Central Indian Railways: Extra Trains for the Heaviest Rush
Central Railway seems to be taking the brunt of the demand. It has pushed out 14 special trains, most of them packed even before departure. To reach the station on time and board the train first you need to check Live Train running statusand ensure a hassle free journey on train.
Among the more in-demand services are:
- Pune–Bengaluru–Pune (01413/01414) on 6 and 7 December
- Pune–Hazrat Nizamuddin–Pune (01409/01410) on 7 and 9 December
- LTT–Madgaon–LTT (01019/01020) on 7 and 8 December
A few others are being slotted in depending on crowd flow:
CSMT–Hazrat Nizamuddin, LTT–Lucknow, Nagpur–CSMT, Gorakhpur–LTT, and Bilaspur–LTT, all spread across 6 to 12 December.
One booking clerk in Pune said he hadn’t seen queues this long outside of festival season.
Two Emergency Trains Pushed Into Service
Amid this rush, Western Railway quietly cleared two special trains on the Sabarmati–Delhi belt.
One leaves Sabarmati close to 11 PM on 7 and 9 December and reaches Delhi the next afternoon.
It starts around 5:30 AM on 7 December, heading to Delhi Sarai Rohilla and pulling in late at night.
One of the station supervisors described the move simply: “People were stuck at airports for hours. These trains just give them a way to move.”
Regular Trains Get Extra Coaches
A few long-distance trains have also been tweaked. Indian Railways has added an AC 3-tier coach to the Ahmedabad–Thawe Junction service. Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani is carrying an extra Second AC coach. The Sabarmati–Jammu Tawi Express has a temporary sleeper coach attached for the week. None of this was planned; all of it happened because the crowds kept rising.
South Eastern Railway: Adding Specials Post Flight Disruptions
South Eastern Railway added several trains; many passengers flying into Kolkata and Bhubaneswar ended up stranded.
Key services include:
- Santragachi–Yelahanka–Santragachi (08073/08074) on 7 and 9 December
- Howrah–CSMT–Howrah (02870/02869) on 6 and 8 December
- Cherlapalli–Shalimar–Cherlapalli (07148/07149) on 6 and 8 December
A guard at Santragachi station said, “We saw people with cancelled flight tickets in their hands asking which direction our trains were going.”
South Central Railway: Three Short-Notice Additions
South Central Railway brought in three trains starting 6 December:
- Cherlapalli–Shalimar (07148)
- Secunderabad–Chennai Egmore (07146)
- Hyderabad–Mumbai LTT (07150)
Authorities announced most of them with just a day’s notice because of rising demand.
Eastern Railway: Managing Delhi and Mumbai Rush
Eastern Railway has added two major specials:
- Howrah–New Delhi–Howrah (03009/03010) on 6 and 8 December
- Sealdah–LTT–Sealdah (03127/03128) on 6 and 9 December
Travellers heading toward Delhi reported long waiting lines in Howrah throughout the day.
Western Railway: Seven Specials for Mumbai Region
Western Railway is running seven special trains, mainly to clear crowds from Mumbai. Some of the services include:
- Mumbai Central–Bhiwani Superfast (09001/09002) — twice a week from 9 to 30 December
- Mumbai Central–Shakur Basti Superfast (09003/09004) — running daily except a couple of days each side
- Bandra Terminus–Durgapura Superfast (09730/09729) — mixed class coaches, from First AC to General
One Western Railway official said they announced the trains “as fast as they could type the press note. The lists are mentioned so if the flights are cancelled not to worry you can check with the train between stations and book your train as per your requirement and convenient.