Passengers In Dilemma To Travel, Fog Leads To Train Delay
Over 50 trains are running behind their scheduled time, following which, passengers are worried about reaching their destination on time
Published : December 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM IST
By Chanchal Mukherjee
New Delhi: For Sachin Kumar, New Year celebrations usually begin with packing bags and chasing a new destination. This year, Kolkata was meant to be that escape. But instead of excitement, uncertainty looms large as several trains in Northern Railway are running behind schedule or being cancelled altogether; planning the journey has become a source of anxiety.
Even the special trains announced to handle the Christmas and New Year celebrations rush offer little reassurance, as they too are expected to arrive late.
Kumar, who was in a queue at the ticket counter waiting for his turn in New Delhi Railway Station, told ETV Bharat, “This year’s New Year trip to Kolkata has become a cause of real worry for me. With dense fog leading to delays and cancellations of several trains, there’s no certainty about how my journey will unfold. Even the special trains announced by the railways to handle the passenger rush don’t seem sufficient.”
Kumar is not the only person, but several others are in a state of confusion about planning to go to any holiday destination or celebrate New Year at home to avoid unnecessary train delays or cancellation issues.
Echoing a similar sentiment, Vijay Kumar, another person who came to the station to book his ticket for Bihar travel, said, “Getting a confirmed reservation ticket this month is extremely difficult. Most trains are running with long waiting lists. I am even trying to book a ticket on a special train, but only time will tell whether I will get a confirmed seat or not.”
As per the Northern Railways data, over 50 trains are running behind their scheduled time from 2 hours to 7 hours, following which passengers are worried a lot about reaching their destination on time to board connecting trains or buses to proceed ahead to reach their destination. On Monday, over 90 trains were running late.
“I visited the ticket counter to book confirmed reservations to go to Jammu, but several AC class seats are reserved. Now, I have to drop my idea to visit there this time and book a ticket for next time,” Manisha Kumari, a passenger, said.
The railway, however, has announced around 244 trips of special trains across eight zones to cater to the anticipated surge in passenger traffic during Christmas and New Year.
“The trains that were cancelled were mostly short-distance and less frequented by passengers. Online booking platforms, however, continue to display the special trains, giving travellers an opportunity to book these special trains,” Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway, said.
Experts’ point of view
“Foggy weather is a natural phenomenon, one that the railways cannot control. Train schedules are carefully planned on paper, but adverse weather conditions often cause unavoidable delays. Once a train is delayed, the impact ripples through the network, affecting the timing of other services. When a train runs late for any reason, railway authorities are required to follow the pre-set schedule, allowing trains running on time to pass first. As a result, delayed trains take longer to receive clearance. Special trains face the same situation; if they fall behind schedule, they must wait until regular service passes, adding further delays to their journey,” SK Bansal, retired senior officer and expert, said.
“Although the railways have introduced various systems to cope with fog, dense conditions continue to severely limit visibility for train drivers. As a result, trains cannot always run according to schedule. When one train is delayed, those following on the same line must wait for clearance, creating a chain reaction of delays,” Krishna Kumar, former official and expert, said.
Special Train trips for Christmas and New Year
As per data, the railways have announced special train trips totalling 244, as Northern Railway 8, Central Railway 76, South Central Railway 26, South East Central Railway 24, South Western Railway 28, North Western Railway 6, Western Railway 72, and Northeast Frontier Railway 4. By operating these special train trips, Indian Railways is providing additional capacity, comfort, and convenience, allowing passengers to celebrate Christmas and New Year without any stress and also efficiently connect to beaches, cities, and tourist destinations across India.
Special Train Routes
On the Mumbai-Goa (Konkan) corridor, daily and weekly special trains are running between Mumbai CSMT/LTT and Karmali/Madgaon, covering major stops along the way and providing additional seating and sleeper options. Similarly, special services on Mumbai-Nagpur, Pune-Sanganer, and other routes in Maharashtra are helping passengers avoid overcrowding on regular trains and providing convenient travel options during the festive season.
In North and East India, special trains are running on busy corridors connecting Delhi, Howrah, Lucknow, and surrounding cities to facilitate long-distance travellers heading home or to holiday destinations.
In the South and Central regions, additional services connecting Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, and other cities ensure smooth travel for passengers during this peak season. These include special trains like CSMT-Karmali, LTT-Thiruvananthapuram, Pune-Sanganer, and CSMT-Nagpur, which are operating multiple trips to accommodate the festive rush.
Previous year’s special train trips status
Indian Railways operates Special train services to supplement the accommodation available by regular trains and to facilitate the travel of passengers during festivals, holidays, and religious congregations. Accordingly, to facilitate the passengers during the festivals like Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath, the railway has operated more than 12,300 Special trains during the period of October 1, 2025, to November 30, 2025. Considering the demand, to facilitate travel during Durga Puja, Diwali, and Chhath, the number of Special trains operated across the railway network has increased significantly over the years.
In the years 2022 (2614 trips), 2023 (4480 trips), 2024 (7990 trips), and 2025 (12,300 trips), as per the railway data.
Train coaches augmentation
To cater to the extra rush of passengers during peak seasons, festivals, and special events. Indian Railways operates special trains and augments the loads of existing services, keeping in view the pattern of traffic, commercial justification, operational feasibility, and availability of resources. To generate additional accommodation for different segments of passengers, railways during the period 2023-24 to 2025-26 (till June 2025), utilised 2275 coaches for augmentation of train services on a permanent basis, the railway had earlier informed.
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