What is the story about?
Summer is here and we know travellers cannot hide their excitement! While some are headed for a much-needed escape, others are planning a trekking trip
with friends. And with train travel in high demand, Indian Railways is adding special trains so you don't have to compromise on your plans.
Indian Railway Adds Special Trains
During summer vacation, trains get crowded, and waiting lists start growing. To combat with this and make travel easier this season, Central Railway is running 1,484 summer special trains. Out of these, 749 trains will have reserved seating and other 735 will operate as unreserved services. This will help both regular travellers and last-minute planners to avoid travel hassles.According to reports, within Maharashtra, these special trains will cover key routes like Mumbai/Daund-Solapur, Pune-Kolhapur, Nashik Road-Badnera, and Hadapsar-Harangal. For those travelling to other states, trains will run on routes such as Mumbai-Ballia, Mumbai-Gorakhpur, Daund-Kalaburagi, Solapur-Kalaburagi, and Anakapalle.
As per Railway officials, this initiative will help passengers plan ahead and avoid last-minute hassles. The facilities across this network have also been upgraded as they implemented operational measures to manage the surge in demand.
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Officials further shared that the detailed schedule and stoppage details for these special trains will be announced soon. The railways are also trying a new approach by using AI tools to analyse ticket searches, waiting lists and passenger demand. With this, they will be able to introduce more trains on high-demand routes if needed. For now, the plan is based on last year's travel data. However, there is going to be flexibility if they want to add more trains.
This is not the first time that Indian Railway has come to our rescue. Earlier when IndiGo cancelled a large number of flights in December, 89 extra “special” trains were made available for stranded travellers to reach their destinations. Thousands of flyers found their plans disrupted as IndiGo abruptly cancelled flights, citing operational stress amid winter travel demand. The airline, which carries a substantial share of domestic travellers, has faced mounting pressure; many airports reported multiple cancellations and long delays, leading to frustrated passengers scrambling for alternatives.
To absorb the surge in demand and ease the pressure on air travellers, Indian Railways rolled out 89 special train services. The Central Railway alone was operating 14 of these special services, covering key routes such as Pune–Bengaluru–Pune, Pune–Delhi, Mumbai–Goa, Lucknow–Mumbai, Nagpur–Mumbai, Bilaspur–Mumbai, and more
