Indian Railways has stepped up and come to the rescue of passengers struggling to reach their respctive destinations after Indigo’s nationwide flight cancellations. The railways has boosted capacity by deploying 116 additional coaches on 37 premium trains, covering over 114 enhanced trips nationwide in order to handle the sudden passenger rush caused due to the airline’s meltdown.
A statement from the Railway Ministry highlighted that Southern Railway led the way with the largest number of augmentations, increasing seating and sleeper capacity in 18 trains operating in the region.
“Additional Chair Car and Sleeper Class coaches have been deployed on high-demand routes. These augmentations, implemented from December 6 onwards, substantially expand accommodation capacity in the southern region,” the ministry noted.
How Indian Railways Expanded Services
Northern Railway is next in line, adding 3AC and Chair Car coaches to eight busy trains from December 6, improving availability on heavily traveled northern corridors.
Western Railway has also ramped up services by augmenting four trains with extra 3AC and 2AC coaches to meet strong passenger flow from western states to the national capital.
In Bihar, East Central Railway has strengthened the Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi (12309) route by adding additional 2AC coaches for five trips between December 6 and 10, boosting capacity on this key connection.
East Coast Railway responded to growing demand by supplementing Bhubaneswar-New Delhi services (Trains 20817/20811/20823) with 2AC coaches across five trips, enhancing Odisha’s connectivity to Delhi.
Eastern Railway has added Sleeper Class coaches on three important trains, operating over six trips on December 7 and 8, addressing increased inter-state travel needs in the Eastern region.
Meanwhile, Northeast Frontier Railway has augmented two trains by adding 3AC and Sleeper coaches over eight trips each between December 6 and 13, ensuring reliable capacity for travelers in the Northeast.
To further accommodate passenger overflow, Indian Railways is running four special trains. These include the Gorakhpur–Anand Vihar Terminal-Gorakhpur Special (05591/05592), operating four trips from December 7 to 9, and the New Delhi–Martyr Captain Tushar Mahajan Reserved Vande Bharat Special (02439/02440) on December 6, offering swift travel access to the Jammu region.
Addressing westbound travel demand, the New Delhi–Mumbai Central Reserved Superfast Special (04002/04001) will run on December 6 and 7.
Additionally, the Hazrat Nizamuddin–Thiruvananthapuram Central Reserved Superfast Special (04080) will operate one-way on December 6, providing long-distance connectivity towards the southern parts of the country.
These swift enhancements by Indian Railways aim to ease the travel crunch after recent flight cancellations, offering passengers reliable and expanded options across multiple routes.
