Railways Announce 89 Special Trains To Ease Travel Woes Amid IndiGo’s Meltdown

The trains, which are to make over 100 trips, were arranged in the shortest possible time after an emergency analysis of traffic flow in major hubs...

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As IndiGo flight disruptions continue to affect passengers across the country, Indian Railways has stepped in with additional arrangements to ease travel woes. The Railways on Saturday announced 89 special trains to be operated over the next three days across all zones, to ease the pressure on passengers scrambling for alternative travel options after days of IndiGo disruptions.

In a coordinated move by the Railway Ministry, the trains, which are to make over 100 trips, were arranged in the shortest possible time after an emergency analysis of traffic flow in major hubs, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Patna, and Howrah.

“The number of special trains and their trips might increase further depending on the traffic scenario. All

zones have been asked to use all available resources—including rolling stock and manpower—to safely operate these trains for the convenience of lakhs of stranded passengers,” news agency PTI quoted Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information & Publicity, Railway Board, as saying.

Officials said many divisions have already begun disseminating train information at airports to assist flyers who are being forced to seek last-minute rail options.

Zone-Wise Efforts Across the Network

Western Railway

Western Railway will operate special trains on special fares, including services on routes such as Mumbai Central–New Delhi, Mumbai Central–Bhiwani, Mumbai Central–Shakur Basti, Bandra Terminus–Durgapura, Valsad–Bilaspur, and two Sabarmati–Delhi/Sarai Rohilla services.

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
9497	Sabarmati	Delhi	07.12.25	09.12.25
9498	Delhi	Sabarmati	08.12.25	10.12.25
9003	Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan (Udhampur)	Shakur Basti	07.12.25	08.12.25
9004	Shakur Basti	Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan (Udhampur)	08.12.25	09.12.25
9001	Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan (Udhampur)	Bahmani	09.12.25	30.12.25
9002	Bahmani	Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan (Udhampur)	10.12.25	31.12.25

South Central Railway

South Central Railway announced several special trains to handle the sudden surge in passenger demand.

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
7148	Charlapalli	Shalimar	06.12.25	*
7149	Shalimar	Charlapalli	08.12.25	*
7150	Hyderabad	LTT	06.12.25	*
7151	LTT	Hyderabad	07.12.25	*
7146	Secunderabad	PT Dr. MGR Central	06.12.25	*
7145	PT Dr. MGR Central	Secunderabad	07.12.25	*
7181	LTT	Shalimar	07.12.25	*
7182	Shalimar	LTT	09.12.25	*

Central Railway

Central Railway and Northern Railway have planned 14 and 10 special trains respectively, with officials noting that numbers may be revised upward depending on crowd levels.

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
01012	Nagpur	CSMT	06.12.25	*
01011	CSMT	Nagpur	07.12.25	*
01015	LTT	Lucknow	06.12.25	*
01016	Lucknow	LTT	07.12.25	*
01019	CSMT	Hazrat Nizamuddin	06.12.25	*
01020	Hazrat Nizamuddin	CSMT	07.12.25	*
01409	Pune	Hazrat Nizamuddin	07.12.25	*
01410	Hazrat Nizamuddin	Pune	09.12.25	*

Northern Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
5587	Gorakhpur	Lokmanya Tilak Terminus	07.12.25	*
5588	LTT	Gorakhpur	09.12.25	*
5591	Gorakhpur	Anand Vihar Terminal	07.12.25	08.12.25
5592	Anand Vihar Terminal	Gorakhpur	08.12.25	09.12.25
1082	Banaras	LTT	07.12.25	*
1081	LTT	Banaras	09.12.25	*
2559	Banaras	Anand Vihar Terminal	07.12.25	*
2560	Anand Vihar Terminal	Banaras	08.12.25	*
06255	KSR Bengaluru	Chennai Egmore	07.12.25	*
06256	Chennai Egmore	KSR Bengaluru	07.12.25	*
06257	KSR Bengaluru	PT Dr. MGR Central	08.12.25	*
06258	PT Dr. MGR Central	KSR Bengaluru	08.12.25	*
06263	KSR Bengaluru	Pune	07.12.25	*
06264	Pune	Bengaluru Cantt	08.12.25	*
06259	Yeshwantpur	Hazrat Nizamuddin	07.12.25	08.12.25
06260	Hazrat Nizamuddin	Bengaluru Cantt	09.12.25	10.12.25

