Railways Launch 350 Holi Specials To Major Cities And Towns

For the convenience of passengers, Indian Railways has deployed about 350 special train services to cater to the extra rush during the Holi festival.

Maximum number of trains have been pressed into service for people travelling from Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bengal and other places to celebrate Holi in their home towns.

According to the Railways, these Holi special trains will run on popular routes connecting major cities and towns in India to accommodate the increased demand for travel during the festival time.

Northern Railway has launched a special train from New Delhi to Katra which will also cover destinations including Ambala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Jammu, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Saharanpur and Moradabad enroute to Katra — where Holi is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm.

A special train to Lucknow has also been pressed into service from New Delhi station to facilitate Uttar Pradesh bound passengers. The special service would stop at Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur and Hardoi along the way.

Popularly known as "Phagwah" or "Phalgun", Holi festival is played with much fervour in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, also known as the city of Nawabs.

The Railways has also launched a special train to Varanasi, the holy city famous for Lathmar Holi, Phoolon ki Holi, and Banaras ki Holi.

The 765 km journey from New Delhi will stop at six stations along the way, including Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Kanpur, Allahabad and Mughal Sarai.

The people of the northern region celebrate Holi amid the distribution of traditional sweets and delicacies such as gujiya, dahi bhalla, mathri and thandai.

The maximum number of trains are being launched by the Central Railway with 84 Holi specials followed by Western Railway with 68 specials.

Northern Railways has pressed 66 trains into service as Holi Specials. East Central Railway and North West Railway have run 58 and 38 trains respectively, to cater to the Holi rush.