Northern Railway has introduced unreserved festival special trains on routes connecting Punjab and Delhi with Bihar, responding to heavy passenger demand and congestion during the festival travel period. The trains are intended to provide additional capacity for passengers who do not have confirmed reservations.
One special service will run from Sirhind towards Saharsa. It will depart from Sirhind at 2 pm and stop at Rajpura Junction, Ambala Cantonment, Yamunanagar Jagadhri and Saharanpur Junction before continuing along the route and stops of the Purnia Court Jans seva/Saharsa festival special service identified in the railway information.
Another unreserved service will operate from Anand Vihar Terminal towards Bhagalpur on the route of the Vikramshila Express. The service departed Anand Vihar Terminal at 1.30 pm and is scheduled to stop at Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Kanpur Central, Prayagraj Junction, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction, Buxar, Ara and Patna.
The train will also stop at Fatuha, Bakhtiyarpur, Barh, Mokama, Hathidah Junction, Lakhisarai Junction, Kiul, Jamalpur and Sultanganj. This route links Delhi’s eastern rail gateway with major cities and smaller junctions across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where festival-season demand can place pressure on regular services.
Northern Railway officials said the decision was taken at short notice after passenger numbers increased. The railway is reviewing each regular train and deciding on additional services according to the level of crowding, the report said. The move indicates that special trains are being deployed as an operational response rather than as a fixed seasonal timetable announced in advance.
For passengers, the unreserved format creates an additional travel option but does not provide the certainty of a confirmed berth or seat associated with reserved services. The availability of such trains may help distribute demand across more services, particularly at busy stations such as Anand Vihar Terminal, Saharanpur, Kanpur Central, Patna and Sultanganj.
The announcement also highlights the pressure that festival travel places on the railway network linking the National Capital Region with northern and eastern India. Passenger volumes, train capacity and platform operations must be managed across multiple states and junctions, making short-notice capacity additions dependent on route availability and the operating pattern of regular trains.
Northern Railway’s next operational step is to continue reviewing regular services and introduce further festival specials where passenger demand warrants additional capacity.
