Indian Railways to Run 392 Festive Special Trains from 20 Oct

By: Nisha Singh | onOctober 15, 2020

Rail News: To clear the festive crowd, Indian Railways has approved 196 pairs (392 trains) for “Festival Special” services by Railways to be operated from 20 Oct 2020, to 30 Nov 2020. The ticket fare for these Festival Special trains will be that of special trains.

Railways to Run 196 Pairs of Festive Special Trains from 20 Oct

The Ministry of Railways on 13 Oct announced that it will operate 392 festival special trains from 20 Oct to 30 Nov in view of the upcoming festive season. The Indian Railways said that the decision was taken by the national transporter to clear the passenger rush during the upcoming festive season.

The festival special trains will be run for places such as Patna, Kolkata, Lucknow, Varanasi among others, to cater to the demand during festival season of Durga Puja, Dipawali and Chhath puja. Till now, the railways has been running more than 300 mail or express trains which are now operating regularly all over India.

These new 392 festival special trains, however, will operate only till 30 Nov and will not have a continued run, officials said.

The Board of Railway said that these festival special trains 2020 will be run at a speed of 55 km/h and the fares applicable will be those of special trains.

These 196 pairs of festival special trains will be mostly equipped with 3rd AC coaches, and the timing of these special trains will be as per regular trains.

Ticket Fares of Festive Special Trains

V. K. Yadav also said that the ticket price of these festive special trains will be same as those applicable for special trains, which means ‘special charges’ will be levied making the train tickets costlier by 10% to 30 % as compared to the fares of mail/express trains, depending on the class of travel.

Railway Board has Approved the Proposal from Different Railway Zones

The Railway Board has approved the proposals received from different railway zones. The railway zones will run eight pairs of trains from Jharkhand, including the much-awaited Ranchi-Jayanagar, Ranchi-Patna, Ranchi-Howrah, Tata-Howrah trains and more.

Festival Special Trains from Jharkhand

Here are the lists of Dussehra Special Trains, Diwali Special Trains and Chhath Puja Special Trains for Jharkhand:

Hatia-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal
Hatia-Yeshwantpur
Tata-Yeshwantpur
Ranchi-Howrah
Tata-Howrah
Ranchi-Patna
Ranchi-Jayanagar
Tata-Patna

Trains for different states have also been given a green signal from Bihar and West Bengal. Some trains have been approved from Sealdah to Jayanagar, New Jalpaiguri and Jammu Tawi, while the train running between Howrah to Raxaul has also been approved.

Festival Special Trains from Bihar

Here are the lists of Durga Puja Special Trains, Diwali Special Trains and Chhath Puja Special Trains for Bihar:

Gaya to New Delhi
Patna to Mumbai
Darbhanga to Mysore
Rajendra Nagar to Jammu Tawi
Raxaul to Mumbai
Rajendra Nagar to New Delhi
Barauni to Ernakulam in Kerala
Rajendranagar to Howrah
Gaya to Chennai Egmore Railway Station

Pataliputra Station has been given the approval to start operating the train for Yeshwantpur.

More Trains to Start for the Different States

Trains have also been started from LTTE to Darbhanga, Pune to Darbhanga, Anand Vihar Terminal to Ranchi, Anand Vihar to Darbhanga, Anand Vihar to Barauni, Anand Vihar to Jaynagar, Anand Vihar to Bhagalpur, and Anand Vihar to Patna.

People will be able to travel only by following the guidelines issued during the Coronavirus pandemic in these trains.

Even after 30 Nov 2020, these trains will continue to operate, but this decision will be taken later considering the number of passengers. Among the 196 special trains, there are eight trains of Eastern Railway and a total of 16 trains of South Eastern Railway. There are a total of 24 trains of Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway. These trains will run from Howrah, Sealdah and Kolkata. All these trains include trains running to Mithilanchal.

Due to the announcement of trains for Mithilanchal, people living in Kolkata and suburban areas are happy. It is worth mentioning that due to the high demand of starting the train service for Mithilanchal, the Mithila Vikas Parishad had demonstrated at Fairley Place and Sealdah Station in the past.

