Indian Railways adds extra coaches and special trips nationwide as flight cancellations leave passengers stranded

Indian Railways: With thousands of passengers stranded across the country following mass flight cancellations by IndiGo and several other airlines, the Indian Railways has stepped in to ease the crisis. The sudden spike in demand for train travel has prompted Railways to introduce additional coaches and special services across multiple regions.

Following unprecedented congestion and soaring ticket demand, Railways announced that from December 6, 2025, extra coaches would be added to a large number of existing trains. Several routes will also see additional trips to accommodate the surge in passengers.

The impact of flight cancellations has been felt most severely in South India, where a significant number of passengers were left without alternatives. Responding swiftly, the Southern Railway has added extra coaches to 18 trains, increasing the number of sleeper and chair car seats. This has brought relief to travellers heading to major cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram.

With Delhi-bound travellers facing extreme difficulty due to cancelled flights, the Northern Railway has added extra AC and chair car coaches to eight major trains. This measure came into effect immediately and is expected to help passengers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, the Western Railway has increased capacity on four key trains by adding three AC and two non-AC coaches, especially addressing the heavy rush between Mumbai and Delhi.

For passengers travelling between Patna and Delhi, the East Central Railway has announced five additional trips of the Rajendra Nagar–New Delhi Rajdhani Express between December 6 and 10. Additional 2AC coaches have also been added to ease seat shortages.

The East Coast Railway has added 2AC coaches on five trips of trains connecting Odisha to Delhi, while the Eastern Railway will add sleeper coaches on December 7 and 8.

To support long-distance and northeast-bound passengers, the Northeast Frontier Railway has increased 3AC and sleeper capacity across eight additional trips between December 6 and 13. Railways is also operating four special one-way trains, including Gorakhpur–Anand Vihar, New Delhi–Mumbai Central, a Vande Bharat special to Srinagar region, and a Hazrat Nizamuddin–Thiruvananthapuram service.

Railway officials emphasized that these measures are aimed solely at providing temporary relief as the aviation disruption continues.

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