Western Railway has introduced festival special trains between Udhna in Surat and Madhubani in Bihar as passengers begin returning home for Diwali and Chhath Puja, providing additional capacity on a heavily used inter-state travel corridor.
The move comes as railway stations in Gujarat experience a rise in passengers travelling to Bihar for the festival season. Surat is a major employment centre for workers from Bihar, and the annual movement towards their home districts places additional pressure on reserved accommodation, station facilities and crowd-management systems.
According to the report by Aaj Tak Business, the Udhna-Madhubani Puja Special carried passengers in an orderly manner, with travellers shown seated inside the coaches. The report said there was no visible overcrowding or disturbance in the train during the journey. The service is intended to help passengers obtain confirmed accommodation during a period when demand for long-distance tickets typically rises sharply.
Western Railway’s festival arrangements cover busy terminals including Udhna, Surat and Ahmedabad. The railway has put in place additional security personnel, assistance counters, digital information boards, drinking-water facilities and enhanced sanitation arrangements to guide passengers and manage crowds.
The railway’s intervention reflects the operational challenge created by seasonal migration. For many workers living away from their home districts, festival travel is not discretionary: it is a predictable annual movement concentrated into a short period. When scheduled services cannot absorb the surge, passengers face difficulties securing confirmed tickets and stations can experience intense congestion around platforms, entrances and reservation facilities.
The Udhna-Madhubani service also illustrates the role of temporary rail capacity in managing demand without waiting for permanent changes to the network. Special trains can add services during a defined peak period, while station-level measures such as information desks, security deployment and water and sanitation facilities address the pressure created before passengers board.
Western Railway has asked passengers to plan their journeys in advance and follow railway instructions during the festival period. The authority’s arrangements will remain focused on passenger guidance, crowd management and safe movement at the identified terminals as the seasonal travel rush continues.
