New Delhi, October 9: With an aim to avoid passenger rush during the upcoming festive season, the Indian Railways has decided to run some special trains across many routes. These special trains will run on special fare during Diwali, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Chhath Puja festivals. Bookings for some of the trains that will run during Diwali festival started earlier this week. Booking for one of the special Diwali trains - 09561/09562 between Bandra in Mumbai and Okha in Gujarat - began on October 8. These two trains will run from October 30 to November 20, easing the passenger rush during the Diwali festival.

Meanwhile, on passengers’ demand, the Western Railways has announced a weekly special train between Indore and Delhi Sarai Rohilla railway station.  The booking for some special trains started from 10th October 2018.

The schedule is as follows:

‣ 01705/01706 Bandra Terminus-Jabalpur [Weekly] Superfast Special Train on Special Fare (24 trips)

  • Train No. 01705 Bandra Terminus-Jabalpur [Weekly] Superfast Special train will leave Bandra Terminus at 12.15 am on Saturday & will reach Jabalpur at 9.40 pm on the same day. This train will run from 13th Oct to 29th December 2018.

  • Train No. 01706 Jabalpur-Bandra Terminus [Weekly] Superfast Special train will leave Jabalpur at 2.10 pm on Thursday & will reach at Bandra Terminus at 12.45 pm on Friday. This train will run from 11th Oct to 27th December 2018.

Halts: Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam, Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Itarsi, Pipariya & Narsinghpur stations in both directions.

Composition: AC 2-tier, AC 3-tier, Sleeper Class & Second-Class General Coaches.

Apart from Indian Railways, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to run nearly 10,000 additional buses for Diwali. Reports inform that a total of 9320 additional buses will be run for Diwali from November 1 to November 20. From Mumbai, 114 additional buses will be operated from November 1 and will continue until November 20. Festive Season Trains: Indian Railways Announces Special Trains for Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali; Check Schedule Here.

Once the festive season culminates, the Indian Railways has plans to run special ‘Pravasi Bharti’ trains between Allahabad and Delhi to ferry delegates of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas from the Kumbh Mela in time for the Republic Day event in the national capital.

According to a report by PTI, the Railways will convert all third AC coaches of the special trains to second AC coaches for providing more comfort to delegates. It must be noted that the 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas will be held in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi from January 21 to 23.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2018 07:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).