North Eastern Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
5587	Gorakhpur	Lokmanya Tilak Terminus	07.12.25	*
5588	LTT	Gorakhpur	09.12.25	*
5591	Gorakhpur	Anand Vihar Terminal	07.12.25	08.12.25
5592	Anand Vihar Terminal	Gorakhpur	08.12.25	09.12.25
1082	Banaras	LTT	07.12.25	*
1081	LTT	Banaras	09.12.25	*
2559	Banaras	Anand Vihar Terminal	07.12.25	*
2560	Anand Vihar Terminal	Banaras	08.12.25	*
06255	KSR Bengaluru	Chennai Egmore	07.12.25	*
06256	Chennai Egmore	KSR Bengaluru	07.12.25	*
06257	KSR Bengaluru	PT Dr. MGR Central	08.12.25	*
06258	PT Dr. MGR Central	KSR Bengaluru	08.12.25	*
06263	KSR Bengaluru	Pune	07.12.25	*
06264	Pune	Bengaluru Cantt	08.12.25	*
06259	Yeshwantpur	Hazrat Nizamuddin	07.12.25	08.12.25
06260	Hazrat Nizamuddin	Bengaluru Cantt	09.12.25	10.12.25

North Western Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
9729	Durgapura	Bandra Terminus	07.12.25	*
9730	Bandra Terminus	Durgapura	08.12.25	*
4725	Hisar	Khadki	07.12.25	*
4726	Khadki	Hisar	08.12.25	*
01013	LTT	Madgaon	07.12.25	*
01014	Madgaon	LTT	08.12.25	*
01413	Pune	KSR Bengaluru	06.12.25	*
01414	KSR Bengaluru	Pune	07.12.25	*

South Eastern Railway

South Eastern Railway has issued alerts to passengers and even notified the Airport Authority to display train information for stranded flyers.

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
2870	Howrah	CSMT	06.12.25	*
2869	CSMT	Howrah	08.12.25	*
8073	Santragachi	Yelahanka	07.12.25	*
8074	Yelahanka	Santragachi	09.12.25	*

South East Central Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
8245	Bilaspur	CSMT	10.12.25	*
8246	CSMT	Bilaspur	11.12.25	*
8760	Durg	Hazrat Nizamuddin	07.12.25	*
8761	Hazrat Nizamuddin	Durg	08.12.25	*

East Central Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure Dates	Arrival/Remark
2309	Rajendra Nagar Terminal	Anand Vihar Terminal	06.12.25 & 08.12.25	*
2310	Anand Vihar Terminal	Rajendra Nagar Terminal	07.12.25 & 09.12.25	*
2395	Patna	Anand Vihar Terminal	07.12.25	*
2396	Anand Vihar Terminal	Patna	08.12.25	*
5563	Darbhanga	New Delhi	07.12.25 & 09.12.25	*
5564	New Delhi	Darbhanga	08.12.25 & 10.12.25	*
6019	Chennai Egmore	Charlapalli	06.12.25	*

Southern Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
6020	Charlapalli	Chennai Egmore	07.12.25	*
6147	Ernakulam	Yelahanka	07.12.25	*
6148	Ernakulam	Ernakulam	08.12.25	*
6024	Coimbatore	PT Dr. MGR Central	07.12.25	*
6023	PT Dr. MGR Central	Coimbatore	08.12.25	*
6012	Nagercoil	Tambaram	07.12.25	*
6011	Tambaram	Nagercoil	08.12.25	*
6108	Thiruvananthapuram North	Chennai Egmore	07.12.25	*
6107	Chennai Egmore	Thiruvananthapuram	08.12.25	*

Eastern Railway

Train No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
3009	Howrah	New Delhi	06.12.25	*
3010	New Delhi	Howrah	08.12.25	*
3127	Sealdah	LTT	06.12.25	*
3128	LTT	Sealdah	09.12.25	*

Alongside the new trains, Railways has strengthened capacity on existing routes by attaching extra AC coaches to popular interstate services such as the Bengaluru–Agartala Humsafar Express, Mangaluru–Thiruvananthapuram Express, Bengaluru–Chennai Express and the Mumbai–Mangaluru sector.

IndiGo Crisis

IndiGo’s operational meltdown entered its fifth consecutive day on Saturday, with hundreds of domestic flights cancelled across major airports, marking the worst phase yet of the ongoing crisis. The disruptions are primarily caused by a shortage of pilots that was not anticipated due to planning deficiencies.

Earlier on Friday, the crisis triggered a full-scale intervention by the Centre, which ordered a high-level probe, put Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms in abeyance, and directed the airline to initiate automatic refunds for all cancelled flights.

Operating 2,300 flights daily with a fleet of over 400 aircraft, IndiGo has seen its punctuality plummet with the operational disruptions that are expected to continue for many more days.

(With inputs from agencies)