Festival Special Trains Running from South Eastern Railway

Here are the lists of popular trains started by South Eastern Railways for Durga Puja Special trains, Diwali special Trains and Chhath Puja Special Train :

Santragachi- Puducherry – Weekly
Howrah- Ernakulam – Weekly
Santragachi – Pune – Weekly
Santragachi- Puri-Weekly
Howrah – Digha – Daily
Howrah – Lokmanya Terminal – Weekly
Hatia – Yeshwantpur – Weekly
Tata – Yeshwantpur – Weekly
Ranchi – Howrah – Everyday
Santragachhi – Madras – Bi-Weekly
Tata – Howrah – Everyday
Howrah – Puri – Everyday
Shalimar – Gorakhpur – As per the schedule
Ranchi – Patna – As per the schedule
Ranchi – Jayanagar – As per the schedule
Tata – Patna – As per the schedule

Festival Special Trains Running from Eastern Railway

Eastern Railways will start multiple Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Special Trains to clear the rush for passengers during the upcoming festival season:

Sealdah – New Jalpaiguri (02343/02344) – Daily
Howrah – Jammu Tawi (02331/02330) – Daily
Howrah – Rajendranagar (02351/02352) – Daily
Sealdah – Jayanagar (03185/03186) – Daily
Howrah – Raxaul (03021/03022) – Daily
Sealdah – Newipurwar (03141/03142) – Daily
Kolkata – Gorakhpur (05047/05048) – Four days a week
Howrah – Kathgodam (03019/03020) – Daily

Festival Special Trains Running from Northern Railway

Earlier, the Northern Railways on Monday had said that it will start the services of 40 more trains, including the Duronto Express, Shatabdi Express, and Rajdhani Express. Northern Railways (NR) has decided to operate some of the services from 15 Oct. Indian Railways has decided to run festival special trains from Delhi to other parts of the country.

Some of the Festival Special Trains from Delhi Are:

Here are the lists of the some of the festive special train that will be started from Delhi as Durga Puja Special Trains, Dussehra Special Trains, Diwali Special Trains and Chhath Puja Special Trains:

Hazrat Nizamuddin – Pune AC Duronto Express Special train
New Delhi – Kalka Shatabdi Special train
New Delhi – Dehradun Shatabdi Special train
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SMVDK) – New Delhi (NDLS) AC Express Special
Firozpur Cant – Patna Junction Special Train

Here is the full list of 392 Festive Special Trains:

Download the Full List of 392 Festival Specials Trains

Tejas Express Trains Will Start from Oct 17

Railways are all set to restart the services of its corporate train, Tejas Express from 17 Oct to cater to the increasing travellers’ demands due to the forthcoming festive season. The Railway Board had suspended the Tejas trains since 19 March due to the COVID pandemic.

Also Read: Tejas Express Trains Will Run from 17 October

Second Reservation Chart System

Meanwhile, Railways recently made some changes in its ticket reservation rules. As per the revised regulations, the Indian Railways will now prepare the 2nd reservation chart half an hour before the scheduled or rescheduled departure time.

Both PRS (Passenger Reservation System) ticket counter and online facilities will remain available before preparing the second chart. This system was modified to two hours due to the Coronavirus in the last few months.

Also Read: IRCTC Online Ticket Booking Rules and Process

Meeting Conducted With the Managers of Railway Zone

Railway CEO, Mr Yadav said that they have conducted a meeting with the general managers of the zone of railways and instructed them to consult the local administration and check the status of COVID-19 pandemic. A report had been taken from the managers, based on which 392 new special trains will be operated for the festive season. He said that the condition of the COVID-19 and need of the trains would be monitored daily.

Railways Running More Than 300 Special Trains

The Indian Railways has currently suspended all regular passenger trains indefinitely. Regular trains have remained suspended since 22 March. Railways started services of 30 premium Rajdhani special trains connecting Delhi with different states of India on 12 May and 200 long-distance trains on 1 June. It also started 80 special trains additionally on 12 September.

Clone Trains Are Running on Special Routes

The Railways had decided to run 40 ‘clone trains‘ on select routes from Sept 21 because of the heavy rush in many special trains. A clone train is run where there is a long queue; and if the clone train is also full, then another clone train is operated there. The average occupancy of these clone trains is 60 per cent.

Also Read: 40 New Clone Trains From 21 Sep: Full List, Route and Fare

Coronavirus Awareness Campaign Started by Railways for Passengers

During the festive season of Dussehra, Dipawali and Chhath Puja, the coronavirus awareness campaign will also run along with the special trains. People will be educated about Coronavirus. There are three simple rules – wash hands regularly, wear face masks and maintain social distancing.

Also Read: IRCTC Special Trains: Know the Quarantine Rule of States

The reservation for the festive special trains will be opened on the e-ticketing website of IRCTC and the IRCTC Rail Connect App.

Passengers can also check the PNR status and Get Waitlist PNR Prediction online.

You can also check the train running status and spot your train online through the railway app, RailMitra by downloading it from the play store.

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