Northern Railway has arranged special trains from major Delhi-NCR stations for passengers travelling eastwards for Chhath Puja, while also keeping the option of running unreserved services at short notice if crowds rise. However, the reported total of special trains contains a numerical discrepancy that requires confirmation from the railway authorities.
According to a report by Jagran – New Delhi, Northern Railway has planned 31 special trains from the Delhi area on Wednesday and 29 on Thursday. The report’s headline and summary describe the arrangement as 59 special trains, although the two daily figures add up to 60.
The Wednesday schedule includes 10 trains from New Delhi, eight from Anand Vihar, seven from Shakur Basti, four from Hazrat Nizamuddin, one from Old Delhi and one from Rohtak. The Thursday plan includes seven trains from New Delhi, seven from Anand Vihar, five from Shakur Basti, five from Hazrat Nizamuddin, three from Delhi Junction, one from Rohtak and one from Delhi Sarai Rohilla.
The additional services have been planned as regular trains are reportedly unable to accommodate the seasonal rush. Chhath Puja generates a sharp increase in demand for rail travel from Delhi and neighbouring areas towards eastern India, making station-level crowd management a significant operational requirement.
Northern Railway chief public relations officer Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay told Jagran that unreserved special trains could also be introduced at short notice depending on passenger demand and crowd levels. Such services are intended to provide additional capacity when demand exceeds the available reserved and scheduled special-train capacity.
The railway has also deployed senior officials to monitor passenger movement at major stations in the Delhi area. Divisional Railway Managers, Additional Divisional Railway Managers and senior officers from the Delhi division and headquarters are reported to be overseeing crowd conditions continuously.
The station list shows that the response is distributed across several terminals rather than concentrated at a single departure point. New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Shakur Basti, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Junction, Old Delhi, Rohtak and Delhi Sarai Rohilla are all included in the reported arrangements.
The number of services, however, should be clarified before the schedule is treated as final. The source report identifies 31 Wednesday trains and 29 Thursday trains, but presents the overall figure as 59. Northern Railway’s confirmed timetable and any subsequent unreserved services will determine the final number of trains available to passengers.
