This year, Indian Railways have planned for more than 12000 trips of Special Trains during the festive season to transport the passengers to their desired destinations. Previous year, 7724 Special Trains were run over Indian Railways, thus setting an all-time record in a number of trips of festive special trains over Indian Railways this year. Eastern Railway is dealing with more than 1300 trips of festival special trains this year to cater to the need of passengers wherein, 329 trips of festival special trains of Eastern Railway are being originated from Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Asansol, Bhagalpur, Malda Town etc. to different destinations. 663 trips of special trains from other Zonal Railways are also terminating & originating in the Eastern Railway jurisdiction and 320 trips of special trains from other zonal Railways are also passing through Eastern Railway network catering the passengers of enroute stations.

After effectively dealing with the festive rush during Durga Puja and Diwali by making all arrangements for comfortable movement of passengers, Eastern Railway is now geared up to cater to the Chhath rush. About 1 lakh employees of Eastern Railway are working tirelessly for seamless movements of trains including festival specials during Chhath festival and crowd management at different stations.

The Chhath festival is very popular all over India especially in Northern and Eastern states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc. Regular trains originating from Eastern Railway terminal stations like Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Malda Town, Bhagalpur etc normally have long waitlist of reserved accommodation. To facilitate movement of passengers to their desired destination for enjoying the Chhath by uniting with their family members, Eastern Railway has arranged a good number of Special Trains. A total of 176 trips of Special Trains will be run during 21st to 27th October, 2025 catering to all popular destinations. These trains are mainly targeting to cater the passenger movements to and from Raxaul, Madhubani, Jaynagar, Barauni Jn, Patna, Buxar, Saharsa Jn, Purnia Court, Gorakhpur, Mau, Barhni, Banaras, Anand Vihar Terminal, Delhi, Yog Nagari Rishikesh, Lal Kuan Jn, Kanpur Central, Lucknow, Khatipura, Vadodara Jn, Udhna Jn, Gandhidham Jn area.

Apart from this, a good number of trips of Unreserved Special Trains from Eastern Railway have been planned to cater the Chhath rush. These Unreserved Special Trains include :

• 03045/03046 Howrah – Raxaul – Howrah Unreserved Special, leaving Howrah at 23:10 hrs o­n 23.10.2025 and leaving Raxaul at 17:45 hrs o­n 24.10.2025.
• 03185/03186 Kolkata – Madhubani – Kolkata Unreserved Special, leaving Kolkata at 23:55 hrs o­n 25.10.2025 and leaving Madhubani at 15:30 hrs o­n 26.10.2025.
• 03133/03134 Kolkata – Gorakhpur – Kolkata Unreserved Special, leaving Kolkata at 23:55 hrs o­n 24.10.2025 and leaving Gorakhpur at 21:00 hrs o­n 25.10.2025.
• 03529/03530 Asansol – Gorakhpur – Asansol Unreserved Special, leaving Asansol at 20:30 hrs o­n 22.10.2025 and 24.10.2025 and leaving Gorakhpur at 13:45 hrs o­n 23.10.2025 and 25.10.2025.
• 03003/03004 Barddhaman – Fatuha – Barddhaman MEMU Express Special train leaving Barddhaman at 10:45 hrs from 21.10.2025 to 25.10.2025 and leaving Fatuha at 23:00 hrs from 21.10.2025 to 25.10.2025.
• Sahibganj – Bhagalpur – Sahibganj Additional MEMU Passenger train will run upto 30.10.2025, leaving Sahibganj at 10:00 hrs and leaving Bhagalpur at 12:30 hrs.
• Bhagalpur – Banka – Bhagalpur Additional DEMU Passenger train will run from 24.10.2025 to 30.10.2025, leaving Bhagalpur at 20:50 hrs and leaving Banka at 23:00 hrs.

Holding area created at different stations to reduce crowd :

RPF Personnel and field staff of Eastern Railway are maintaining crowd at all terminating as well as important stations for smooth boarding and de-boarding of passengers. Special holding area has been created at different stations like Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Jasidih, Bhagalpur etc. for providing shelter to the passengers before entering platform so that no excess crowd could be accumulated at platform. 

With this endeavour, the passengers at all the stations are expressing their satisfaction about the initiatives of Eastern Railway towards hassle-free boarding or de-boarding of trains during Chhath rush. Eastern Railway is also appealing to the passengers to maintain proper queue  at the stations, not to carry any inflammable or contraband items with them, not to lean out from train compartments, not to unnecessarily obstruct entry or exit of the train compartment and above all, perform their journey with a valid ticket.

Source/ER