For Chhath Puja, Indian Railways will operate a special Vande Bharat train from Delhi to Patna

 For Chhath Puja, Indian Railways will operate a special Vande Bharat train from Delhi to Patna

The special Vande Bharat Express train from Delhi to Patna is slated to make three or four journeys during Chhath Puja, as part of Indian Railways' plan to launch 283 festive special trains for the Diwali as well as Chhath Puja festivities.

"This will be the initial time that Indian Railways will be exhibiting a high degree of reverence to the Chhath deity, by running the special Vande Bharat train between Patna as well as New Delhi," according to a railway official quoted in The New Indian Express.

In the meanwhile, 283 festive special trains for Chhath Puja and Diwali have been announced by Indian Railways. In order to handle the increase in passenger traffic throughout the holiday season, special train services would make a total of 4,480 journeys, according to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The Eastern Central Railway will run 42 trains throughout the festival season, with a maximum of 512 trips, while the Western Railway will run 36 trains, with a maximum of 1,262 journeys, according to Indian Railways.

In a press release, the Ministry of Railways stated: "On railway routes such as Delhi-Patna, Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Danapur-Saharsa, Danapur-Bengaluru, Ambala-Saharsa, Muzaffarpur-Yesvantpur, Puri-Patna, Okha-Naharlagun, Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri, Kochuveli-Bengaluru, Benaras-Mumbai, Howrah-Raxaul, etc., Special Trains have been treated as planned to connect major destinations across the nation. Indian Railways have issued notifications for 2614 journeys of 216 Puja Special trains in 2022."

The North Western Railway plans to oversee 24 trains, or 1,208 journeys, in an attempt to accommodate the increased demand for travel over the holiday season.

Concurrently, Indian Railways has launched a focused effort to counteract unticketed travel and improve the journey for legitimate passengers during the next festive season.

The Railway Board has advised railway zones to direct their ticket-checking staff to confirm passengers' identities using legitimate, approved documentation in order to verify their validity.