Indian Railways to run record 12,000 special trains for Diwali

India Sep 23, 2025

Indian Railways is stepping up for the festive rush this year, rolling out a record 12,000 special trains between October 1 and November 15 to help people get home for Chhath Puja and Diwali.
That's a huge jump from last year's 7,500 special trains, with notifications already out for about 10,000 of them.

Fully unreserved trains for last-minute travelers

To make things easier, there'll be 150 fully unreserved trains for anyone making spontaneous plans.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared that train punctuality has improved—over 90% punctuality has been achieved in 29 out of 70 divisions.
Plus, the new Vande Bharat Sleeper prototypes have finished testing and two are set to roll out by mid-October.