“This festive season, General Coach increased in 108 trains. 12,500 coaches sanctioned for Chhath puja and Diwali special trains. In 2024-25, a total of 5,975 trains have been notified till today. This will facilitate more than 1 crore passengers to go home during the puja rush. In 2023-24 a total of 4,429 special trains ran during the festive season,” says Ashwini Vaishnaw, railway minister.

Vaishnaw announced that a total of 5,975 special trains have been scheduled for this year’s festival season, an increase from 4,429 trains last year.

Durga Puja starts on October 9, followed by Diwali on October 31, and Chhath Puja will be observed on November 7 and 8 this year.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw says, “This festive season, General Coach increased in 108 trains. 12,500 coaches sanctioned for Chhath puja and Diwali special trains. In 2024-25, a total of 5,975 trains have been notified till today. This will facilitate more than 1 crore… pic.twitter.com/Xxe3MpRZ43

— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2024

Earlier in July, the government operated over 300 special trains to and from Puri, Odisha, to manage the influx of pilgrims attending the Jagannath Rath Yatra.

The government previously launched 342 special trains for the Ganesh festival, a period when hundreds of thousands of people journey from Mumbai to their hometowns in Konkan during the ten-day celebration.