To help passengers during the busy Diwali and Chhath Puja travel season, Indian Railways is running 12,011 special trains across the country. Out of these, Central Railway alone is operating 1,998 special services—both reserved and unreserved—between September 19 and November 30, 2025, an official statement said on Tuesday.
It said that over 600 of these trains are from the Mumbai region, with more than 100 regular trains and 8–10 special trains running daily. So far, 705 trips have been completed, carrying over 10.68 lakh passengers. The total number of planned trips is expected to benefit more than 30 lakh travellers heading to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.
Popular trains such as Dadar–Gorakhpur, Dadar–Ballia, and Nagpur–Madgaon specials are running before the peak dates to meet demand. Daily, more than 15 special trains are being run, and around 26 October, this number will peak at 24 trains a day, the statement said.
Over the next three days, 77 special trains will operate, with 24 from the Mumbai division alone. As of today, three trains have already left from CSMT and LTT for Danapur, Muzaffarpur, and Gorakhpur. Two more are scheduled for Gorakhpur and Varanasi on Tuesday night, it said.
These trains are in addition to the 22 daily special trains already running to Bihar.
The officials said that to manage the festive rush, a 1,200 sq. m. waiting area for 1,500 passengers has been set up at CSMT, a 10,000 sq. m. holding area for over 10,000 passengers is available at LTT, platform assignments are fixed, and there are no last-minute changes to help avoid confusion and Crowd control measures are in place, including restricted use of island platforms for busy trains.
“Announcements are being made regularly, and extra RPF and GRP personnel have been deployed at CSMT (90 staff), LTT (70), Dadar (47) and Kalyan (66). Additionally, 60 extra staff are being used as escorts for trains going to Bihar,” officials said.
Festive Train Summary (As of October 21, 2025) — total planned trips are 1,998 and 705 trips are completed so far, 1,293 are pending, the official statement said, adding that so far 10.68 lakh passengers have been carried in the trains.
“The estimated total passengers in festive special trains is over 30.68 lakh,” the officials said.
State-wise Passenger Breakdown:
| State | Trains | Estimated Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar | 464 | 7.25 lakh |
| Uttar Pradesh | 470 | 8.03 lakh |
| Maharashtra | 505 | 6.04 lakh |
| Rajasthan | 88 | 1.60 lakh |
| Delhi | 92 | 1.42 lakh |
The statement said that over 58 per cent of all passengers are travelling to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, showing the high demand for trains from Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur to North and East India.
