Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday announced the addition of coaches and special trains across the country for Chhath Puja and Diwali, aiming to make travel easier for passengers.
“This festive season, we have increased general coaches in 108 trains. We have also sanctioned 12,500 coaches for Chhath Puja and Diwali special trains. So far, we have notified 5,975 special trains for 2024-25. These trains will help over 1 crore passengers travel home during the Puja rush. In 2023-24, we ran a total of 4,429 special trains during the festive season,” Vaishnaw said.
The railway minister highlighted India’s progress in manufacturing. saying, “We built Vande Bharat because the Prime Minister trusted our railway engineers.” He added that India is now manufacturing multiple versions of the Vande Bharat train, including the new Namo Bharat train and sleeper coaches, reducing reliance on foreign imports.
In July this year, the government operated over 300 special trains to and from Puri, Odisha, to handle the large number of pilgrims attending the Jagannath Rath Yatra.