Indian Railways expands capacity with new special trains on key holiday routes

Indian Railways has introduced a large number of special and additional trains on high-demand routes to manage the Christmas and New Year travel rush of 2025-26, adding substantial passenger-carrying capacity across the network. A total of 138 special trains covering 650 approved trips will be operated over the next one month, with 244 trips already notified.

Among the newly added and special services, the Mumbai-Goa (Konkan) corridor has received significant augmentation, with daily and weekly special trains running between Mumbai CSMT/LTT and Karmali/Madgaon, halting at major stations along the Konkan Railway. These services provide additional reserved seating and sleeper accommodation for tourists and holiday travellers heading to coastal destinations.

Several long-distance and inter-state special trains have also been added, including services on the Mumbai-Nagpur, CSMT-Karmali, Karmali-CSMT, LTT-Thiruvananthapuram, Pune-Sanganer, and CSMT-Nagpur routes. These trains are operating multiple trips to ease congestion on regular mail and express services, particularly on routes linking Maharashtra with southern and western India.

In the southern and central regions, additional special trains are connecting Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and other major cities, ensuring smoother travel during the festive peak. Similarly, in northern and eastern India, special services are being run on busy corridors linking Delhi, Lucknow, Howrah, and nearby cities to accommodate long-distance passengers returning home or travelling for holidays.

Zone-wise, Western Railway leads the operation with 26 special trains and 226 approved trips , followed by Central Railway with 18 trains and 118 approved trips . South Central Railway has notified all 34 approved trips , while South East Central Railway, South Western Railway, Northern Railway, North Western Railway, North Eastern Railway, and Northeast Frontier Railway have also introduced special services on their respective high-traffic routes.

With 650 additional trips scheduled , Indian Railways has effectively added thousands of extra berths and seats across reserved and unreserved categories during the festive period. The move is aimed at reducing overcrowding , improving passenger comfort, and ensuring reliable connectivity to major cities, pilgrimage centres, and tourist destinations during Christmas and New Year 2026.