Due to high demand during Chhath festival, passengers are often facing unavailability of confirmed tickets in regular trains. In such a situation, many Chhath Puja special trains are being run by Eastern Railway. On Thursday, Eastern Railway announced two more Chhath Puja special trains. The first train is 02303 Howrah-Patna Special (via Dankuni) while the second special train is 02381 Howrah – Gaya Special (via Dankuni). By running both the trains, 26520 additional berths will be available for passengers.
02303 Howrah-Patna Special (via Dankuni) will depart from Howrah station at 5.30 am on 19, 22, 23, 26, 29 and 30 November. This train will reach Patna station at 1.50 pm on the same day. In return, 02304 Patna-Howrah Special (Via Dankuni) will leave Patna station at 2.40 pm on 19, 22, 23, 26, 29 and 30 November and reach Howrah station at 11 pm on the same day. 02303/02304 Howrah-Patna-Howrah Chhatpuja special train will stop at Burdwan, Durgapur, Asansol, Chittaranjan, Madhupur and Jasidih stations under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway zone in both directions.
The second 02381 Howrah-Gaya special (via Dankuni) will depart from Howrah station at 6.50 am on 17, 20, 24, and 27 November and reach Gaya station at 2.30 pm on the same day. In return, Down 02382 Gaya-Howrah Special (Via Dankuni) train will depart from Gaya station at 3.20 pm and reach Howrah station at 11 pm on the same day. Both the special trains will have the facility of AC chair car.
Booking of 02381 Howrah-Gaya Special is available through PRS and Internet, date of booking of tickets for 02303 Howrah-Patna Special will be informed by Railways soon. Being a special train, passengers will have to pay special charges for traveling in this train, in addition to the mail/express fare. Concessional booking is not allowed in this train. Tatkal quota will also not be available.
In view of the huge crowd of visitors and Chhathvartis at the Ganga ghats during Chhath Puja, special arrangements have been made by Sealdah Division in Circular Rail. The operation of trains will be affected by the Railways from 9 am on November 19 to 3 pm on November 20. During this period, while the destination of many trains has been changed, the departure station of some has also been changed. On November 19, four circular railway EMUs local 30412, 30416, 30411 and 30451 have been cancelled. Six 30322, 30344, 30324, 30346, 30312 and 30314 Circular Railway EMU local services will be discontinued at Kolkata station.