# Indian Railways festival ticket demand

> Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/indian-railways-festival-ticket-demand
> Updated: 2026-09-12T02:08:57.000Z. Sources: 7. Developments: 3.

Indian Railways has initiated the Advance Reservation Period for travel during the upcoming Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals. Under the 60-day booking rule, passengers began attempting to secure tickets for early November travel.

High demand has led to rapid sell-outs on major routes, including Delhi-Patna, Mumbai-Gorakhpur, and several routes from Chennai toward southern districts. In many instances, sleeper and AC coaches were fully booked within minutes of the booking opening, resulting in extensive waiting lists. 

The surge in simultaneous users caused the IRCTC website and mobile app to experience slowdowns. To manage the demand, the railway has announced special festival services, such as the Mumbai Central–Katihar special, while passengers have requested additional special trains to accommodate travel to southern and Kongu regions.

Recent data shows IRCTC reached a record-breaking single-day milestone, processing 2,006,353 ticket bookings during the advance reservation period. This surge follows a policy change that shortened the advance reservation window from 120 days to 60 days.

To accommodate the high volume, East Central Railway has announced several pairs of special festival trains running between October and November. These services will connect destinations including Patna, Muzaffarpur, Jogbani, Sitamarhi, Chandigarh, Firozpur Cantt, Anand Vihar, Delhi, Laukha Bazar, and Rishikesh. Online bookings now account for 89 percent of all train ticket transactions. Officials noted that the Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system has demonstrated the capacity to handle these volumes, despite peak concurrent demand occurring within the first 15 minutes of the daily booking window.

## Timeline

### 2026-09-12: Indian Railways announces special trains amid record ticket bookings

Indian Railways has announced special festival trains and IRCTC recorded a record 2 million single-day ticket bookings to manage the Diwali and Chhath holiday travel surge.

2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/indian-railways-announces-special-trains-amid-record-ticket-bookings

### 2026-09-07: Indian Railways Diwali tickets sell out within minutes

Diwali train tickets for travel on November 6 sold out within minutes of booking opening, leaving many passengers on waitlists for major routes to southern India.

2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/indian-railways-diwali-tickets-sell-out-within-minutes

### 2026-09-04: Indian Railways opens Diwali and Chhath Puja ticket bookings

Indian Railways has opened ticket bookings for the Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals. High demand has caused rapid sell-outs on major routes, prompting warnings against fraudulent agents.

4 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/indian-railways-begins-ticket-bookings-for-diwali-and-chhath-puja

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Cite as: Indian Railways festival ticket demand. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/indian-railways-festival-ticket-demand